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.)
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.
All-Time Draft: Picks 351-400
Total WAR: 679.4 (13.6 per player)
High WAR: Buddy Bell (60.8)
Low WAR: Jeff Baisley (-0.4)
Hall of Famers: None
Most Valuable Players: Jose Canseco (1986)
Cy Youngs: Steve Stone (1980); Mike Flanagan (1979)
Rookies of the Year: Gary Matthews (1973); Jose Canseco (1986)
351 – Mike Esposito**, RHP, Colorado Rockies (2002)
352 – Ernie Whitt, C, Boston Red Sox (1972)
353 – Jason Thompson, LHP, Los Angeles Dodgers (1972)
354 – Steve Stone, RHP, Cleveland Indians (1968)
355 – Mike Flanagan, LHP, Houston Astros (1971)
356 – Bob Meacham, SS, Chicago White Sox (1978)
357 – Darin Erstad, OF, New York Mets (1992)
358 – John Jaha, 3B, Milwaukee Brewers (1984)
359 – Dwayne Murphy, OF, Oakland Athletics (1973)
360 – Matthew Joyce, OF, Detroit Tigers (2005)
361 – Ron Cey, 3B, New York Mets (1966)
362 – Bill Risley, RHP, Cincinnati Reds (1987)
363 – Oscar Gamble, OF, Chicago Cubs (1968)
364 – Tom Murphy, RHP, Houston Astros (1965)
365 – Rick Matula, RHP, Montreal Expos (1972)
366 – Gary Matthews, OF, San Diego Padres (1993)
367 – Gerald Williams, OF, New York Yankees (1987)
368 – Jim Scranton, SS, Oakland Athletics (1978)
369 – Mark Hendrickson, LHP, Atlanta Braves (1992)
370 – Joe Davenport, RHP, Toronto Blue Jays (1994)
371 – Jeff Baisley, 3B, Oakland Athletics (2005)
372 – Chuck Finley, LHP, California Angels (1984)
373 – Joel Pineiro, RHP, Seattle Mariners (1997)
374 – Mike Williams, RHP, Philadelphia Phillies (1990)
375 – Buddy Bell, 2B, Cleveland Indians (1969)
376 – David Carpenter, C, St. Louis Cardinals (2006)
377 – Mark Langston, LHP, Chicago Cubs (1978)
378 – Adam Melhuse, 3B, Toronto Blue Jays (1993)
379 – Jack Perconte, 2B, Los Angeles Dodgers (1976)
380 – Derek Lilliquist, LHP, Boston Red Sox (1984)
381 – Gary Redus, SS, Cincinnati Reds (1978)
382 – Gary Lance, RHP, Chicago Cubs (1967)
383 – Jim York, RHP, Kansas City Royals (1969)
384 – Dave Stewart, RHP, Los Angeles Dodgers (1975)
385 – Darrell May, LHP, Oakland Athletics (1991)
386 – Antoan Richardson, OF, Arizona Diamondbacks (2004)
387 – Gene Garber, RHP, Pittsburgh Pirates (1965)
388 – Dave LaRoche, LHP, California Angels (1966)
389 – Josh Thole***, C, New York Mets (2005)
390 – Juan Pierre, OF, Colorado Rockies (1998)
391 – Rich DeLucia, RHP, Toronto Blue Jays (1985)
392 – Jose Canseco, 3B, Oakland Athletics (1982)
393 – Rick Henninger, RHP, Cincinnati Reds (1966)
394 – Daniel Murphy, 3B, New York Mets (2006)
395 – Mike Stanley, 1B, Texas Rangers (1985)
396 – Lenny Webster, C, Minnesota Twins (1982)
397 – Gary Lavelle, LHP, San Francisco Giants (1967)
398 – Tim Teufel, SS, Milwaukee Brewers (1978)
399 – Ray Burris***, RHP, Chicago Cubs (1972)
400 – Jamey Carroll, SS, Montreal Expos (1996)
Two Players With The Same High WAR (Denoted By Double Asterisk)
351 – Mark Gilbert (-0.1)
Player Listed Was Second-Highest; First Highest Already Appeared (Denoted By Triple Asterisk)
389 – Keith Foulke
399 – Terry Steinbach and Ken Forsch
