This article is courtesy of our friends at Bus Leagues Baseball
Written by: Brian
At least a year ago, maybe longer, I had an idea: wouldn’t it be cool to go through every draft
pick in major league history, pick the best player for each one, and create sort of an
Ultimate Draft? (NFL.com did something like this a couple years ago, so maybe that’s
where I got the idea from, but they only did the first round. I can’t find anyplace that’s done it
for baseball.)
I tried it last offseason, but determining the best player at each position proved an arduous
task. Alex Rodriguez or Ken Griffey Jr. at number one? Paul Molitor or Robin Yount at
number three? Dwight Gooden or Mark Teixeira at number five? And so on and so forth.
Then Baseball-Reference, my source for all this information in the first place (as well as
about 95% of my baseball information over the past decade), came through in the clutch,
adding Wins Above Replacement (WAR) to each player’s stat line. I don’t know if WAR is a
perfect measure of a player’s value. What I do know is that it is highly regarded by people
who actually understand where these numbers come from, and so gave me a number that I
could use to rank the players at each draft position and easily select the number one guy.
So that’s what I did.
As one might expect with a project this size, I have a few caveats:
1) WAR is available at two major sites: Baseball-Reference.com and Fangraphs.com. Each
site uses a slightly different formula that results in slightly different numbers. All the WAR
numbers you see below are from Baseball-Reference, simply because that’s where I go for
my baseball stats. Using Fangraphs would result in some differences, but I’m sure the
project would be just as fun.
2) In many cases, an active player was within reasonable striking distance of the leader at
his draft position. As often as possible, I noted these instances, marking them with a single
asterisk.
3) In many cases, two players at the same draft position had the same WAR. I generally just
picked the first player listed and marked him with a double asterisk to note the doubling up.
4) Because this was a sort of draft simulation, I didn’t reuse players. Once a guy appeared
on the list, he was ineligible to appear again. This resulted in two situations: one, I skipped
the first player, included the player with the second-highest WAR at that draft position, and
noted the issue with a triple-asterisk; and two, if there was no other player available, I
skipped the draft position altogether and made a notation at the bottom. Likewise, if no
player from a given draft position reached the major leagues, I skipped that draft position
altogether and made a note.
5) Baseball-Reference makes mistakes. I make mistakes. Therefore, this project will not be
perfect. But it’s supposed to be fun, so I can live with a few miscues. I’m sure the margin of
error isn’t ridiculously high.
There are over 1,200 players listed here, so I broke this up into rounds of fifty picks each.
We’ll run one round each day, starting below.
All-Time Draft: Picks 1-50
Total WAR: 2804.3 (56.086 per player)
High WAR: Barry Bonds (171.8)
Low WAR: Gerald Laird (7.4)
Hall of Famers (7): Reggie Jackson (2), Robin Yount (3), Barry Larkin (4), George Brett
(29), Mike Schmidt (30), Cal Ripken Jr. (48), Dennis Eckersley (50)
Most Valuable Players: Alex Rodriguez 3 (2003, 2005, 2007); Reggie Jackson (1973);
Robin Yount 2 (1982, 1989); Barry Larkin (1995); Barry Bonds 7 (1990, 1992-93, 2001-04);
Frank Thomas 2 (1993-94); Roger Clemens (1986); Vida Blue (1971); George Brett
(1980); Mike Schmidt 3 (1980-81, 1986); Don Baylor (1979); FRed Lynn (1975); Cal Ripken
Jr. 2 (1983, 1991); Dennis Eckersley (1992)
Cy Youngs: Dwight Gooden (1985); Roy Halladay 2 (2003, 2010); Roger Clemens 7 (1986-
87, 1991, 1997-98, 2001, 2004); Rick Sutcliffe (1984); Vida Blue (1971); Greg Maddux 4
(1992-95); Randy Johnson 5 (1999, 1999-2002); Frank Viola (1988); Tom Glavine 2 (1991,
1998); Dennis Eckersley (1992)
Rookies of the Year: Dwight Gooden (1984); Mark McGwire (1987); Nomar Garciaparra
(1997); Rick Sutcliffe (1979); Chuck Knoblauch (1991); FRed Lynn (1975); Scott Rolen
(1997); Cal Ripken Jr. (1982); Carlos Beltran (1999)
1 – Alex Rodriguez, SS, Seattle Mariners (1993)
2 – Reggie Jackson, OF, Kansas City Athletics (1966)
3 – Robin Yount, SS, Milwaukee Brewers (1973)
4 – Barry Larkin, SS, Cincinnati Reds (1985)
5 – Dwight Gooden*, RHP, New York Mets (1982)
6 – Barry Bonds, OF, Pittsburgh Pirates (1985)
7 – Frank Thomas, 1B, Chicago White Sox (1989)
8 – Todd Helton, 1B, Colorado Rockies (1995)
9 – Kevin Appier, RHP, Kansas City Royals (1987)
10 – Mark McGwire, 1B, Oakland Athletics (1984)
11 – Greg Luzinski, 1B, Philadelphia Phillies (1968)
12 – Nomar Garciaparra, SS, Boston Red Sox (1994)
13 – Manny Ramirez, 3B, Cleveland Indians (1991)
14 – Derrek Lee, 1B, San Diego Padres (1993)
15 – Chase Utley, 2B, Philadelphia Phillies (2000)
16 – Lance Berkman, 1B, Houston Astros (1997)
17 – Roy Halladay, RHP, Toronto Blue Jays (1995)
18 – Willie Wilson, OF, Kansas City Royals (1974)
19 – Roger Clemens, RHP, Boston Red Sox (1983)
20 – Mike Mussina, RHP, Baltimore Orioles (1990)
21 – Rick Sutcliffe, RHP, Los Angeles Dodgers (1974)
22 – Craig Biggio, C, Houston Astros (1987)
23 – Jason Kendall, C, Pittsburgh Pirates (1992)
24 – Alex Fernandez, RHP, Milwaukee Brewers (1988)
25 – Chuck Knoblauch, SS, Minnesota Twins (1989)
26 – Alan Trammell, SS, Detroit Tigers (1976)
27 – Vida Blue, LHP, Kansas City Athletics (1967)
28 – Lee Smith, RHP, Chicago Cubs (1975)
29 – George Brett, SS, Kansas City Royals (1971)
30 – Mike Schmidt, SS, Philadelphia Phillies (1971)
31 – Greg Maddux, RHP, Chicago Cubs (1984)
32 – Dave Magadan, 1B, New York Mets (1983)
33 – Dave Burba, RHP, Seattle Mariners (1987)
34 – Mark Gubicza, RHP, Kansas City Royals (1981)
35 – Johnny Damon, OF, Kansas City Royals (1992)
36 – Randy Johnson, LHP, Montreal Expos (1985)
37 – Frank Viola, LHP, Minnesota Twins (1981)
38 – David Wright, 3B, New York Mets (2001)
39 – Don Baylor***, OF, Baltimore Orioles (1967)
40 – Kevin Tapani, RHP, Oakland Athletics (1986)
41 – FRed Lynn, OF, Boston Red Sox (1973)
42 – Dennis Leonard, RHP, Kansas City Royals (1972)
43 – Bob Knepper, RHP, San Francisco Giants (1972)
44 – Jon Lieber*, RHP, Kansas City Royals (1992)
45 – Gerald Laird*, C, Oakland Athletics (1998)
46 – Scott Rolen, 3B, Philadelphia Phillies (1992)
47 – Tom Glavine, LHP, Atlanta Braves (1984)
48 – Cal Ripken, 3B, Baltimore Orioles (1978)
49 – Carlos Beltran, OF, Kansas City Royals (1995)
50 – Dennis Eckersley, RHP, Cleveland Indians (1972)
Active Players Who Are Close To The Best WAR (Denoted By Single Asterisk)
5 – J.D. Drew (45.9), Mark Teixeira (38.6)
44 – Joey Votto (19.4)
45 – Jed Lowrie (3.8)
Player Listed Was Second-Highest; First Highest Already Appeared (Denoted By Triple
Asterisk)
39 – Barry Bonds
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