As the No. 1 overall pick in the MLB Draft this week, college pitcher Stephen Strasburg became part of an elite club of only 14 pitchers that have ever been selected with the top pick.
That’s just under 32% in the draft’s 44-year history, pretty incredible considering how hot a commodity strong young arms are. Then again, when you look at the unlucky 13 that have come before Strasburg, he’s got a lot to overcome already if he hopes to be anything but average or worse.
Here’s a history of pitchers that have gone with the top spot in the Major League Baseball draft to help you understand what we’re dealing with here.
The 1970s
In 1973, left-hander David Clyde became the first pitcher selected No. 1 overall, earning him a then-record $125,000 signing bonus from the Texas Rangers. Per the terms of the to-be signed contract, the Westchester High School (TX) product was to pitch two MLB games before being sent to the minors – something that seems bizarre even by today’s standards.
But Clyde won his first two starts and became the youngest player ever to play in a major league game that season, going 4-8 with a 5.01 ERA that season. The Rangers saw a huge increase in ticket sales when he pitched, so unfortunately, Clyde didn’t get sent to the minors like he should have.
Of course, this helped lead to arm injuries that ruined a promising career at just 26. Clyde finished his career with an 18-33 record and a 4.63 ERA – not exactly the Ryan Express.
Three years later, another Texas team would draft a pitcher with the top spot as the Houston Astros selected Arizona State University product Floyd Bannister. Bannister really can’t be considered a failure as he pitched 15 years in the majors, but he was a bit of a journeyman with six major league clubs and one Japanese league team on his resume. The South Dakota native finished his career with a 134-143 mark and a 4.06 ERA.
The 1980s
The Seattle Mariners took their turn in 1981, selecting right-hander Mike Moore No. 1 overall. He made his major league debut a year later and pitched seven seasons with the Mariners. However, he is probably best known for his four-season run with the Oakland A’s, part of the ’89 World Series championship team that swept San Francisco. Moore won two games in that series and posted a 3-2 mark with a 3.29 ERA in five career postseason series.
Moore was an All-Star selection in ’89 and finished his career with a 161-176 record and 4.39 ERA with Seattle, Oakland and Detroit.
In 1983, Tim Belcher (great last name) was selected No. 1 by the Minnesota Twins after playing college ball at *ahem* powerhouse Mount Vernon Nazarene College (OH). However, Belcher decided not to sign with the Twins and then was chosen by the New York Yankees in the ’84 supplemental draft. However, he was later picked up by Oakland in something called the compensation pool and was later dealt to Los Angeles in a deal with Rick Honeycutt.
If you followed any of that, you’re a better person than I am.
Eventually, Belcher would debut with the Dodgers in late-1987 and was a member of the ’88 World Series championship team where he won three games in the postseason.
After a sensational 1989 where he led the National League with 10 complete games and eight shutouts while placing in the top ten in wins and ERA, he was dealt two seasons later to Cincinnati, the second of seven teams Belcher would pitch for his in his career.
The sometimes controversial Ohio native (see left for his altercation with Chan Ho Park) finished his career at 146-140 with a 4.16 ERA.
If you traded baseball cards in 1988, you knew who Andy Benes was – the No. 1 selection of the San Diego Padres that year. Benes was an All-Star in ’93 and finished 3rd in the NL Cy Young race in ’96 after an 18-10, 3.83 ERA campaign.
He played 14 seasons in the bigs for five clubs, posting career marks of 155-139, a 3.97 ERA and an even 2000 career strikeouts. He also pitched with brother Alan in two different seasons which isn’t statistically significant but pretty cool regardless.
Where we at?
So far, the pitchers taken as the top pick had decent careers – not necessarily superstars but all but one were legit major leaguers who competed for more than 14 seasons each. Not too shabby when you consider how many cups of coffee have been served to players since the creation of the majors eons ago.
But, this is where things began to go downhill.
After a horrific 1988 where they started 0-21, the Baltimore Orioles drafted Ben McDonald as the first overall selection in 1989. The 6’7″ right-hander was part of the ’88 Olympic Gold Medal team in Seoul, Korea, and reached the College World Series twice with LSU. Like David Clyde years before him, his first major league start was a great one – a complete game shutout in 1990.
In seven seasons with the Orioles, McDonald reached double-digit wins three times and sported a career-best 3.39 ERA in 1993. After leaving the club for Milwaukee via free agency, arm trouble began to mount and he was out of baseball by 1988. The College Baseball Hall-of-Famer didn’t have a terrible career by any stretch (78-70, 3.91 ERA) but hardly one that befitted being the No. 1 overall selection and one with so much promise.
Of note, McDonald was a Scott Boras client. Keep that in mind as we progress.
The 1990s
Then, there’s Brien Taylor.
Taylor was the long-drooled over New York Yankees prospect drafted No. 1 by the pinstripers in 1991. After being advised by (guess who) Scott Boras to hold out for Todd Van Poppel money (pitching prospect TVP had received a $1.2 million bonus with Oakland the year before), Taylor eventually would get a $1.55 million bonus – paltry by today’s standards but big at the time.
Perhaps it was karma, but Taylor’s career would take a quick downturn in 1993 when he suffered a torn labrum defending his brother in a fight. He lost his control and everything that had made him a hot prospect, eventually being released in 1998. He tried catching on with Seattle and Cleveland but to no avail.
Taylor shares a unique distinction with one other man – Steve Chilcott. Both men are the only two players in MLB history to be picked No. 1 overall and not reach the major leagues.
At one time, Paul Wilson was going to be part of one of the top young starting rotations in baseball as the New York Mets had assembled himself, Bill Pulispher and Jason Isringhausen to lead the Amazins into the 90s. That fell apart quite quickly as the Florid a State University product only pitched one season for New York due to a slew of injuries, going just 5-12 with a 5.38 ERA in 1996.
Wilson managed to pitch parts of seven seasons with New York, Tampa Bay and Cincinnati, but his career high in wins maxed at 11. He did pitch in the minors as recently as last season, but will likely never get the chance to improve his 40-58 career record in the big show.
Our next victim is still pitching today, but is better known for having a sexual freak of a wife (seen here)
that grabbed more headlines than he did. I’m talking about Kris Benson, the Clemson University product who fancied the eye of the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates in 1996 as the No. 1 overall selection. Like McDonald, he had Olympic experience, as he was part of the Bronze medal winning ’96 club.
Add Benson to the list of those top picks with arm troubles (Tommy John surgery in ’00 that caused him to miss all of ’01, rotator cuff tear that caused him to miss all of ’07) that have stunted a career.
After being dealt to the Mets (of course) in the summer of 2004 and a one year stint with Baltimore in 2006, Benson made the Texas Rangers club on a minor-league deal this season and is currently a long reliever.
Career totals to date? 69-74 and a 4.41 ERA over eight seasons with five years of double-digits wins. Career earnings to date? Roughly $38 million and oh, that little lady off to the right.
After setting Rice University records for career wins and saves, Matt Anderson seemed like a great No. 1 overall pick for the pitching-starved Detroit Tigers in 1997, who gave the Louisville, KY, son a $2.5 million signing bonus. After dominating the minors, Anderson went 5-1 with a 3.27 ERA and 44 k’s in 44 innings in 1998 – a positive sign for an organization that had Brian Moehler and Justin Thompson at the top of their rotation.
Then, the octopus happened. Yes. an octopus is now in this story.
Anderson was taking part in an octopus-throwing contest as part of a Detroit Red Wings playoff game promotion and tore an armpit muscle in the process. How this stuff happens, I’ll never understand. What really stunk for Anderson was losing all the velocity in his fastball as a result. He spent six seasons in Detroit, compiling a 15-7 record in relief with a career-best 22 saves in 2001 – less than what people expected after that hot start.
But an ERA in the high fours, Anderson soon found himself out of work and a 12.60 ERA in 10 innings with Colorado in 2005 didn’t help matters. At last note, he was still bouncing around in the minors, looking for revenge on a damn octopus that ruined his once-promising career.
The 2000s
You know, I feel bad for a guy like Bryan Bullington, who was picked by the worst franchise in baseball – Pittsburgh – in 2002 as the top overall selection. Did he deserve to be the top guy? Maybe, but the team passed on other players like Cole Hamels, BJ Upton and Prince Fielder because they thought they had a better chance to sign Bullington. Now, that’s confidence, I tells ya.
The right-hander was a great college pitcher at Ball State, but it really hasn’t translated to the bigs. A solid minor league pitcher, Bullington was released by the Pirates in 2008 after just six games over two seasons due to injuries. He spent three games in Cleveland in 2008 and is fighting for a spot with Toronto’s bullpen this year. Career totals to date? 0-5 and a 5.08 ERA. Ugh.
Technically, Luke Hochevar was the top overall selection in 2006, but there’s a big asterisk here as that was his third time in the draft. After being selected twice (!!!) by the Dodgers, there must have been something about Kansas City he liked as he inked a four year, $5.3 million deal with a $3.5 signing bonus after being drafted.
So far, the results are limited. In just 30 games spread over parts of three seasons, Hochevar is 7-15 with an ERA over 5 in 160 innings. The 26-year-old still has time to buck the trend, but he’s not in the best situation to do it. Maybe some of that early season Zack Greinke magic will rub off on him.
Finally, that brings us to 2008 Tampa Bay postseason hero David Price. The fireballer from Vanderbilt was taken 1st overall in the 2007 draft and was signed to a six-year, $8.5 million deal with a $5.6 million bonus, second-highest of all time…at this point anyway.
He made quite an impression during the Rays’ improbable playoff run, specifically during the ALCS Game 7 against Boston which we’ll just skip right on past.
So far, this season: 1-0 with a 2.45 ERA in five games. By all accounts, Price could be the guy to break the streak of pitchers taken with the overall top selection, but time will tell for the 23-year-old.
Today
At 20 years of age, Strasburg joined this illustrious list with his selection by the Washington Nationals this week. A 6’4″ 220-pound righty, the San Diego State junior is coming off a sensational 2009: 13-1, 1.32 ERA, 195 fanned in 109 innings pitched with just 19 walks and 16 earned runs. Good lord.
But if history tells us anything, Strasburg will be average at best with a slim chance to be great. He begins slightly behind the 8-ball with Washington, who will likely have to show immense patience in not rushing him to the majors too soon. (Good luck with that, Natty fans.) Upon his arrival, the expectation level will be unrealistic but perhaps the 20,000 empty seats for home games will be less intimidating.
However, there is no doubt that he’ll be filthy rich as Boras (him again?) is reportedly looking for a major-league level deal in the neighborhood of six years and $50 million, a deal that will raise hell with current ballplayers and rightfully so. Nothing like having a little added pressure before you’ve even thrown a single pitch in the bigs, eh Double-S?
Even for a No. 1 pick, the bar is set fairly low in Strasburg’s case. Like another well-known guy in Washington, it will be interesting to see whether he can change history or be doomed to repeat it.
Just stay away from the octopus.
Josh Nason is the publisher and main writer for Small White Ball, a New England-centric sports and media blog – hosted on the MVN Network. He can be reached at josh [at] smallwhiteball [dot-com] or @joshnason on Twitter.
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