by James Vlietstra
June 30, 2023
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This article continues the study I shared previously. The following are the first two installments:
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I’ve had several people saying that it’s obvious that the Yankees have had some very bad drafts. But how bad do they compare to other teams?
To address this question, I’ve done some more research. I went back to the same starting point of 1998 and looked at 20 years to drafts, stopping at 2017.
Here are the totals for all 30 teams’ first round picks during this period based on WAR, taken from Baseball Reference. The top number will be WAR, second is how many players made the majors, the third number is how many players signed, and fourth is how many total first round picks they had.
The teams are ranked by total accumulated bWAR from the drafts from 1998-2017.
1.Arizona Diamondbacks
233.4 WAR
25 Majors
31 signed
32 picks
2. Oakland Athletics
226.2 WAR
29 Majors
38 signed
38 picks
3. Philadelphia Phillies
223.4 WAR
16 Majors
22 signed
22 picks
4. St. Louis Cardinals
206.9 WAR
26 Majors
38 signed
39 picks
5. Kansas City Royals
190.6 WAR
23 Majors
32 signed
32 picks
6. Washington Nationals/ Montreal Expos
187.6 WAR
19 Majors
25 signed
26 picks
7. Minnesota Twins
185.2 WAR
21 Majors
33 signed
34 picks
8. Tampa Bay Rays
183.3 WAR
19 Majors
30 signed
32 picks
9. San Francisco Giants
179.2 WAR
27 Majors
33 signed
33 picks
10. Los Angeles Dodgers
173.2 WAR
20 Majors
28 signed
30 picks
11. Baltimore Orioles
173 WAR
20 Majors
32 signed
33 picks
12. Milwaukee Brewers
171.6 WAR
16 Majors
28 signed
29 picks
13. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
171.5 WAR
20 Majors
26 signed
26 picks
14. Chicago Cubs
167.5 WAR
18 Majors
26 signed
26 picks
T-15. Atlanta Braves
160.3 WAR
21 Majors
31 signed
31 picks
T-15. Houston Astros
160.3 WAR
16 Majors
25 signed
26 picks
17. Pittsburgh Pirates
156.7 WAR
21 Majors
24 signed
26 picks
18. Cleveland Indians/ Guardians
152.6 WAR
19 Majors
29 signed
30 picks
19. Miami Marlins
152.1 WAR
21 Majors
26 signed
27 picks
20 New York Mets
149.1 WAR
21 Majors
24 signed
24 picks
21. Colorado Rockies
147.3 WAR
23 Majors
30 signed
31 picks
22. Detroit Tigers
146.3 WAR
18 Majors
24 signed
24 picks
23. Toronto Blue Jays
146.2 WAR
25 Majors
37 signed
40 picks
24. Cincinnati Reds
144.2 WAR
22 Majors
30 signed
31 picks
25. Texas Rangers
140.3 WAR
24 Majors
34 signed
36 picks
26. Chicago White Sox
139.7 WAR
19 Majors
30 signed
30 picks
27. Boston Red Sox
139.4 WAR
29 Majors
37 signed
37 picks
28. San Diego Padres
130 WAR
24 Majors
40 signed
42 picks
29. Seattle Mariners
86.8 WAR
16 Majors
20 signed
21 picks
30. New York Yankees
78.3 WAR
12 Majors
26 signed
28 picks
In conclusion, based on the research I did, the Yankees have missed on their first round picks more often than any other organization in Major League Baseball over the past 25 years. And in all honesty it’s not even particularly that close.
Of all 30 teams, the Mariners had the fewest first round picks over the 20 year span covered. The Mariners are 33 WAR behind the third worst Padres and are still 8.5 above the Yankees. Ironically the Phillies had the second fewest first round picks at 22 and their front office was able to finish in the top three.
Sorry you did all that research but failed to recognize the Yankees have had the most successful win percentage over same period thus they consistently had a late first round pick every season with maybe 2 exceptions. Also they’ve had a top 5 minor league system a few times throughout past decade so I think you’re being completely unfair and particularly bias with this article.