Number One Draft Picks by Baseball Almanac

Number One Draft Picks

The Major League player draft has been held every year since 1965. Clubs select in reverse order of their won-loss records from the previous regular season with National League and American League teams alternating. American League teams select first in odd-numbered years while National League teams go first in even-numbered years.

The pool of draftees consists of graduated high school players, junior or senior college players, Junior college players and anyone over the age of twenty-one. Listed below are the number one selections from every draft.

"Delmon Young's impressive history of success and promise for the future led the Devil Rays on Tuesday (June 3, 2003) to make him the number one selection." - Major League Baseball

#1 Draft Picks In Chronological Order
Name [Click For Stats]	Year	Position	Drafted By
Rick Monday	1965	OF	Kansas City Athletics
Steve Chilcott	1966	C	New York Mets
Ron Blomberg	1967	1B	New York Yankees
Tim Foli	1968	IF	New York Mets
Jeff Burroughs	1969	OF	Washington Senators
Mike Ivie	1970	C	San Diego Padres
Danny Goodwin	1971	C	Chicago White Sox
Dave Roberts	1972	IF	San Diego Padres
David Clyde	1973	P	Texas Rangers
Bill Almon	1974	IF	San Diego Padres
Danny Goodwin	1975	C	California Angels
Floyd Bannister	1976	P	Houston Astros
Harold Baines	1977	OF	Chicago White Sox
Bob Horner	1978	3B	Atlanta Braves
Al Chambers	1979	OF	Seattle Mariners
Darryl Strawberry	1980	OF	New York Mets
Mike Moore	1981	P	Seattle Mariners
Shawon Dunston	1982	SS	Chicago Cubs
Tim Belcher	1983	P	Minnesota Twins
Shawn Abner	1984	OF	New York Mets
B.J. Surhoff	1985	C	Milwaukee Brewers
Jeff King	1986	IF	Pittsburgh Pirates
Ken Griffey, Jr.	1987	OF	Seattle Mariners
Andy Benes	1988	P	San Diego Padres
Ben McDonald	1989	P	Baltimore Orioles
Chipper Jones	1990	SS	Atlanta Braves
Brien Taylor	1991	P	New York Yankees
Phil Nevin	1992	3B	Houston Astros
Alex Rodriguez	1993	SS	Seattle Mariners
Paul Wilson	1994	P	New York Mets
Darin Erstad	1995	OF	California Angels
Kris Benson	1996	P	Pittsburgh Pirates
Matt Anderson	1997	P	Detroit Tigers
Pat Burrell	1998	IF	Philadelphia Phillies
Josh Hamilton	1999	OF	Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Adrian Gonzalez	2000	1B	Florida Marlins
Joe Mauer	2001	C	Minnesota Twins
Bryan Bullington	2002	P	Pittsburgh Pirates
Delmon Young	2003	RF	Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Matt Bush	2004	SS	San Diego Padres
Justin Upton	2005	SS	Arizona Diamondbacks
Luke Hochevar	2006	P	Kansas City Royals
David Price	2007	P	Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Name [Click For Stats]	Year	Position	Drafted By
#1 Draft Picks

Steve Chilcott was the first catcher selected as a number one draft pick and Ron Blomberg was the first first-baseman selected as a number one draft pick � remaining firsts by position can be easily determined using the chart above.

From 1965 through 1986 there were secondary drafts or additional regular drafts held after the June draft. Here are the number draft picks from each of those drafts:

Secondary Draft & Additional Regular Draft #1 Picks
Year	January Regular	January Secondary	June Secondary	Other
1965	n/a	n/a	n/a	Bob Yodice
1966	Don Lohse	Stan Bell	Bill Frost	Pete Varney
1967	Alec DiStaso	Pete Varney	Mike Adamson	n/a
1968	George Hendrick	Eric Soderholm	Dave Lemonds	n/a
1969	Derrel Thomas	Wayne Garland	Rich Hand	n/a
1970	Chris Chambliss	Bill Fahey	Dave Kingman	n/a
1971	Dave Hilton	Bob Jones	Pete Broberg	Pete Varney
1972	Eric Raich	Bob Koeppel	Bob Lesslie	n/a
1973	Alan Bannister	Dick Ruthven	Mark Mercer	n/a
1974	Roy Smalley	Dave Hasbach	Mike Gatlin	n/a
1975	Gene Richards	Barry Bonnell	Denny Walling	n/a
1976	Steve Kemp	Pete Redfern	Gerald Price	n/a
1977	Calvin Adams	Bill Scherrer	Frank Ferroni	n/a
1978	Mike Lebo	Joe Isaacs	Jim Watkins	n/a
1979	Neal Heaton	Mark Davis	Marty Barrett	n/a
1980	Colin McLaughlin	Juan Bustabad	Jeff Heathcock	n/a
1981	Jim Rooney	Harry McCulia	Donnie Hill	n/a
1982	Kash Beauchamp	Danny Jackson	Kevin Towers	n/a
1983	Ted Langdon	Tracy Jones	Oddibe McDowell	n/a
1984	Calvin Jones	Tim Belcher	Tommy Hinzo	n/a
1985	Ricky Nelson	Todd Stottlemyre	Eric Hetzel	n/a
1986	Jeff Shaw	Toby Nivens	Alex Jimenez	n/a

David Clyde was the first pitcher selected as a number one draft pick in 1973 by the Texas Rangers who passed over Eddie Murray, Robin Yount, Fred Lyn, and Dave Winfield. In 1984 the New York Mets chose Shawn Abner over Mark McGwire, Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Ken Caminiti. Learn about other similar instances & share those trades & transactions you know about on Baseball Fever today.

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