Best players drafted by Minnesota Twins by round

I went through the history of the Minnesota Twins June Amateur draft choices to see who the best players were that the club drafted, signed and the player debuted with Minnesota across his chest. The player may or may not have played his entire career with the Twins but the WAR numbers are for their entire careers. Why are they ranked by WAR you may ask? Simple, I know of no other way to rank them, so right or wrong, I have chosen B-R WAR.

Twenty five of the 61 rounds shown have no players that qualified meaning that no one ever drafted in that round has made it to the majors with Minnesota. So if the Twins draft you in one of those rounds in the future, the odds are very much against you. Unless you have followed the Twins since day one, you might not recognize or remember some of these players.

The most recent addition to the list below is round 11 selection Taylor Rogers from the 2012 draft.

• Round 1 – Joe Mauer (C) in 2001 and Torii Hunter (OF) in 1993 – WAR 50.0
• Round 2 – Frank Viola (LHP) in 1981 – WAR 47.4
• Round 3 – Bert Blyleven (RHP) in 1969 – WAR 95.3
• Round 4 – Graig Nettles (3B) – in 1965 – WAR 68.0
• Round 5 – Dave Goltz (RHP) – 1967 – WAR 23.2
• Round 6 – Pat Neshek (RHP) – 2002 – WAR 7.5
• Round 7 – LaTroy Hawkins (RHP) – 1991 – WAR 18.1
• Round 8 – Brad Radke (RHP) – 1991 – WAR 45.5
• Round 9 – Steve Lombardozzi (SS) – 1981 – War 4.4
• Round 10 – Steve Braun (SS) – 1966 – WAR 17.6
• Round 11 – Taylor Rogers (LHP) – 2012 – WAR 0.6
• Round 12 – Pat Meares (3B) – 1990 – WAR 4.7
• Round 13 – Matt Lawton (OF) – 1991 – WAR 15.0
• Round 14 – Mike Trombley (RHP) – 1989 – WAR 9.2
• Round 15 – Rick Dempsey (C) – 1967 – WAR 25.3
• Round 16 – Jim Eisenreich (OF) – 1980 – WAR 13.4
• Round 17 – Kent Hrbek (1B) – 1978 – WAR 38.4
• Round 18 – Frank Eufemia (RHP) – 1982 – WAR 0.7
• Round 19 – Danny Valencia (3B) – 2006 – WAR 5.0
• Round 20 – Damian Miller (C) – 1990 – WAR 13.7
• Round 21 – Eddie Guardado (LHP) – 1990 – WAR 13.7
• Round 22 – Rob Radlosky (RHP) – 2007 – WAR  -0.5
• Round 23 – Willie Eyre (RHP) – 2005 – WAR 0.5
• Round 24 – no one
• Round 25 – no one
• Round 26 – Corey Koskie (3B) – 1994 – WAR 24.6
• Round 27 – no one
• Round 28 – no one
• Round 29 – Nick Blackburn (RHP) – 2001 – WAR 3.3
• Round 30 – Michael Tonkin (RHP) – 2008 – WAR  -0.3
• Round 31 – no one
• Round 32 – no one
• Round 33 – Jim Hughes (RHP) – 1969 – WAR 0.9
• Round 34 – Kevin Frederick (RHP) – 1998 – WAR   -0.6
• Round 35 – no one
• Round 36 – Rene Tosoni (OF) – 2005 – WAR  -0.9
• Round 37 – no one
• Round 38 – Tommy Watkins (SS) – 1998 – WAR 0.4
• Round 39 – Anthony Slama (RHP) – 2006 – WAR 0.0
• Round 40 – no one
• Round 41 – Brian Raabe (2B) – 1990 – WAR  -0.2
• Round 42 – no one
• Round 43 – no one
• Round 44 – Bob Gebhard (RHP) – 1965 – WAR  -1.3
• Round 45 – no one
• Round 46 – A.J. Achter (RHP) – 2010 – WAR 0.2
• Round 47 – no one
• Round 48 – no one
• Round 49 – no one
• Round 50 – no one
• Round 51 – no  one
• Round 52 – Denny Hocking (C) – 1989 – WAR  -0.5
• Rounds 53 thru 61 – no one

Here are some draft statistics provided to me by MLB:

According to an estimate by the Elias Sports Bureau, over 18,000 players have appeared in at least one Major League Baseball game all-time. According to Elias, the approximate average length of a career for a Major League player is five years. (This includes all players who appeared in at least one game.)

A total of 65,312 players have been drafted since 1965. During that time, a total of 9,374 players, which includes drafted players, non-drafted players and foreign-born players, have appeared in at least one Major League game.

There are 750 roster slots in Major League Baseball for most of the year at a given time. A total of 1,348* players appeared in at least one Major League game in 2015. (*The same number of players in 2016 was 1,353.)

We also estimate that nearly 1,800 players all-time have made the All-Star team at least once.

What I would also add here is that once you take out and foreign-born players and non-drafted players, my guess is that it puts the percentage of a drafted player reaching the Majors at about 10%. 

Draft Trivia Facts

The Minnesota Twins have had more first round selections in the June Amateur draft (1965-2016) than any other MLB team with 62. The St. Louis Cardinals are second with 59 and Tampa Bay trails the pack with 23. The New York Yankees have the fewest first round selections for a non-expansion team with 43.

The 2016 Draft Media Guide makes for an interesting read. 2016 Draft Media Guide.pdf