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 401-450
Total WAR: 662.0 (13.2 per player)
High WAR: Albert Pujols (88.7)
Low WAR: Geno Espineli (-0.1)
Hall of Famers: None
Most Valuable Players: Albert Pujols 3 (2005, 2008-09)
Cy Youngs: Orel Hershiser (1988)
Rookies of the Year: Albert Pujols (2001)
401 – Jim Eisenreich, OF, Minnesota Twins (1980)
402 – Albert Pujols, 3B, St. Louis Cardinals (1999)
403 – Juan Acevedo***, RHP, Colorado Rockies (1992)
404 – Vern Ruhle, RHP, Detroit Tigers (1972)
405 – Rick Honeycutt, 1B, Pittsburgh Pirates (1976)
406 – Ron Wotus, SS, Pittsburgh Pirates (1979)
407 – Skeeter Barnes, 2B, Cincinnati Reds (1978)
408 – Khalil Greene, SS, Chicago Cubs (2001)
409 – Michael Kohn, RHP, Los Angeles Angels (2008)
410 – Dexter Fowler, OF, Colorado Rockies (2004)
411 – Steve Olin, RHP, Cleveland Indians (1987)
412 – Dave Frost, RHP, Chicago White Sox (1974)
413 – Oil Can Boyd, RHP, Boston Red Sox (1980)
414 – Bill Mueller, SS, San Francisco Giants (1993)
415 – Darren Holmes***, RHP, Los Angeles Dodgers (1984)
416 – Tony Phillips, SS, Seattle Mariners (1977)
417 – Buddy Black, LHP, Seattle Mariners (1979)
418 – Dick Tidrow, RHP, Washington Senators (1965)
419 – Rick Peters, INF, Minnesota Twins (1973)
420 – Casper Wells, OF, Detroit Tigers (2005)
421 – Louis Coleman, RHP, Washington Nationals (2008)
422 – Ron Hassey, C, Cleveland Indians (1976)
423 – Calvin Schiraldi, RHP, Chicago White Sox (1980)
424 – Dante Bichette, OF, California Angels (1984)
425 – Jose Cruz, OF, Atlanta Braves (1992)
426 – Ryan Church, OF, Cleveland Indians (2000)
427 – Gregg Zaun, C, Baltimore Orioles (1989)
428 – Kenny Lofton, OF, Houston Astros (1988)
429 – Scott Bankhead***, RHP, Pittsburgh Pirates (1981)
430 – Geno Espineli, LHP, San Francisco Giants (2004)
431 – Chris Wakeland, OF, Detroit Tigers (1996)
432 – Doug DeCinces, 3B, San Diego Padres (1969)
433 – Brandon Lyon, RHP, Toronto Blue Jays (1999)
434 – Freddie Patek, SS, Pittsburgh Pirates (1965)
435 – Kevin Gregg, RHP, Oakland Athletics (1996)
436 – Bubba Trammell, 3B, Baltimore Orioles (1992)
437 – Brian Giles, OF, Cleveland Indians (1989)
438 – Rich Rodriguez, LHP, Kansas City Royals (1981)
439 – Will Venable, OF, Baltimore Orioles (2004)
440 – Orel Hershiser, RHP, Los Angeles Dodgers (1979)
441 – Josh Towers, RHP, Baltimore Orioles (1996)
442 – Larry Bradford, LHP, Atlanta Braves (1973)
443 – Chuck Crim, RHP, Milwaukee Brewers (1982)
444 – Garrett Jones, 1B, Atlanta Braves (1999)
445 – Terry Bradshaw, SS, New York Yankees (1987)
446 – Dennis Cook, OF, San Francisco Giants (1985)
447 – Eric Show, RHP, San Diego Padres (1978)
448 – Mark Salas, C, St. Louis Cardinals (1979)
449 – NatE. Robertson, LHP, Chicago White Sox (1998)
450 – Mark Grudzielanek***, SS, New York Mets (1989)
Player Listed Was Second-Highest; First Highest Already Appeared (Denoted By Triple Asterisk)
403 – John Farrell
415 – Frank Viola
429 – Gary Redus
450 – Tim Salmon
