This is a pretty uninspiring list, overall....

[btdart20]

Came across this page yesterday.  #1 player taken doesn't always mean 'best rated' at the time of the draft.  Especially before the slotting system.  It's from 2011.  But it's likely a good proxy for the under/over-slot (portfolio) strategy.

Signing Bonuses: No. 1 Overall Picks Year-by-Year | Perfect Game USA

I'd probably give the edge to the #1 overall, but the largest bonus column is pretty strong too.  No clue what the career WAR numbers total or the % of players who made it to the MLB.

 

[Frobby]

Here’s the list from Bb-ref, which you can shuffle to be in WAR order.  Not a ton of Hall of Fame types, but plenty of solid long-time major leaguers.   https://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/

The first pick is the best place to be, but rarely is the player who turns out to be best drafted there.   That’s why the term “BPA” is a bit of a misnomer.

[jdwilde1]

It’s been discussed plenty, but the baseball draft is really tough.  Over the last 20 years, the 1-1 provides a little better than a 50/50 chance to be a good major leaguer, and that includes guys like Justin Upton (who has put up less than 1 rWAR in 7 out of 16 seasons). That’s not to say we, as fans, should be satisfied with an average outcome from the 1-1 slot.  Moreover, it really highlights how special the O’s 2019 draft might be considering the potential of Adley and Gunnar Henderson.

[now]

On 6/30/2022 at 8:36 AM, DocJJ said:

So success rate 70% position players, 44% pitchers.   And some of those "successful" pitchers only played 5 seasons....

Now steroids may have skewed the numbers some, tough to say....   

In a sport where a 10% difference marks scrub vs. star (.200 BA vs. .300 BA), this spread of .700 vs. .440 is outlandishly slam-dunk, as far as which side to go with. At least, it should be.