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With the first pick in the 1976 Draft, the Houston Astros selected left-handed pitcher Floyd Bannister out of Arizona State University.
The Detroit Tigers had the second pick in the draft and they took another left-handed pitcher, Pat Underwood, from Kokomo High School in Indiana.
Bannister and Underwood were two of six left-handed pitchers chosen in the first round, which had 24 picks overall. Exactly half of those picks were pitchers. [Read more…]
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With the first pick in the 1975 First-Year Player Draft, the California Angels chose catcher Danny Goodwin out of Southern University.
After picking number one overall in 1974, the San Diego Padres picked left-handed pitcher Mike Lentz second overall in 1975 out of Juanita High School in Kirkland, Washington. [Read more…]
Oklahoma right-handed pitcher Jonathan Gray. Credit: Ken Inness/ZumaPress.com.
With the MLB draft just hours away, we have put together our third and final mock draft leading up to the first selection at 7PM ET tonight.
Houston will pick first tonight, and it still remains to be seen who they will select.
Most mock boards have them picking either Mark Appel or Jonathan Gray. [Read more…]
North Carolina 3B Colin Moran.
The Amateur Baseball Draft is scheduled for Thursday June 6-Saturday June 8, with the entire first round occurring on Thursday night. The draft is scheduled to begin at 7PM ET.
After news broke earlier this week of Jonathan Gray testing positive for Adderall at a pre-draft program held by Major League Baseball, we have switched up our top 10 picks. [Read more…]
San Diego Padres Bill Almon. Credit: Topps.
Once again, the San Diego Padres pick number one in the amateur baseball draft, this time in 1974.
Since their inception, the Padres picked number one overall three times including this draft.
They chose second overall once up to this draft in history.
In the same breath, the Texas Rangers have had quite a few picks in the top five since their inception.
Texas has chosen number one overall once as the Washington Senators and once as the Rangers.
This pick at number two is the first in franchise history.
Almon was drafted as an infielder out of Brown University. He was one of six players drafted out of the collegiate levels in the 1974 draft. He spent parts of 15 seasons in the majors with the Padres, the Montreal Expos, the New York Mets, the Chicago White Sox, the Oakland Athletics, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the Philadelphia Phillies. He had two stints with the Mets.
Almon debuted in the Majors with San Diego in September of 1974, playing in 16 games, posting a .316 batting average. He was not able to become a full-time player until 1977, in which he played 155 games for San Diego.
Almon posted a career .254 average with 36 homeruns, 296 RBIs, and 846 hits in 1,236 games. He played the most games of his career with San Diego, totaling 429 appearances with an average of .255, four homeruns, and 81 RBIs. He also recorded 337 of his career hits while with the Padres.
The best year of his career came with the Padres in 1977. He played in a career-high 155 games with a .261 batting average, two homeruns, 43 RBIs, and a career-high 160 hits. Almon posted a career-high seven homeruns twice, once in Oakland and once in Pittsburgh. Those years were 1984 and 1986. He had a career-high 63 RBIs with Oakland in 1983.
Almon never played on a team that made it to the playoffs during his career, but all things considered, Almon had a decent career after being drafted number one overall.
Texas Rangers Tommy Boggs.
The second overall pick in the draft, Tommy Boggs, was taken by the Texas Rangers. Boggs was drafted by the Rangers as a pitcher out of Lanier High School in Austin, Texas.
Boggs was a bit of a draft bust, appearing in only 114 career games with the Rangers and the Atlanta Braves. He spent two stints with the Rangers during his career.
He did not debut in the majors until 1976, in which he posted a 1-7 record with an ERA of 3.49. He strictly was a starter in his rookie season. For his career, Boggs posted a record of 20-44 with an ERA of 4.22. He started 94 games in his career. He started just six games in 1977 for the Rangers and was traded in the off-season to the Atlanta Braves.
He returned to the Rangers in 1985, in which he pitched in just four games, all of them out of the bullpen. For his career with Texas, Boggs posted a record of 1-10 with an ERA of 4.48 in 23 games, 19 of them starts.
His best season came with the Braves in 1980. He posted a record of 12-9 with an ERA of 3.42 in 32 games, 26 of them starts, both career-highs. He threw four complete games, with three of them shutouts. Boggs also never appeared in the playoffs during his career.
Some notable players in the 1974 draft taken after the first two picks include the following:
The next installment of our draft history series will detail the 1975 draft. The number one overall pick was Danny Goodwin, chosen by the California Angels. Mike Lentz was chosen second overall by the San Diego Padres.
WBC Champs Dominican Republic. Credit: Mike Blake/Reuters.
Over the past couple of years, Major League Baseball officials have talked about instituting an international draft, or making the current Rule 4 Draft open to international players. Since we posted our first mock draft of the 2013 season, we are now tackling the idea of an international draft in baseball.
Many believe that an international draft is very close to occurring because of the new restrictions placed on international spending for amateur free agents who are not eligible for the draft in the United States. The new restrictions on signing bonuses take effect on June 1, 2013, but an international draft would not occur until at least 2014 if it is approved. [Read more…]
Stanford right-handed pitcher Mark Appel. Credit: Matthew Ersted, Stanfordphoto.com.
With the 2013 MLB draft just weeks away, we have compiled our first mock draft of the year. After being drafted eighth overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2012, Stanford right-handed pitcher Mark Appel is preparing for his second draft.
Appel was the only player in the first round not to sign. He opted to return to school for another season in order to further develop his arm. Now he is in position to be taken number one overall. [Read more…]
1972 Number One Pick Dave Roberts. Credit: Topps.
Since their inception in 1969, the San Diego Padres held the number one or number two pick in the first round of the Major League Baseball First Year Player Draft in 1970, 1971 and now 1972.
In 1970, the Padres held the number one overall pick. In 1971, the Padres held the number two overall pick. In 1972, the draft featured in this article, the Padres held the number one overall pick.
With the pick, the Padres selected University of Oregon catcher Dave Roberts. Roberts was drafted out of college as a catcher, but came up to the Majors as an infielder.
He eventually caught some games in the Majors, but he also appeared in the outfield and as a Designated Hitter. Roberts spent parts of 10 seasons in the big leagues.
The second pick in the draft was held by the Cleveland Indians, who selected short stop Rick Manning. Manning debuted in the Majors in 1975 and had a decent career, which totaled 13 seasons.
There were 24 picks made in the first round of the June draft in 1972, and 10 of those picks never played in a single Major League game. Those 10 players were catcher Barry Goodman (fifth pick by the Montreal Expos), right handed pitcher Larry Payne (seventh pick by the Cincinnati Reds), outfielder Steve Englishbey (ninth pick by the Houston Astros), outfielder Mike Ondina (twelfth pick by the Chicago White Sox), catcher Richard Bengston (thirteenth pick by the New York Mets), left handed pitcher Brian Vernoy (fifteenth pick by the Chicago Cubs), short stop Joel Bishop (sixteenth pick by the Boston Red Sox), short stop John Harbin (seventeenth pick by the Los Angeles Dodgers), short stop Dwayne Peltier (twenty-third pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates), and catcher Ken Thomas (twenty-fourth pick by the Baltimore Orioles).
Of the 24 first-round picks, 19 came from the high school level, with the final seven picks of the first round coming from the prep level. Four of the first five picks in the draft were from the prep ranks.
Roberts was drafted in June and made his Major League debut on June 7 of the same season, playing in 100 games with the Padres. He did not play in a Minor League game until the 1973 season. In his rookie season, Roberts hit .244 with five homeruns, 33 RBIs, and 17 doubles. For his career, Roberts hit .239 with 49 homeruns, 208 RBIs, on just 483 hits.
The most games Roberts appeared in during a season was 127 in 1973, which was the best season of his career average-wise. He hit .286 with 21 homeruns and 64 RBIs. He only reached 100 games played in four of his seasons, three with the Padres. He also played for the Texas Rangers, the Houston Astros, and the Philadelphia Phillies.
1972 Number two pick Rick Manning.
Manning spent 13 seasons in the Majors, nine with the Indians and the final four with the Milwaukee Brewers. He was traded by Cleveland to Milwaukee in June of the 1983 season.
For his career, Manning hit .257 with 56 homeruns, 458 RBIs, and 1,349 hits in 1,555 games played. He debuted in the Majors in 1975 and never looked back. He won a Gold Glove in 1976, just his second in the league. The most games he appeared in during one season came in 1983 when he made 158 appearances between Cleveland and Milwaukee.
During his time in Cleveland, the team that drafted him, Manning played in 1,063 games, compiling a .263 average, with 36 of his homeruns and 336 of his RBIs.
Other notable players selected in the first round of the 1972 draft include the following:
The 1973 draft will be the ninth installment of our draft history series. The first overall pick was left handed pitcher David Clyde, who went to the Texas Rangers. The second overall pick went to the Philadelphia Phillies, who chose catcher John Stearns.
Major League Baseball’s 1971 Amateur Draft was a very interesting one to say the least. The first round was one of the least productive rounds in draft history when it came to selecting potential Major League stars.
The first overall pick in the draft was Danny Goodwin, who was taken by the Chicago White Sox. Goodwin did not sign and re-entered the draft in 1975.
The second overall pick was Jay Franklin, taken by the San Diego Padres. Neither player had a particularly good career, which seemed to be the pattern for the first 10 picks of the first round.
The first decent selection for pitchers came by the Philadelphia Phillies with the sixth overall pick. The Phillies chose Roy Thomas. Thomas finished his career with a record of 20-11 and an ERA of 3.82. [Read more…]
As we reach the sixth installment of our draft history series, we are going to look at the top two picks in the 1970 draft, Mike Ivie and Steve Dunning. Ivie, a catcher, was chosen first overall by the San Diego Padres and Dunning, a right handed pitcher, was chosen second overall by the Cleveland Indians.
Once again, the state of California was the state with the most first-round draft picks and just three of the 24 first rounders were taken out of college, with Dunning the first player drafted from the collegiate levels. Three of the first four picks were catchers, and overall, seven catchers were taken in the first round. Four of those catchers never made it to the Major Leagues.
Half of the 24 first-round picks never made it to the Major Leagues. The highest pick from the first round who did not play in the Majors was the number five overall selection, Mike Martin, a left handed pitcher selected by the Philadelphia Phillies. [Read more…]