AL East 2018 Draft Summary

In conjunction with the MLB Draft Deep Dive series that I've been rolling out over the last few weeks (see links below), the following is a down and dirty summary of the early 2018 draft results for the AL East.

AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST 2018 DRAFT SUMMARY

PITCHING

Pitcher Breakdown
TBR: 20 Signed | 17 C | 1 JC/CC | 2 HS | 14 RHP | 6 LHP
NYY: 19 Signed | 18 C | 1 JC/CC | 18 RHP | 1 LHP

TOR: 18 Signed | 16 C | 1 JC/CC | 1 HS | 17 RHP | 1 LHP

BAL: 16 Signed | 10 C | 6 HS | 10 RHP | 6 LHP
BOS: 13 Signed | 10 C | 2 JC/CC | 1 NS | 10 RHP | 3 LHP

Cumulative Stats for 2018 Draft Class (Pitchers)
BOS: 2.83 ERA | 1.239 WHIP | 295.1 IP | 13 Active Pitchers

TBR: 3.07 ERA | 1.179 WHIP | 563.1 IP | 20 Active Pitchers

TOR: 3.22 ERA | 1.149 WHIP | 389 IP | 16 Active Pitchers
NYY: 3.85 ERA | 1.274 WHIP | 301.1 IP | 16 Active Pitchers
BAL: 3.97 ERA | 1.449 WHIP | 330.1 IP | 16 Active Pitchers

Position Player Breakdown
BAL: 16 Signed | 13 C | 1 JC/CC | 2 HS | 1B | 2B | 2 3B | 3 SS | 6 OF | 3 C
BOS: 15 Signed | 9 C | 6 HS | 1B | 2B | 3 3B | 2 SS | 6 OF | 2 C
NYY: 15 Signed | 10 C | 1 JC/CC | 4 HS | 1B | 3 2B | 3B | 2 SS | 4 OF | 4 C
TBR: 15 Signed* | 10 C | 2 JC/CC | 3 HS | 2 1B | 2 2B | 3B | SS | 6 OF* | 3 C
TOR: 14 Signed* | 10 C | 1 JC/CC | 3 HS | 1B* | 2B | 3B | 3 SS | 4 OF | 4 C

*Add one to the totals to account for two-way players already counted in the pitching totals.

Cumulative Stats for 2018 Draft Class (Position Players)
BOS: .266/.347/.374/.721 | 15 Active Players

TBR: .265/.368/.388/.756 | 16 Active Players

TOR: .245/.348/.371/.719 | 15 Active Players
NYY: .237/.335/.363/.698 | 15 Active Players
BAL: .219/.298/.322/.619 | 14 Active Players

MLB Pipeline Top 30 Prospects
BOS: 5 Total (C RHP, HS 3B*, 2 HS 3B, HS OF)
BAL: 4 Total (C RHP*, HS RHP*, C SS*, C OF)
NYY: 4 Total (C RHP, JC/CC C, HS C*, HS OF)
TBR: 4 Total (C LHP*, HS LHP*, C 2B, HS OF)
TOR: 3 Total (HS RHP, HS SS/3B*, C OF)

*Top 10

AL EAST DRAFT CLASS NOTES: PITCHERS

Tampa Bay signed the most pitchers from this group and got both quantity and quality in their initial results. The Rays' top pick, a high school lefty, had a particularly good debut as did their second round pick (a two-way player). But it was the middle of the pack that really impressed me and could portend good depth from this college-heavy group going forward. Only one player was promoted beyond Short Season A, but this group combined to pitch a lot of innings in their inaugural season and that should provide a good foundation. All of the remaining affiliates were college-heavy as well with the exception of the Orioles who signed six high school pitchers. Most of the high school players pitched well and performed as expected in rookie league. However, only two of the college players (both with good numbers) had much of a track record at the Short Season A level and none were promoted above that level. And four of the college players pitched 13.1 innings or fewer. It's hard to get much of a feel for the class, but my initial impressions are ambivalent. Three of the Yankees draft picks didn't play at all and ten of their college picks didn't play beyond rookie league. The top three picks performed well at Short Season A, but most of the rest of the class gets an incomplete until they actually put up a few innings and show some success at a higher level. The Blue Jays class doesn't look quite as strong as Tampa, but it does appear to have some nice depth with several lower round pitchers performing nicely. Their top pick, a high school right-hander, only pitched two innings and two other players did not appear in 2018. Boston had the smallest pitching class, but had one of only two players to advance beyond Short Season A out of the entire group. RHP Durbin Feltman made 11 relief appearances at Advanced A in 2018 and appears to be on the fast track for the Sox. Beyond Feltman, it was more of a mixed bag, but there were definitely a couple of bright spots in that mix. However, it is definitely Tampa Bay that stands out in the initial results.

AL EAST DRAFT CLASS NOTES: POSITION PLAYERS


The Red Sox probably have the most interesting group of position players from the 2018 draft. Four of their high school picks appear on their Top 30 prospect list (although the top two only appeared in two games each in 2018) and several of their college players had very strong starts as well. If even a couple of these high school prospects pan out, this could turn out to be a very strong group for Boston. None of the college players were hidden away in rookie ball and two of them were promoted to full season teams. The Yankees also have some interesting younger players at the top of their class who performed as could be expected (and received much more playing time than the Red Sox top players). Further down in the draft, the results are mixed, but there are a few bright spots peppered throughout the group. Tampa Bay and Toronto also picked high school players as their top position player picks. Toronto's SS/3B Jordan Groshans got off to the best start of any of the top high school players out of this group, but there doesn't appear to be much depth in the Blue Jays class based on the early results despite a couple of very nice debuts among the lower picks. On the other hand, Tampa Bay's high school picks didn't exactly wow me in their inaugural seasons, but they had several college players up and down the ranks who showed good promise. The Orioles had two players who didn't appear in 2018 and seven more who batted under the composite group batting average of .219. Not exactly inspiring. Only three players batted over .250 and one of those three was a college player appearing in low rookie league. So once again, not inspiring. Boston does inspire me with their early results, just edging out the Rays as the most interesting group to watch.

Baltimore Orioles Draft Review
Boston Red Sox Draft Review
New York Yankees Draft Review
Tampa Bay Rays Draft Review
Toronto Blue Jays Draft Review

MLB Draft Deep Dive: Toronto Blue Jays

In order to satisfy my innate curiosity as it pertains to the MLB Draft, I have taken a comprehensive look at the 2018 draft for each of the 30 MLB organizations. But I also wanted to get an idea of what each of the teams had done for the 20 years prior so that is included as a prelude to the 2018 information. I'll be looking first at each team in each division, starting with the National League East, and then I'll follow up with a an overall look at both the historical draft results to date and the early 2018 results.

My goal is to get a better idea of the big picture as to how the systems compare in terms of draft results, as well as how a good or bad draft class affects a system, the overall impact of the draft on the baseball talent pool and the circuitous ways in which draft picks are used to bolster a system for which they may never even play. This project is just a first step. I intend to expand on this information over time (including a later revisit of the 2018 class and the addition of the 2019 class next offseason) and I will share my findings as I do so.

AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST

TORONTO BLUE JAYS

Historical Draft Results from 1998 through 2017 (TO DATE)
Drafted 938 | Signed 626 | Pitchers Signed 326 | Position Players Signed 300
Total WAR 260
Total Players to MLB 103

Note: The following players are listed at the position at which they were originally drafted.

1998 | 4 to MLB | WAR 14.1 | High WAR 7.5, SS Felipe Lopez, 1st rd
1999 | 4 to MLB | WAR 44.4 | High WAR 27.4, 3B Alex Rios, 1st rd
2000 | 4 to MLB | WAR 1.9 | High WAR 1.7, RHP Dustin McGowan, 1st rd
2001 | 5 to MLB | WAR 6.3 | High WAR 4.6, OF Gabe Gross, 1st rd
2002 | 7 to MLB | WAR 2.5 | High WAR 3.6, RHP Dave Bush, 2nd rd
2003 | 7 to MLB | WAR 41.5 | High WAR 23.7, SS Aaron Hill, 1st rd
2004 | 6 to MLB | WAR 22.2 | High WAR 11.9, 1B Adam Lind, 3rd rd
2005 | 2 to MLB | WAR 10.0 | High WAR 9.9, LHP Ricky Romero, 1st rd
2006 | 3 to MLB | WAR 3.6 | High WAR 4.3, OF Travis Snider, 1st rd
2007 | 8 to MLB | WAR 8.8 | High WAR 6.6, LHP Brett Cecil, 1st rd
2008 | 7 to MLB | WAR 0.5 | High WAR 1.8, OF Eric Thames, 7th rd
2009 | 10 to MLB | WAR 34.8 | High WAR 11.7, C Yan Gomes, 10th rd
2010 | 10 to MLB | WAR 25.1 | High WAR 13.2, RHP Noah Syndergaard, 1st rd
2011 | 9 to MLB | WAR 22.7 | High WAR 14.3, OF Kevin Pillar, 32nd rd
2012 | 5 to MLB | WAR 12.3 | High WAR 10.9, RHP Marcus Stroman, 1st rd
2013 | 9 to MLB | WAR 10.3 | High WAR 5.5, RHP Kendall Graveman, 8th rd
2014 | 3 to MLB | WAR (1.0) | High WAR 0.1, RHP Justin Shafer, 8th rd
2015 | 0 to MLB | WAR 0.0 | High WAR N/A
2016 | 0 to MLB | WAR 0.0 | High WAR N/A
2017 | 0 to MLB | WAR 0.0 | High WAR N/A

The highest WAR to date, both total and individual, is from 1999. 3B Alex Rios (1st round, 27.4 WAR) spent all or part of six seasons with Toronto and those years, including his two All-Star seasons in 2006 and 2007 were among his most productive seasons. The Blue Jays lost Rios to the White Sox on the waiver wire in August 2009. The other three players from that 1999 class to make it to the bigs were OF Reed Johnson (17th round, 10.3 WAR), RHP Brandon Lyon (14th round, 6.3 WAR) and LHP Matt Ford (3rd round, 0.4 WAR). Lyon was also lost to a waiver claim (after two seasons with the Blue Jays) and ended up bouncing around among four teams before being traded back to Toronto 10 years later.  Johnson was released after five years with the Blue Jays and went on to play for five other clubs over eight seasons. And Ford was lost to the Brewers in the Rule 5 draft and never played for Toronto at the major league level.

2018 DRAFT
40 Drafted | 32 Signed | 18 Pitchers | 14 Position Players
29 College | 26 Signed | 16 Pitchers | 10 Position Players
2 JC/CC | 2 Signed | 1 Pitcher | 1 Position Player
9 HS/NS | 4 Signed | 1 Pitcher | 3 Position Players

Notable: The Blue Jays signed all of their first 20 draft picks (and 25 of the top 26) with the first miss being California HS LHP Kobby Lopez in the 21st round.

PITCHERS
All but two of the 18 pitchers signed (17 RHP, 1 LHP) logged at least some playing time. None of these pitchers were promoted beyond the Short Season A* level. One of the pitchers debuted on MLB Pipeline's Top 30 Prospect list for the Blue Jays. One player, 33rd round RHP Matt Harris voluntarily retired in October.

Top Prospects

RHP Adam Kloffenstein, 3rd round, Magnolia HS (TX), Rk
2 IP | 2 G / 2 GS | 0.00 ERA | 1.500 WHIP | 2 BB : 4 K

Noteworthy Debut

RHP Joey Pulido, 32nd round, University of Houston, SSA
36.2 IP | 23 G / 0 GS | 0.98 ERA | 0.873 WHIP | 11 BB : 32 K

In total, the Blue Jays 2018 Draft pitchers combined for a 3.22 ERA and a 1.149 WHIP over 389 innings as compared to the 3.67 ERA and 1.299 WHIP (average of 376.2 innings per affiliate) compiled by the total 2018 Draft class in 2018.

POSITION PLAYERS
All of the 14 position players signed (1B, 2B, 3B, 3 SS, 4 OF, 4 C) logged at least some playing time. (Note: One additional 1B can be added to the totals breakdown to account for two-way player Andy McGuire. Also, although I have included Jordan Groshans as a SS in the totals, he actually played an identical number of games at 3B.) One player was promoted beyond the Short Season A* level, to Full Season A. Two players debuted on MLB Pipeline's Top 30 Prospect list for the Blue Jays, one as a Top 10 prospect.

Top Prospects

🔟 SS/3B Jordan Groshans (R/R), 1st round, Magnolia HS (TX), Rk
48 G | .296/.353/.446/.799 | 15 BB : 37 K

OF Griffin Conine (L/R), 2nd round, Duke University, SSA
57 G | .243/.314/.430/.744 | 20 BB : 65 K | 15 2B / 2 3B / 7 HR
Currently serving a 50-game suspension for testing positive for a banned stimulant.

🔟 Top 10 Prospect

Noteworthy Debut

OF Cal Stevenson (L/L), 10th round, University of Arizona, Rk
59 G | .369/.511/.523/1.034 | 64 BB : 24 K | 21 SB : 1 CS | 15 2B / 6 3B / 2 HR / 73 R

Although Stevenson should have been challenged to a higher level than the Rookie level Appy League, there is no denying that he had an excellent freshman season, including leading the entire 2018 Draft class in walks and runs scored.

In total, the Blue Jays 2018 Draft position players combined to hit .245/.348/.371/.719 as compared to .261/.349/.386/.735 batting line compiled by the total 2018 Draft class in 2018.

*Notes on players include the highest level achieved for the 2018 season using the following abbreviations:
Rk = Rookie
SSA = Short Season A
A = Full Season A
A+ = Full Season A Advanced

GENERAL NOTES: Information was obtained from Baseball-Reference and the MLB Draft History site. The occasional discrepancy in historical information was resolved to the best of my ability by delving into the player information available on B-R. On the historical information, the player position in the totals reflects the position at which the player was drafted (and not any subsequent change of position). On the 2018 information, the player position reflects the primary position played in 2018 for all players who were signed and the position at which the player was drafted for those who did not sign. Prospect listings on MLB Pipeline were as of early January and may not reflect any subsequent changes to that site.

PREVIOUSLY

NL EAST
Atlanta Braves
Miami Marlins
New York Mets
Philadelphia Phillies
Washington Nationals
NL East 2018 Draft Summary

NL CENTRAL
Chicago Cubs
Cincinnati Reds
Milwaukee Brewers
Pittsburgh Pirates
St. Louis Cardinals
NL Central 2018 Draft Summary

NL WEST
Arizona Diamondbacks
Colorado Rockies
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants
NL West 2018 Draft Summary

AL EAST
Baltimore Orioles
Boston Red Sox
New York Yankees
Tampa Bay Rays

COMING NEXT
AL East 2018 Draft Summary

MLB Draft Deep Dive: Tampa Bay Rays

In order to satisfy my innate curiosity as it pertains to the MLB Draft, I have taken a comprehensive look at the 2018 draft for each of the 30 MLB organizations. But I also wanted to get an idea of what each of the teams had done for the 20 years prior so that is included as a prelude to the 2018 information. I'll be looking first at each team in each division, starting with the National League East, and then I'll follow up with a an overall look at both the historical draft results to date and the early 2018 results.

My goal is to get a better idea of the big picture as to how the systems compare in terms of draft results, as well as how a good or bad draft class affects a system, the overall impact of the draft on the baseball talent pool and the circuitous ways in which draft picks are used to bolster a system for which they may never even play. This project is just a first step. I intend to expand on this information over time (including a later revisit of the 2018 class and the addition of the 2019 class next offseason) and I will share my findings as I do so.

AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST

TAMPA BAY RAYS

Historical Draft Results from 1998 through 2017 (TO DATE)
Drafted 951 | Signed 596 | Pitchers Signed 314 | Position Players Signed 282
Total WAR 399.8
Total Players to MLB 82

Note: The following players are listed at the position at which they were originally drafted.

1998 | 4 to MLB | WAR 29.9 | High WAR 20.4, 3B Aubrey Huff, 5th rd
1999 | 6 to MLB | WAR 70.9 | High WAR 39.2, OF Carl Crawford, 2nd rd
2000 | 5 to MLB | WAR 41.4 | High WAR 30.6, RHP James Shields, 16th rd
2001 | 6 to MLB | WAR 0.8 | High WAR 2.8, OF Jonny Gomes, 18th rd
2002 | 6 to MLB | WAR 30.5 | High WAR 16.5, SS Melvin Upton Jr., 1st rd
2003 | 5 to MLB | WAR 12.2 | High WAR 10.9, C John Jaso, 12th rd
2004 | 7 to MLB | WAR 23.0 | High WAR 13.0, RHP Wade Davis, 3rd rd
2005 | 1 to MLB | WAR 12.2 | High WAR 12.2, RHP Jeremy Hellickson, 4th rd
2006 | 7 to MLB | WAR 77.8 | High WAR 51.9, 3B Evan Longoria, 1st rd
2007 | 3 to MLB | WAR 49.2 | High WAR 37.9, LHP David Price, 1st rd
2008 | 2 to MLB | WAR 5.4 | High WAR 5.2, SS Tim Beckham, 1st rd
2009 | 2 to MLB | WAR 0.2 | High WAR 0.6, RHP Andrew Bellatti, 12th rd
2010 | 7 to MLB | WAR 30.5 | High WAR 24.0, OF Kevin Kiermaier, 31st rd
2011 | 7 to MLB | WAR 8.8 | High WAR 9.4, LHP Blake Snell, 1st rd
2012 | 6 to MLB | WAR 5.8 | High WAR 2.0, OF Andrew Toles, 3rd rd
2013 | 6 to MLB | WAR 0.5 | High WAR 1.3, RHP Ryne Stanek, 1st rd
2014 | 1 to MLB | WAR 0.0 | High WAR 0.00, OF Braxton Lee, 12th rd
2015 | 1 to MLB | WAR 0.7 | High WAR 0.7, 2B Brandon Lowe, 3rd rd
2016 | 0 to MLB | WAR 0.0 | High WAR N/A
2017 | 0 to MLB | WAR 0.0 | High WAR N/A

The highest WAR to date, both total and individual, is from 2006. The bulk of the productivity comes from 3B Evan Longoria (1st round, 51.9 WAR), but OF Desmond Jennings (10th round, 13.4 WAR) and RHP Alex Cobb (4th round, 11.9 WAR) also contributed double-digit WAR for that draft class. Jennings's entire MLB career (7 seasons) was played for the Rays; he last played in 2016. Cobb played for the Rays in six of his seven seasons before signing with the Orioles as a free agent in 2018. But, obviously, the big story from this draft class is Evan Longoria. A three-time All-Star, Longoria was the American League Rookie of the Year in 2008 and went on to win three Gold Gloves and a Silver Slugger in his 10 seasons with the Rays. Longoria was traded to the Giants in December 2017 for four players, including two minor leaguers. Notably, Longoria's first season with the Giants in 2018 was the least productive offensive year of his career thus far.

2018 DRAFT
43 Drafted | 35 Signed | 20 Pitchers | 15 Position Players
27 College | 27 Signed | 17 Pitchers | 10 Position Players
5 JC/CC | 3 Signed | 1 Pitcher | 2 Position Players
11 HS/NS | 5 Signed | 2 Pitchers | 3 Position Players

Notable: The Rays received one additional draft pick for Competitive Balance (Round B). They were also awarded two first round compensatory picks, one for losing free agent RHP Alex Cobb to the Orioles and one for failure to sign 2017 first round supplemental draft pick RHP Drew Rasmussen. Tampa Bay signed their first 23 draft picks with the top holdout being 21st round HS RHP Kerry Wright.

PITCHERS
All of the 20 pitchers signed (14 RHP, 6 LHP) logged at least some playing time. One player was promoted beyond the Short Season A* level (to Full Season A). Two of the pitchers debuted on MLB Pipeline's Top 30 Prospect list for the Rays, both in the Top 10.

Top Prospects

🔟 LHP Matthew Liberatore, 1st round, Mountain Ridge HS (AZ), Rk
32.2 IP | 9 G / 9 GS | 1.38 ERA | 1.041 WHIP | 13 BB : 37 K

🔟 LHP Shane McClanahan, 1st round, University of South Florida, Rk
7 IP | 4 G / 4 GS | 0.00 ERA | 0.571 WHIP | 1 BB : 13 K

🔟 Top 10 Prospect

Noteworthy Debut

RHP Simon Rosenblum-Larson, 19h round, Harvard University, A
38.2 IP | 18 G / 0 GS | 1.16 ERA | 0.724 WHIP | 9 BB : 62 K | 8 Saves

RHP/OF Tanner Dodson (S/R), 2nd round, University of California, Berkeley, SSA
25 IP | 9 G / 0 GS | 1.44 ERA | 0.680 WHIP | 5 BB : 25 K
58 G | .273/.344/.369/.712 | 20 BB : 34 K
(Dodson is included in the Draft totals as a RHP, but could easily be included as an OF as well.)

In total, the Rays 2018 Draft pitchers combined for a 3.07 ERA and a 1.179 WHIP over 563.1 innings as compared to the 3.67 ERA and 1.299 WHIP (average of 376.2 innings per affiliate) compiled by the total 2018 Draft class in 2018.

POSITION PLAYERS
All of the 15 position players signed (2 1B, 2 2B, 3B, SS, 6 OF, 3 C) logged at least some playing time. (Note: One additional OF can be added to the totals breakdown to account for two-way player Tanner Dodson.) One player was promoted beyond the Short Season A* level, to Advanced A. Two players debuted on MLB Pipeline's Top 30 Prospect list for the Rays.

Top Prospects

OF Nick Schnell (L/R), 1st round, Roncalli HS (IN), Rk
19 G | .239/.378/.373/.751 | 14 BB : 23 K

2B Tyler Frank (R/R), 2nd round, Florida Atlantic University, SSA
51 G | .288/.425/.412/.837 | 33 BB : 28 K

Noteworthy Debut

1B Russ Olive (L/L), 29th round, University of Massachusetts Lowell, A+
58 G | .317/.410/.436/.845 | 32 BB : 53 K

OF Jordan Qsar (L/R), 25th round, Pepperdine University, SSA
62 G | .289/.422/.573/.996 | 50 BB : 80 K | 12 2B / 3 3B / 14 HR

In total, the Rays 2018 Draft position players combined to hit .265/.368/.388/.756 as compared to .261/.349/.386/.735 batting line compiled by the total 2018 Draft class in 2018.

*Notes on players include the highest level achieved for the 2018 season using the following abbreviations:
Rk = Rookie
SSA = Short Season A
A = Full Season A
A+ = Full Season A Advanced

GENERAL NOTES: Information was obtained from Baseball-Reference and the MLB Draft History site. The occasional discrepancy in historical information was resolved to the best of my ability by delving into the player information available on B-R. On the historical information, the player position in the totals reflects the position at which the player was drafted (and not any subsequent change of position). On the 2018 information, the player position reflects the primary position played in 2018 for all players who were signed and the position at which the player was drafted for those who did not sign. Prospect listings on MLB Pipeline were as of early January and may not reflect any subsequent changes to that site.

PREVIOUSLY

NL EAST
Atlanta Braves
Miami Marlins
New York Mets
Philadelphia Phillies
Washington Nationals
NL East 2018 Draft Summary

NL CENTRAL
Chicago Cubs
Cincinnati Reds
Milwaukee Brewers
Pittsburgh Pirates
St. Louis Cardinals
NL Central 2018 Draft Summary

NL WEST
Arizona Diamondbacks
Colorado Rockies
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants
NL West 2018 Draft Summary

AL EAST
Baltimore Orioles
Boston Red Sox
New York Yankees

COMING NEXT
Toronto Blue Jays

MLB Draft Deep Dive: New York Yankees

In order to satisfy my innate curiosity as it pertains to the MLB Draft, I have taken a comprehensive look at the 2018 draft for each of the 30 MLB organizations. But I also wanted to get an idea of what each of the teams had done for the 20 years prior so that is included as a prelude to the 2018 information. I'll be looking first at each team in each division, starting with the National League East, and then I'll follow up with a an overall look at both the historical draft results to date and the early 2018 results.

My goal is to get a better idea of the big picture as to how the systems compare in terms of draft results, as well as how a good or bad draft class affects a system, the overall impact of the draft on the baseball talent pool and the circuitous ways in which draft picks are used to bolster a system for which they may never even play. This project is just a first step. I intend to expand on this information over time (including a later revisit of the 2018 class and the addition of the 2019 class next offseason) and I will share my findings as I do so.

AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST

NEW YORK YANKEES

Historical Draft Results from 1998 through 2017 (TO DATE)
Drafted 947 | Signed 562 | Pitchers Signed 303 | Position Players Signed 259
Total WAR 187.9
Total Players to MLB 97

Note: The following players are listed at the position at which they were originally drafted.

1998 | 4 to MLB | WAR (1.5) | High WAR 0.3, LHP Brandon Claussen, 34th rd
1999 | 3 to MLB | WAR (0.4) | High WAR 0.4, 3B Andy Phillips, 7th rd
2000 | 4 to MLB | WAR (0.9) | High WAR 0.6, LHP Matt Smith, 4th rd
2001 | 7 to MLB | WAR 0.5 | High WAR 1.0, OF Shelley Duncan, 2nd rd
2002 | 5 to MLB | WAR 3.0 | High WAR 2.0, LHP Phil Coke, 26th rd
2003 | 4 to MLB | WAR 17.2 | High WAR 13.7, RHP Tyler Clippard, 9th rd
2004 | 4 to MLB | WAR 13.9 | High WAR 10.7, RHP Phil Hughes, 1st rd
2005 | 4 to MLB | WAR 59.2 | High WAR 37.5, OF Brett Gardner, 3rd rd
2006 | 10 to MLB | WAR 67.2 | High WAR 16.0, RHP David Robertson, 17th rd
2007 | 3 to MLB | WAR (0.7) | High WAR 0.1, RHP Andrew Brackman, 1st rd
2008 | 9 to MLB | WAR 3.0 | High WAR 4.8, RHP David Phelps, 14th rd
2009 | 6 to MLB | WAR 5.6 | High WAR 7.0, RHP Adam Warren, 4th rd
2010 | 9 to MLB | WAR 2.5 | High WAR 1.2, OF Ben Gamel, 10th rd
2011 | 6 to MLB | WAR 3.0 | High WAR 1.6, RHP Jon Brebbia, 30th rd
2012 | 6 to MLB | WAR 1.2 | High WAR 0.9, RHP Nick Goody, 6th rd
2013 | 7 to MLB | WAR 11.0 | High WAR 13.2, OF Aaron Judge, 1st rd
2014 | 3 to MLB | WAR 5.0 | High WAR 3.5, LHP Jordan Montgomery, 4th rd
2015 | 3 to MLB | WAR (0.9) | High WAR (0.2), RHP Chance Adams, 5th rd
2016 | 0 to MLB | WAR 0.0 | High WAR N/A
2017 | 0 to MLB | WAR 0.0 | High WAR N/A

The highest WAR to date goes to OF Brett Gardner (2005, 3rd round, 37.5 WAR) with 2006 representing the high total WAR. Gardner has played for the Yankees for 11 seasons so far and has one Gold Glove, one All-Star nod and one World Series ring to show for it. Out of the Yankees 2006 Draft class, the top five contributors are RHP David Robertson (17th round, 16.0 WAR), RHP Ian Kennedy (1st round, 15.4 WAR), RHP Dellin Betances (8th round, 11.6 WAR), RHP Mark Melancon (9th round, 10.0 WAR) and RHP Joba Chamberlain (1st round, 7.6 WAR). Robertson has spent parts of nine seasons with the Yankees, including his one All-Star year in 2011. Prior to reaching his prime, Kennedy was sent to the Diamondbacks in a three-team trade (December 2009) that netted the Yankees OF Curtis Granderson. Betances has been a life-long Yankee thus far, with four All-Star appearances to his name. Melancon was traded early in his career to Houston for one subpar season of 1B Lance Berkman. And Chamberlain was with the Yankees for seven seasons before leaving via free agency in 2013.

2018 DRAFT
40 Drafted | 34 Signed | 19 Pitchers | 15 Position Players
29 College | 28 Signed | 18 Pitchers | 10 Position Players
2 JC/CC | 2 Signed | 1 Pitcher | 1 Position Player
9 HS/NS | 4 Signed | 0 Pitchers | 4 Position Players

Notable: The Yankees signed all of their first 30 picks.

PITCHERS
All but three of the 19 pitchers signed (18 RHP, 1 LHP) logged at least some playing time. None of the players were promoted beyond the Short Season A* level. One of the pitchers debuted on MLB Pipeline's Top 30 Prospect list for the Yankees.

Top Prospects

RHP Frank German, 4th round, University of North Florida, SSA
30.1 IP | 11 G / 5 GS | 2.08 ERA | 0.923 WHIP | 6 BB : 41 K

Noteworthy Debut

RHP Rodney Hutchison, 6th round, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, SSA
32 IP | 9 G / 6 GS | 1.97 ERA | 1.000 WHIP | 6 BB : 31 K

In total, the Boston 2018 Draft pitchers combined for a 3.85 ERA and a 1.274 WHIP over 301.1 innings as compared to the 3.67 ERA and 1.299 WHIP (average of 376.2 innings per affiliate) compiled by the total 2018 Draft class in 2018.

POSITION PLAYERS
All of the 15 position players signed (1B, 3 2B, 3B, 2 SS, 4 OF, 4 C) logged at least some playing time. Three players were promoted beyond the Short Season A* level (one to Full Season A and two to Advanced A). Three players debuted on MLB Pipeline's Top 30 Prospect list for the Yankees, one as a Top 10 prospect. In addition, 2018 draft pick OF Josh Stowers who was obtained by the Yankees in a January 2019 trade with the Mariners is also a Top 30 prospect for the team.

Top Prospects

🔟 C Anthony Seigler (S/R), 1st round, Cartersville HS (GA), Rk
24 G | .266/.379/.342/.721 | 14 BB : 12 K

C Josh Breaux (R/R), 2nd round, McLennan Community College, SSA
30 G | .269/.289/.352/.641 | 4 BB : 21 K

OF Ryder Green (R/R), 3rd round, Karns HS (TN), Rk
26 G | .203/.316/.392/.708 | 11 BB : 35 K

🔟 Top 10 Prospect

Noteworthy Debut

1B Mickey Gasper (S/R), 27th round, Bryant College, A
43 G | .257/.393/.493/.886 | 30 BB : 21 K

In total, the Yankees 2018 Draft position players combined to hit .237/.335/.363/.698 as compared to .261/.349/.386/.735 batting line compiled by the total 2018 Draft class in 2018.

*Notes on players include the highest level achieved for the 2018 season using the following abbreviations:
Rk = Rookie
SSA = Short Season A
A = Full Season A
A+ = Full Season A Advanced

GENERAL NOTES: Information was obtained from Baseball-Reference and the MLB Draft History site. The occasional discrepancy in historical information was resolved to the best of my ability by delving into the player information available on B-R. On the historical information, the player position in the totals reflects the position at which the player was drafted (and not any subsequent change of position). On the 2018 information, the player position reflects the primary position played in 2018 for all players who were signed and the position at which the player was drafted for those who did not sign. Prospect listings on MLB Pipeline were as of early January and may not reflect any subsequent changes to that site.

PREVIOUSLY

NL EAST
Atlanta Braves
Miami Marlins
New York Mets
Philadelphia Phillies
Washington Nationals
NL East 2018 Draft Summary

NL CENTRAL
Chicago Cubs
Cincinnati Reds
Milwaukee Brewers
Pittsburgh Pirates
St. Louis Cardinals
NL Central 2018 Draft Summary

NL WEST
Arizona Diamondbacks
Colorado Rockies
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants
NL West 2018 Draft Summary

AL EAST
Baltimore Orioles
Boston Red Sox

COMING NEXT
Tampa Bay Rays

MLB Draft Deep Dive: Boston Red Sox

In order to satisfy my innate curiosity as it pertains to the MLB Draft, I have taken a comprehensive look at the 2018 draft for each of the 30 MLB organizations. But I also wanted to get an idea of what each of the teams had done for the 20 years prior so that is included as a prelude to the 2018 information. I'll be looking first at each team in each division, starting with the National League East, and then I'll follow up with a an overall look at both the historical draft results to date and the early 2018 results.

My goal is to get a better idea of the big picture as to how the systems compare in terms of draft results, as well as how a good or bad draft class affects a system, the overall impact of the draft on the baseball talent pool and the circuitous ways in which draft picks are used to bolster a system for which they may never even play. This project is just a first step. I intend to expand on this information over time (including a later revisit of the 2018 class and the addition of the 2019 class next offseason) and I will share my findings as I do so.

AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST

BOSTON RED SOX

Historical Draft Results from 1998 through 2017 (TO DATE)
Drafted 946 | Signed 540 | Pitchers Signed 263 | Position Players Signed 277
Total WAR 433.9
Total Players to MLB 94

Note: The following players are listed at the position at which they were originally drafted.

1998 | 5 to MLB | WAR 16.1 | High WAR 12.6, OF Adam Everett, 1st rd
1999 | 4 to MLB | WAR 7.9 | High WAR 8.3, OF Lew Ford, 12th rd
2000 | 6 to MLB | WAR 19.2 | High WAR 15.9, SS Freddy Sanchez, 11th rd
2001 | 2 to MLB | WAR 41.0 | High WAR 32.6, 3B Kevin Youkilis, 8th rd
2002 | 3 to MLB | WAR 48.0 | High WAR 43.8, LHP Jon Lester, 2nd rd
2003 | 4 to MLB | WAR 36.2 | High WAR 23.5, RHP Jonathan Papelbon, 4th rd
2004 | 4 to MLB | WAR 54.5 | High WAR 52.1, SS Dustin Pedroia, 2nd rd
2005 | 6 to MLB | WAR 65.4 | High WAR 31.1, OF Jacoby Ellsbury, 1st rd
2006 | 9 to MLB | WAR 39.3 | High WAR 24.0, OF Josh Reddick, 17th rd
2007 | 6 to MLB | WAR 36.6 | High WAR 28.8, 1B Anthony Rizzo, 6th rd
2008 | 9 to MLB | WAR (2.9) | High WAR 1.0, C Christian Vazquez, 9th rd
2009 | 6 to MLB | WAR 5.5 | High WAR 5.6, RHP Alex Wilson, 2nd rd
2010 | 5 to MLB | WAR (1.5) | High WAR 0.1, RHP Brandon Workman, 2nd rd
2011 | 8 to MLB | WAR 61.1 | High WAR 35.2, SS Mookie Betts, 5th rd
2012 | 9 to MLB | WAR 1.4 | High WAR 1.6, LHP Brian Johnson, 1st rd
2013 | 2 to MLB | WAR (0.6) | High WAR 0.0, RHP Kyle Martin, 9th rd
2014 | 3 to MLB | WAR (0.8) | High WAR 0.1, RHP Michael Kopech, 1st rd
2015 | 3 to MLB | WAR 7.5 | High WAR 7.0, OF Andrew Benintendi, 1st rd
2016 | 0 to MLB | WAR 0.0 | High WAR N/A
2017 | 0 to MLB | WAR 0.0 | High WAR N/A

The highest WAR to date goes to 2B Dustin Pedroia (2004, 2nd round, 52.1 WAR) with 2005 representing the high total WAR. Out of the Red Sox 2005 Draft class, three players contributed double-digit WAR: OF Jacoby Ellsbury (1st round, 31.1 WAR), RHP Clay Buchholz (1st round, 18.0 WAR) and SS Jed Lowrie (1st round, 17.6 WAR). Ellsbury played for the Red Sox for seven seasons (earning a Gold Glove, Silver Slugger and All-Star nod in 2011) before leaving via free agency after the 2013 season. Buchholz, a two-time All-Star, wore a Red Sox uniform for 10 seasons before being traded to Philadelphia in late 2016. Lowrie was with Boston for four seasons before being traded to Houston in 2011 (and his most productive years, overall, have been in Oakland). Pedroia, on the other hand, has never played for a team other than Boston. He was the American League Rookie of the Year in 2007 and AL MVP in 2008, has earned four Gold Gloves and a Silver Slugger, has been named to the All-Star team four times and has earned World Series rings in 2007, 2013 and 2018, however, he was prohibited from playing in the Red Sox 2018 postseason due to injuries.

2018 DRAFT
40 Drafted | 28 Signed | 13 Pitchers | 15 Position Players
22 College | 19 Signed | 10 Pitchers | 9 Position Players
3 JC/CC | 2 Signed | 2 Pitchers | 0 Position Players
15 HS/NS | 7 Signed | 1 Pitcher | 6 Position Players

Notable: The Red Sox failed to sign two of their top 20 picks with the top holdout being 14th round HS 2B Nicholas Lucky.

PITCHERS
All of the 13 pitchers signed (10 RHP, 3 LHP) logged at least some playing time. One of the players was promoted beyond the Short Season A* level, to Advanced A. One of the pitchers debuted on MLB Pipeline's Top 30 Prospect list for the Red Sox.

Top Prospects

RHP Durbin Feltman, 3rd round, Texas Christian University, A+
23.1 IP | 22 G / 0 GS | 1.93 ERA | 0.986 WHIP | 5 BB : 36 K | 4 Saves

Noteworthy Debut

RHP Kris Jackson, 28th round, Corbin College, SSA
26.1 IP | 19 G / 0 GS | 0.68 ERA | 1.101 WHIP | 5 BB : 29 K | 5 Saves

In total, the Boston 2018 Draft pitchers combined for a 2.83 ERA and a 1.239 WHIP over 295.1 innings as compared to the 3.67 ERA and 1.299 WHIP (average of 376.2 innings per affiliate) compiled by the total 2018 Draft class in 2018.

POSITION PLAYERS
All of the 15 position players signed (1B, 2B, 3 3B, 2 SS, 6 OF, 2 C) logged at least some playing time. Two players were promoted beyond the Short Season A* level (to Full Season A). Four players debuted on MLB Pipeline's Top 30 Prospect list for the Red Sox, one as a Top 10 prospect.

Top Prospects

🔟 3B Triston Casas (L/R), 1st round, American Heritage HS (FL), Rk
2 G | .000/.200/.000/.200 | 1 BB : 2 K

OF Nick Decker (L/L), 2nd round, Senaca HS (NJ), Rk
2 G | .250/.400/.500/.900 | 1 BB : 1 K

3B Nicholas Northcut (R/R), 11th round, William Mason HS (OH), SSA
47 G | .223/.303/.319/.622 | 16 BB : 55 K

3B Brandon Howlett (R/R), 21st round, George Jenkins HS (FL), SSA
44 G | .289/.402/.513/.915 | 28 BB : 41 K

🔟 Top 10 Prospect

Noteworthy Debut

OF Jarren Duran (L/R), 7th round, California State University Long Beach, A
67 G | .357/.394/.516/.910 | 16 BB : 48 K | 24 SB : 10 CS | 14 2B / 11 3B / 3 HR

In total, the Red Sox 2018 Draft position players combined to hit .266/.347/.374/.721 as compared to .261/.349/.386/.735 batting line compiled by the total 2018 Draft class in 2018.

*Notes on players include the highest level achieved for the 2018 season using the following abbreviations:
Rk = Rookie
SSA = Short Season A
A = Full Season A
A+ = Full Season A Advanced

GENERAL NOTES: Information was obtained from Baseball-Reference and the MLB Draft History site. The occasional discrepancy in historical information was resolved to the best of my ability by delving into the player information available on B-R. On the historical information, the player position in the totals reflects the position at which the player was drafted (and not any subsequent change of position). On the 2018 information, the player position reflects the primary position played in 2018 for all players who were signed and the position at which the player was drafted for those who did not sign. Prospect listings on MLB Pipeline were as of early January and may not reflect any subsequent changes to that site.

PREVIOUSLY

NL EAST
Atlanta Braves
Miami Marlins
New York Mets
Philadelphia Phillies
Washington Nationals
NL East 2018 Draft Summary

NL CENTRAL
Chicago Cubs
Cincinnati Reds
Milwaukee Brewers
Pittsburgh Pirates
St. Louis Cardinals
NL Central 2018 Draft Summary

NL WEST
Arizona Diamondbacks
Colorado Rockies
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants
NL West 2018 Draft Summary

AL EAST
Baltimore Orioles

COMING NEXT
New York Yankees

MLB Draft Deep Dive: Baltimore Orioles

In order to satisfy my innate curiosity as it pertains to the MLB Draft, I have taken a comprehensive look at the 2018 draft for each of the 30 MLB organizations. But I also wanted to get an idea of what each of the teams had done for the 20 years prior so that is included as a prelude to the 2018 information. I'll be looking first at each team in each division, starting with the National League East, and then I'll follow up with a an overall look at both the historical draft results to date and the early 2018 results.

My goal is to get a better idea of the big picture as to how the systems compare in terms of draft results, as well as how a good or bad draft class affects a system, the overall impact of the draft on the baseball talent pool and the circuitous ways in which draft picks are used to bolster a system for which they may never even play. This project is just a first step. I intend to expand on this information over time (including a later revisit of the 2018 class and the addition of the 2019 class next offseason) and I will share my findings as I do so.

AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST

BALTIMORE ORIOLES

Historical Draft Results from 1998 through 2017 (TO DATE)
Drafted 937 | Signed 603 | Pitchers Signed 311 | Position Players Signed 292
Total WAR 236.7
Total Players to MLB 81

Note: The following players are listed at the position at which they were originally drafted.

1998 | 2 to MLB | WAR (0.1) | High WAR 0.2, OF Tim Raines, 6th rd
1999 | 7 to MLB | WAR 53.7 | High WAR 30.4, SS Brian Roberts, 1st rd
2000 | 1 to MLB | WAR (0.5) | High WAR (0.5), OF Kurt Birkins, 33rd rd
2001 | 5 to MLB | WAR 12.5 | High WAR 8.1, RHP Jim Johnson, 5th rd
2002 | 5 to MLB | WAR (0.6) | High WAR 3.9, RHP John Maine, 6th rd
2003 | 5 to MLB | WAR 32.1 | High WAR 32.4, OF Nick Markakis, 1st rd
2004 | 3 to MLB | WAR 3.1 | High WAR 2.9, RHP Brad Bergesen, 4th rd
2005 | 4 to MLB | WAR 6.4 | High WAR 6.5, RHP David Hernandez, 16th rd
2006 | 5 to MLB | WAR 10.4 | High WAR 11.7, LHP Zach Britton, 3rd rd
2007 | 4 to MLB | WAR 42.3 | High WAR 24.5, RHP Jake Arrieta, 5th rd
2008 | 8 to MLB | WAR 6.2 | High WAR 4.5, C Caleb Joseph, 7th rd
2009 | 4 to MLB | WAR 6.0 | High WAR 5.8, SS Mychal Givens, 2nd rd
2010 | 4 to MLB | WAR 35.8 | High WAR 33.8, SS Manny Machado, 1st rd
2011 | 5 to MLB | WAR 10.4 | High WAR 5.5, RHP Zach Davies, 26th rd
2012 | 3 to MLB | WAR 14.9 | High WAR 11.3, RHP Kevin Gausman, 1st rd
2013 | 8 to MLB | WAR 4.3 | High WAR 2.5, 1B Trey Mancini, 8th rd
2014 | 4 to MLB | WAR 0.1 | High WAR 0.8, RHP David Hess, 5th rd
2015 | 3 to MLB | WAR 0.2 | High WAR 0.5, OF D. J. Stewart, 1st rd
2016 | 1 to MLB | WAR (0.5) | High WAR (0.5), OF Austin Hayes, 3rd rd
2017 | 0 to MLB | WAR 0.0 | High WAR N/A

The highest WAR to date goes to 3B Manny Machado (2010, 1st round, 33.8 WAR) with 1999 representing the high total WAR. The most productive players of the 1999 Orioles Draft class were 2B Brian Roberts (1st round, 30.4 WAR) and LHP Erik Bedard (6th round, 17.3 WAR). The Orioles certainly got their money's worth out of two-time All-Star Roberts who spent 13 of his 14 MLB seasons with Baltimore. However, Bedard actually earned the Orioles more overall value than Roberts when one considers that, after providing 12.8 WAR in five seasons with Baltimore, Bedard was straight up traded to the Mariners for five players, two of whom went on to play several years for the team -- OF Adam Jones (31.5 WAR over 11 seasons) and RHP Chris Tillman (9.3 WAR over 10 seasons). Machado was also involved in a straight up trade (with the Dodgers in July 2018) for five players, but since four of the five players are still minor leaguers, it will likely take a long time to determine how that trade works out for the Orioles. However, the trade did not work as intended for the Dodgers; they obtained Machado as a rental player to help them in the World Series, but they fell short and Machado is now a free agent.

2018 DRAFT
40 Drafted | 32 Signed | 16 Pitchers | 16 Position Players
26 College | 23 Signed | 10 Pitchers | 13 Position Players
2 JC/CC | 1 Signed | 0 Pitchers | 1 Position Player
12 HS/NS | 8 Signed | 6 Pitchers | 2 Position Players

Notable: The Orioles received one additional draft pick for Competitive Balance (Round A), but forfeited their second round pick by signing free agent RHP Alex Cobb. Baltimore signed their first 19 picks; the first holdout was 20th round RHP Caleb Kilian out of Texas Tech.

PITCHERS
All of the 16 pitchers signed (10 RHP, 6 LHP) logged at least some playing time. None of these players were promoted beyond the Short Season A* level. Two of the pitchers debuted on MLB Pipeline's Top 30 Prospect list for the Orioles, both as Top 10 prospects.

Top Prospects

🔟 RHP Grayson Rodriguez, 1st round, Central Heights HS (TX), Rk
19.1 IP | 9 G / 8 GS | 1.40 ERA | 1.241 WHIP | 7 BB : 20 K

🔟 RHP Blaine Knight, 3rd round, University of Arkansas, SSA
10.1 IP | 4 G / 4 GS | 2.61 ERA | 1.548 WHIP | 3 BB : 8 K

🔟 Top 10 Prospect

Noteworthy Debut

LHP Kevin Magee, 9th round, St. John's University, SSA
38 IP | 15 G / 3 GS | 1.66 ERA | 1.000 WHIP | 10 BB : 35 K

In total, the Orioles 2018 Draft pitchers combined for a 3.97 ERA and a 1.449 WHIP over 330.2 innings as compared to the 3.67 ERA and 1.299 WHIP (average of 376.2 innings per affiliate) compiled by the total 2018 Draft class in 2018.

POSITION PLAYERS
Of the 16 position players signed (1B, 2B, 2 3B, 3 SS, 6 OF, 3 C), all but two logged at least some playing time. One player was promoted beyond the Short Season A* level (to Full Season A). Two players debuted on MLB Pipeline's Top 30 Prospect list for the Orioles, one as a Top 10 prospect.

Top Prospects

🔟 SS Cadyn Grenier (R/R), 1st round, Oregon State University, A
43 G | .216/.297/.333/.630 | 17 BB : 53 K

OF Robert Neustrom (L/L), 5th round, University of Iowa, SSA
61 G | .272/.313/.404/.716 | 13 BB : 45 K

🔟 Top 10 Prospect

In total, the Orioles 2018 Draft position players combined to hit .219/.298/.322/.619 as compared to .261/.349/.386/.735 batting line compiled by the total 2018 Draft class in 2018.

*Notes on players include the highest level achieved for the 2018 season using the following abbreviations:
Rk = Rookie
SSA = Short Season A
A = Full Season A
A+ = Full Season A Advanced

GENERAL NOTES: Information was obtained from Baseball-Reference and the MLB Draft History site. The occasional discrepancy in historical information was resolved to the best of my ability by delving into the player information available on B-R. On the historical information, the player position in the totals reflects the position at which the player was drafted (and not any subsequent change of position). On the 2018 information, the player position reflects the primary position played in 2018 for all players who were signed and the position at which the player was drafted for those who did not sign. Prospect listings on MLB Pipeline were as of early January and may not reflect any subsequent changes to that site.

PREVIOUSLY

NL EAST
Atlanta Braves
Miami Marlins
New York Mets
Philadelphia Phillies
Washington Nationals
NL East 2018 Draft Summary

NL CENTRAL
Chicago Cubs
Cincinnati Reds
Milwaukee Brewers
Pittsburgh Pirates
St. Louis Cardinals
NL Central 2018 Draft Summary

NL WEST
Arizona Diamondbacks
Colorado Rockies
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants
NL West 2018 Draft Summary

COMING NEXT
Boston Red Sox