On Thursday, one of the least known major drafts in sports will begin. It is the Major League Amateur Draft. All of the clubs, who have had their scouting staffs back in the team’s offices for the past week, will give it their best guess on who will make it. Chances are, few will. Here is a look at what the previous drafts have brought us as the first pick hopefully this year will turn out as good as the very first, Rick Monday.
1965 Rick Monday, Kansas City Athletics. ASU
1966 Steven Chilcott, New York Mets, High School (Reggie Jackson #2)
1967 Ron Blomberg. New York Yankees, High School (Ted Simmons #10)
1968 Tim Foli, New York Mets, High School (Thurman Munson #4)
1969 Jeff Burroughs, Washington Senators, High School (JR Richard #2)
1970 Mike Ivie, San Diego Padres, High School (Darrell Porter #4-Crew #1 Pick)
1971 Danny Goodwin, Chicago White Sox, High School (Frank Tanana #13)
1972 Dave Roberts, San Diego Padres, Oregon (Rick Manning #2)
1973 David Clyde, Texas Rangers, High School (Robin Yount #3, Dave Winfield #4)
1974 Bill Almon, San Diego Padres, Brown (Dale Murphy #5, Gary Templeton #13, Moose Haas #30)
1975 Danny Goodwin, California Angels, Southern U (Rick Cerone #7)
1976 Floyd Bannister, Houston Astros, ASU (Mike Scioscia #19)
1977 Harold Baines, Chicago White Sox, High School (Paul Molitor #3)
1978 Bob Homer, Atlanta Braves ASU (Cal Ripkin #48)
1979 Al Chambers, Seattle Mariners, High School
1980 Darryl Strawberry, New York Mets, High School (Billy Beane #23)
1981 Mike Moore, Seattle Mariners, Oral Roberts U ( )
1982 Shawon Dunston, Chicago Cubs, High School (Dwight Gooden #5)
1983 Tim Belcher, Minnesota Twins, Mount Vernon Nazarene College (Dan Plesac #26)
1984 Shawn Abner, New York Mets, High School (Mark McGwire #10)
1985 B.J. Surhoff, Milwaukee Brewers, North Carolina (Barry Larkin #4, Barry Bonds #6, Rafael Palmeiro #22, Randy Johnson #36, Jim Fergosi #42)
1986 Jeff King, Pittsburgh Pirates, Arkansas (Matt Williams #3, Gary Sheffield #6)
1987 Ken Griffey Jr., Seattle Mariners, High School
1988 Andy Benes, San Diego Padres, University of Evansville (Jim Abbott #8, Robin Ventura #10, Tino Martinez #14)
1989 Ben McDonald, Baltimore Orioles, LSU (Frank Thomas #7, Mo Vaughn #23)
1990 Chipper Jones, Atlanta Braves, High School
1991 Brien Taylor, New York Yankees, High School (Manny Ramirez #13)
1992 Phil Nevin, Houston Astros, Cal State Fullerton (Derek Jeter #6)
1993 Alex Rodriguez, Seattle Mariners, High School
1994 Paul Wilson, New York Mets, Florida State (Nomar Garciaparra #12)
1995 Darin Erstand, California Angels, Nebraska (Kerry Wood #4, Todd Helton #8, Geoff Jenkins #9, Roy Halladay #17)
1996 Kris Benson, Pittsburgh Pirates, Clemson (R.A. Dickey #18, Jimmy Rollins #46)
1997 Matt Anderson, Detroit Tigers, Rice (Lance Berkman #16)
1998 Pat Burrell, Philadelphia Phillies, Miami (J.D. Drew #5, CC Sabathia #20)
1999 Josh Hamilton, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, High School (Josh Beckett #2, Barry Zito #9, Ben Sheets #10, Corey Myers #4-1st pick of D’Backs)
2000 Adrian Gonzalez, Florida Marlins, High School (Chase Utley #15, Adam Wainwright #29)
2001 Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins, High School (Mark Prior #2, Mark Teixeira #5, David Wright #38,
2002 Bryan Bullington, Pittsburgh Pirates, Ball State (BJ Upton #2, Zach Greinke #6, Prince Fielder #7, Cole Hamels #17, Matt Cain #25, Joey Votta #44)
2003 Delmon Young, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, High School (Rickie Weeks #2, Brandon Wood #23)
2004 Matt Bush, San Diego Padres, High School (Justin Verlander #2, Jered Weaver #12, Billy Butler #14, Yovani Gallardo #46)
2005 Justin Upton, Arizona Diamondbacks, High School (Ryan Zimmerman #4, Ryan Braun #5, Troy Tulowitzki #7, Andrew McCutchen #11, Jacoby Ellsbury #23, Matt Garza #25)
2006 Luke Hochevar, Kansas City Royals, no school (Evan Longoria #3, Clayton Kershaw #7, Tim Lincecum #10, Max Scherzer #11, Ian Kennedy #21)
2007 David Price, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Vanderbilt (Jason Heyward #14)
2008 Tim Beckham, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, High School (Pedro Alvarez #2, Buster Posey #5)
2009 Stephen Strasburg, Washington Nationals, San Diego State (Mike Trout #25)
2010 Bryce Harper, Washington Nationals, Southern Nevada (Manny Machado #3)
2011 Gerrit Cole, Pittsburgh Pirates, UCLA
2012 Carlos Correa, Houston Astros, no school
2013 Mark Appel, Houston Astros, Stanford
Who will your team pick today? The Houston Astros have the #1 pick. Let’s hope it is as good as the 1985, 2002 or the 2005 draft.
Play Ball!
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