Historical Draft Review - Wrapup

With the draft just hours away, I wanted to wrap up the draft reviews everybody begins to look to the future.

Year WARP Best Pick (Player from pick who accumulated most value)

1. 1976 292.0 Alan Trammell
2. 1975 184.8 Lou Whitaker
3. 1974 149.0 Lance Parrish
4. 1998 85.4 Jeff Weaver

5. 1987 54.7 Travis Fryman
6. 1992 51.8 Bobby Higginson
7 1980 40.3 Glenn Wilson (Willie Hernandez)

8. 1989 39.2 Greg Gohr (Damion Easley)
9. 1991 38.1 Justin Thompson
10. 1984 37.9 Mike Henneman
11. 1978 35.6 Kirk Gibson

12. 1977 33.7 Mike Chris (Larry Herndon)
13. 1983 32.6 Jeff Robinson (Mickey Tettleton)

14. 1981 31.7 Bob Melvin (Matt Nokes)
15. 1972 31.6 Verne Ruhle

16. 2002 27.6 Curtis Granderson

17. 1979 25.4 Howard Johnson (Walt Terrell)

18. 1988 24.4 Rich Rowland (Todd Jones)

19. 1993 23.4 Brian Moehler

20. 1990 22.3 Tony Clark

21. 2004 14.6 Justin Verlander

22. 1970 14.4 Phil Mankowski

23. 1971 11.6 Jim Perry

24. 1969 11.3 Lerrin LaGrow

25. 1985 11.1 John Smoltz (Doyle Alexander)

26. 1996 9.4 Robert Fick

27. 2001 8.7 Matt Coenen (Chris Spurling)

28. 1986 7.4 Milt Cuyler

29. 1966 6.9 Les Cain

30. 1997 5.9 Matt Anderson

31. 2000 5.8 Nook Logan

32. 1995 5.4 Gabe Kapler

33. 2005 3.9 Kevin Whelan/Anthony Claggett (Gary Sheffield)

34. 1982 3.5 Rich Monteleone (Darnell Coles)

35. 1994 2.5 Daryle Ward

36. 1968 2.3 Bill Slayback

37. 1967 1.5 Dennis Saunders

38. 2006 1.5 Andrew Miller

39. 1999 1.4 Eric Munson

40. 2003 1.2 Brian Rogers (Sean Casey)

41. 1965 1.1 Gene Lamont (Bob Didier)

42. 1973 0.1 Bob Adams

43. 2007 0.0 No Major League Players

Draft Still Active

Obviously, this is a running total, a total that is probably outdated since I took the data just under two weeks ago. This is not to say that 2007 is the worst draft ever; the players just haven't made it to the Major Leagues quite yet. After this week, it will be tied with the 2008 draft. This next graph will show the percentage of value that the average draft has accumulated over time.

You can see a typical draft typically produces most of its value between 2 and 15 years after the draft occurred. It's probably best to wait at least 8-10 years to evaluate a draft or wait until no players remain from the draft. Finally, a few bits of random information:

• Gene Lamont was the first player ever taken by the Tigers in the draft. As of this moment, his son, Wade was one of the last players taken and signed from last year's draft.
• Andrew Miller was the first Tigers' draft pick to play in the Major Leagues the year he was drafted. For all the talk of how the Minors weren't needed "back in the day," that day was a time when baseball rules basically prohibited players from the Minors.
• First overall picks in the June Draft? Matt Anderson was the only one, although Steve Kemp was taken first overall in the January Draft.