Some drafts are better than others

[Frobby]

To state the obvious, some drafts are better than others, both regarding the amount of talent available and the choices made by the teams.      To illustrate, I had a brief look at the top 30 picks in every draft from 2000-2014.    I stopped after 2014 because many of the players picked in 2015 or later are still in the minors or have only played 1-2 years in the majors, so the data on those years is woefully incomplete.    Even in this synopsis, the data on years from 2010 on are still very much in progress.    But, I think you can determine which drafts were strong and which were weak, in terms of available talent and the wisdom of the choices.

2000

Players over 10 WAR: 4

Players over 0.0 WAR: 6

Players who made the majors: 16

Top 5: Utley 64.4 (15), A. Gonzalez 43.6 (1), Wainwright 40.5 (29), Baldelli 10.2 (6), S. Burnett 5.9 (19)

 

2001

Players over 10 WAR: 5

Players over 0.0 WAR: 15

Players who made the majors: 19

Top 5: Mauer 55.3 (1), Teixeira 50.6 (5), Prior 16.6 (2), Floyd 15.7 (4), Lowry 10.0 (30)

 

2002

Players over 10 WAR: 11

Players over 0.0 WAR: 18

Players who made the majors: 24

Top 5: Greinke 71.0 (6), Hamels 59.5 (17), Cain 29.1 (25), Span  28.1 (20), Fielder 23.8 (7)

 

2003

Players over 10 WAR: 7

Players over 0.0 WAR: 18

Players who made the majors: 22

Top 5: Markakis 34.2 (7), Hill 24.4 (13), Danks 20.2 (9), Billingsley 17.2 (24), Maholm 11.9 (8)

 

2004

Players over 10 WAR: 6

Players over 0.0 WAR: 22

Players who made the majors: 27

Top 5: Verlander 71.6 (2), Weaver 34.6 (12), Walker 20.0 (11), S. Drew 15.9 (15), Butler 11.9 (14)

 

2005

Players over 10 WAR: 12

Players over 0.0 WAR: 20

Players who made the majors: 26

Top 5: Braun 46.8 (5), McCutchen 44.8 (11), Tulowitzki 44.5 (7), Zimmerman 38.5 (4), Gordon 35.0 (2)

 

2006

Players over 10 WAR: 7

Players over 0.0 WAR: 17

Players who made the majors: 23

Top 5: Kershaw 67.9 (7), Scherzer 60.1 (11), Longoria 56.0 (3), Lincecum 19.6 (10), Kennedy 17.6 (21)

 

2007

Players over 10 WAR: 6

Players over 0.0 WAR: 16

Players who made the majors: 22

Top 5: Price 39.4 (1), Heyward 36.9 (14), Bumbarner 36.8 (10), Porcello 19.8 (27), Wieters 18.2 (5)

 

2008

Players over 10 WAR: 7

Players over 0.0 WAR: 20

Players who made the majors: 26

Top 5: Posey 41.8 (5), G. Cole 23.8 (28 – not signed), Hosmer 16.7 (3), Lawrie 15.6 (16), J. Castro 12.1 (10)

 

2009:

Players over 10 WAR: 6

Players over 0.0 WAR: 17

Players who made the majors: 22

Top 5: Trout 72.8 (25), Strasburg 33.5 (1), Pollock 19.2 (17), Minor 17.7 (7), Leake 16.9 (8)

 

2010

Players over 10 WAR:  7

Players over 0.0 WAR: 14

Players who made the majors: 21

Top 5: Sale 45.3 (10), Machado 36.7 (3), Harper 31.8 (1), Yelich 31.8 (23), Grandal 17.2 (12)

 

2011

Players over 10 WAR: 9

Players over 0.0 WAR: 23

Players who made the majors: 27

Top 5: Rendon 29.1 (6), Lindor 27.6 (8), Springer 25.4 (11), Cole 23.9 (1), S. Gray 18.1 (18)

 

2012

Players over 10 WAR: 5

Players over 0.0 WAR: 15

Players who made the majors: 21

Top 5: Correa 24.5 (1), C. Seager 15.7 (18), Stroman 14.7 (22), A. Russell 10.7 (11), Gausman 10.0 (4)

 

2013

Players over 10 WAR: 2

Players over 0.0 WAR: 15

Players who made the majors: 22

Top 5: Bryant 23.9 (2), J. Gray 10.1 (3), T. Anderson 8.7 (17), M. Gonzales 6.2 (19), Renfroe 6.1 (13)

 

2014

Players over 10 WAR: 5

Players over 0.0 WAR: 15

Players who made the majors: 20

Top 5: Chapman 19.8 (25), Nola 19.4 (7), T. Turner 14.1 (13), Conforto 12.4 (10), Freeland 10.6 (8)

 

The 2002, 2005 and 2011 drafts were pretty amazing, both in terms of the number of players chosen in the top 30 who reached the majors and the ones who were/are pretty good.    If I get a chance, I'll add to this post some of the better players who were chosen outside the top 30.   

 

Note that only 20 of 75 players chosen in the top 5 in this 15-year period have actually been among the top 5 of the first 30 chosen players: 7 no. 1's, 4 no. 2's, 3 no. 3's, 3 no. 4's and 3 no. 5's.   

 

We'll see how the class of 2020 pans out.