The Baseball Draft

The Nats will introduce their $16 million man today. He is a pitcher from San Diego State who was the number one draft pick this year. Pitchers have, of course, been notoriously tricky draft picks, with many more misses than hits. This is one of the reasons I don’t get too excited about first round draft picks. But I have been thinking about drafts of old. For example, only two players from the 1987 major league baseball draft are still active. One is Ken Griffey, Jr. The other, drafted in the 48th round, with 1150 players drafted ahead of him, is Brad Ausmus. Brad Ausmus, by the way, has never been on the disabled list throughout his major league career. So you never know. And the team that drafted Brad Ausmus? It was the New York Yankees.

Here are some other active players who were late round selections: Mike Lowell (20th round), Barry Zito (59th round), Jason Bay (22nd round) Roy Oswalt (23rd round), Ian Kinsler (17th round), Mark Buerhle (38th round), Brad Hawpe (47th round), Kevin Youklis (8th round), Trevor Hoffman (11th round), Tim Lincecum (48th round), and Jake Peavy (15th round). A veritable All-Star team.