In preparing this year’s JAWS series, I noted that Harold Baines was a #1 pick in the 1977 amateur draft. What I didn’t touch on was how well Baines measures up among his fellow first picks, JAWS-wise. He won’t make the Hall, but he stands out among rather disappointing lot:
Name Year Pos Career Peak JAWS
Alex Rodriguez 1993 6 130.1 94.9 112.5
Ken Griffey Jr. 1987 8 130.9 79.4 105.2
Harold Baines 1977 9 102.4 49.8 76.1
Chipper Jones 1990 5 83.8 57.8 70.8
Darryl Strawberry 1980 9 73.8 53.9 63.9
B.J. Surhoff 1985 7 77.8 44.7 61.3
Rick Monday 1965 8 63.5 37.1 50.3
Darin Erstad 1995 8 53.0 44.8 48.9
Andy Benes 1988 1 55.9 40.6 48.3
Mike Moore 1981 1 52.9 41.3 47.1
Floyd Bannister 1976 1 50.5 37.1 43.8
Jeff Burroughs 1969 9 49.2 37.6 43.4
Tim Belcher 1983 1 47.4 36.0 41.7
Shawon Dunston 1982 6 48.5 32.0 40.3
Phil Nevin 1992 5 41.5 37.0 39.3
Bob Horner 1978 5 42.3 35.8 39.1
Pat Burrell 1998 7 38.2 38.2 38.2
Tim Foli 1968 6 44.4 30.6 37.5
Jeff King 1988 5 39.3 34.7 37.0
Ben McDonald 1989 1 37.1 35.7 36.4
Bill Almon 1974 6 26.9 24.4 25.7
Kris Benson 1996 1 24.8 24.8 24.8
Joe Mauer 2001 2 20.3 20.3 20.3
Mike Ivie 1970 3 15.9 16.2 16.1
Ron Blomberg 1967 3 14.0 14.1 14.1
Paul Wilson 1994 1 12.6 12.6 12.6
Dave Roberts 1972 5 10.3 11.0 10.7
Adrian Gonzalez 2000 3 8.4 8.4 8.4
Matt Anderson 1997 1 6.1 6.2 6.2
Shawn Abner 1984 8 3.8 3.8 3.8
David Clyde 1973 1 3.5 3.6 3.6
Danny Goodwin 1971/75 3 1.5 1.5 1.5
Delmon Young 2003 9 0.7 0.7 0.7
Al Chambers 1979 7 -0.1 -0.1 -0.1
No score: Steve Chilcott (1966), Brien Taylor (1991), Josh Hamilton (1999), Bryan Bullington (2002), Matt Bush (2004), Justin Upton (2005), Luke Hochevar (2006).
There’s probably a book in this chart. From the ‘66 Mets’ stupidity in passing over Reggie Jackson to the story of the first DH (Blomberg) to the cautionary tales of Clyde and Wilson to the Astros’ stupidity in passing over Derek Jeter in favor of Nevin despite scout Hal Newhouser’s advice (he quit in protest) to the tragic arc of Darryl Strawberry’s career (and Hamilton’s non-career) to brilliance of that Mariners’ duo atop the list, every single one of these guys has a story behind their eventual success or failure in the bigs. Speaking personally, I vaguely recall witnessing Chambers flailing away at Triple-A Salt Lake in the early ’80s, and I’ve always wondered what the Padres were thinking when they chose Almon out of Brown University (my alma mater), which isn’t exactly a hotbed of athletic talent. And I wonder how diffferent my childhood would have been if Reggie Jackson had already hit New York…
In any event, it’s pretty apparent that Junior Griffey will be the first of this lot to finally make Cooperstown, but that A-Rod will set a much higher bar for future #1s to top.
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