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How Were the Top Players by Position (Per Shredder) Acquired

As MLB was announcing the top 10 players by position according to “The Shredder”, Bums asked how many of these players were 1st round draft picks.  I thought that was worthy of doing the research, so I compiled that information.  I also thought that it was worthy to determine which team(s) had the most top 10 players currently, and which teams were the original team to draft or sign the players.

26 teams out of the 30 have at least 1 player named as a top 10 player at their position.

The Mets and Astros topped the league with 8 players each.

  • Mets – 8
  • Astros – 8
  • Braves – 7
  • Dodgers – 6
  • Phillies – 6
  • Cardinals – 6
  • Mariners – 5
  • Blue Jays – 5
  • Rays – 5

Other Playoff Teams

  • Padres – 4
  • Guardians – 4
  • Yankees – 4

It becomes fairly evident as to where the playoff teams are expected again this season.

Other NL West teams:

  • Giants – 1
  • DBacks – 1
  • Rockies – 0

The four teams that did not land a single top 10 player by position?

  • Guardians, Rockies, A’s, Tigers

The Dodgers 6 top 10 by position are Will Smith (C), Freddie Freeman (1B), Max Muncy (3B), Mookie Betts (RF), Evan Phillips (RP), Julio Urías (SP).

Many of the top teams have acquired top players via trades or free agency.  A perfect example…San Diego.  They had four top ten players. They acquired two via trade (Fernando Tatis, Jr and Juan Soto) and two via FA (Xander Bogaerts and Manny Machado).

Who were the top teams in originally drafting/signing or signing as an international free agent (IFA)?

  • Astros – 7
  • Padres – 6
  • Cubs – 6
  • White Sox – 6
  • Cardinals – 5
  • Braves – 5
  • Mets – 5
  • Dodgers (and 7 other teams) – 4

 

What seems ironic to me is that the Padres currently have 4 top ten players, but drafted 4 top ten (Trea Turner, Max Fried, Ty France, Hunter Renfroe) and signed 2 as IFA (Andrés Muñoz and Emmanuel Clase).  It took the Padres trading 6 top ten players to acquire 4.

The Dodgers still have two of the four top ten players they originally signed…Julio Urías and Will Smith.  Corey Seager left via FA and Yordan Álvarez was traded before he had a single PA in the LAD organization.

Top 10 players is somewhat elite, but top 3 is especially elite.  Perhaps surprisingly (or perhaps not) the Phillies have the most top 3 players by position with four.  Trea Turner and J. T. Realmuto are #1’s while Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber are #3’s.  Overall, 15 teams had at least 1 player ranked in the top 3.

 

  • Phillies – #1 (2), #3 (2)
  • NYM – #1 (1), #2 (2)
  • Dodgers – #2 (3) – Friedman, Betts, Smith
  • San Diego – #1(1), #2 (1), #3 (1)
  • Cleveland – #2 (2), #3 (1)
  • Houston – #1 (2)
  • NYY – #1 (1), #3 (1)
  • Milwaukee – #1 (1), #3 (1)
  • Minnesota – #2 (2)
  • Louis – #1 (1)
  • LAA – #1 (1)
  • Baltimore – #3 (1)
  • Atlanta – #3 (1)
  • Toronto – #3 (1)
  • Seattle – #3 (1)

 

Now to Bums original question, as I understood it.  How many top players by position were 1st round draft picks?

66 of the top position players were actually drafted while 34 were International Free Agents.  Of the 66 players drafted, 31 were in the 1st round, 7 were in the 2nd round, and 6 were 3rd rounders.

 

Below is the chart as to how the top prospects were acquired:

 

It is fairly evident that while not every top draft pick turns into an elite player, the chances of becoming an elite player and not drafted in the top 3 rounds (or signed as a top IFA), are not impossible, but highly remote.  That is especially true when it comes to SS.  7 of the top 10 were drafted, with 6 drafted in the 1st round and 1 in the 2nd.  The remaining three are IFA (Bogaerts, Adames, Franco).

31% of the top 100 players were 1st round draft picks.  That is why where the Dodgers have been drafting, to have the MLB team and the MiLB system they have speaks volumes about how good they go about their process…drafting the right players, making the correct trades, and/or signing the best FA.  They do not hit on 100% of there transactions, but they hit on enough to stay on top.

 

 

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Oldbear48

I was surprised that guys like Busch and Outman did not get assigned lower numbers. But maybe if they make the team they will. Some Non-Roster guys got numbers you think would go to players on the roster. Some like May like keeping the number they were assigned when they first came to the Dodgers. Mike Piazza’s first year, he wore 55. Busch got 83, Cartaya, 76, Vargas got 17, Outman 77, Non-roster, Andriese got Cody’s 35, Covey 33, Erlin, 29, Miller 95, Kolarek got his 56 back, Reed 44, Stone, 71, Suero, 46, Yamamoto, 57, Freitas got 31. Luke Williams got 37, All the coaches except Lehmann, 0 and Josh Bard, 54, are in the 80’s and 90’s.

Dionysus

Freitas is no 31, senator.

Oldbear48

I wholeheartedly concur with that assessment.

Oldbear48

Interesting stuff. If you look at the guys who beat out LA players for #1, it is really interesting. To me the only clear cut #1 was Judge over Mookie.

Dionysus

Where does Roberts rank?

Oldbear48

No list for managers yet.

Badger

Yardbarker ranked them last year. Roberts was 8th on that list.

Badger

Did I read that right – Max Muncy is a top 10 third baseman?

Oldbear48

Yep

Bluto

Great article, both in source data and value added (by Jeff.)

I wish I could write something like this.

Singing the Blue

Fascinating article in Fangraphs about umprie accuracy in calling balls/strikes. It’s gotten better over the years and the 10 new umps this year (who all have a little MLB experience already) are grading out quite a bit better than the 10 who have retired.

We May Never Find Out How Good Umpires Can Be

Singing the Blue

Happy to see that old friend Edwin Rios has a contract with the Cubs.

No terms announced yet, but I’m glad to see that it’s a major league contract.

Bumsrap

I’m traveling.

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