The stars and veterans of major league baseball are getting prepared for the 2008 campaign. Rookies and non-roster invitees are trying to begin their careers or hold on for dear life. The Red Sox will prepare to defend their World Series title and 29 other teams will aspire to reach that goal. This started to make me wonder about some Major League Baseball drafts of the past.
There are seven levels of affiliated baseball. The highest any player can achieve is the Major Leagues. Levels two and three and Triple-A and Double-A. Levels four, five and six are High-A, Low-A, Short Season-A and Rookie ball. Rookie ball can be separated into two classifications, advanced and short-season. Major league teams can have one affiliate at each level, most have six.
Assuming that it takes an average player one year of experience at each minor league level to become a major league player, the players from the 2000 draft would have become major leaguers by 2007. There were 50 rounds in the 2000 draft and 1452 selections taken. Congratulations to Drew Jackson of University High School of Morgantown, West Virginia. He was the 1452nd selection of the draft, taken by the winners of the 1999 World Series, the Atlanta Braves.
The Atlanta Braves had the most selections gain major league experience with ten. The Braves accomplished this from the 30th and last pick. The teams with the least number of players gain major league experience was the Marlins, Tigers and Brewers. They all only have two, and special attention to the Marlins who accomplished this from the number one slot. The front office staff for the Orioles that ran this draft should receive special attention, with only three selections with major league experience. However, none of their first 31 picks ever made it to the majors. In fact, only 11 percent of all selections in the 2000 draft ever had any type of major league experience.
Notables from the 2000 Major League Baseball Draft includes:
50th Round – David Murphy was selected by the Anaheim Angels. He did not sign and was redrafted in 2003 by the Boston Red Sox with the 17th pick of the draft. On July 31, 2007, Murphy was traded to the Texas Rangers for Eric Gagne. In 66 career games, he is batting .323.
49th Round to 47th Round – No Major League Experience
46th Round – The selection by the Cincinnati Reds, Chris Schroder chose not to sign with the Reds and was drafted in the 19th Round by the Nationals (Expos, at they were known back then) in 2001. He has appeared in almost 60 games over the past two years as a member of the Nationals bullpen.
45th Round – The selection of the Washington Nationals, Jeff Karstens was redrafted in the 19th Round in 2003 by the New York Yankees. Over the past two years, he has been splitting the seasons with the majors and minors.
44th Round – The selection of the Washington Nations, Anthony Ferrari pitched four games in the majors in 2003 and never made it back.
43rd Round – Chris Duffy was originally drafted by the Red Sox in 2000, but was drafted again in 2001 by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 8th Round. For the past three seasons, Duffy has been a part time outfielder, appearing in almost 200 games with a .269 batting average, 6 home runs and 41 steals.
42nd Round – No Major League Experience
41st Round – Eric Crozier, selection of the Cleveland Indians, appeared in 14 games with the Toronto Blue Jays and has not been heard from since he was released by the Cincinnati Reds in 2006. He was traded for Josh Phelps in 2004.
40th Round – No Major League Experience
39th Round – John Nelson, who was also drafted in 1997 was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in 2000 and then redrafted in 2001 by the St. Louis Cardinals. In 2006, Nelson appeared in 8 games, striking out four times in his five at-bats. He is still in the minor leagues, finishing the 2007 season at Triple-A.
38th Round – No Major League Experience
37th Round – Victor Diaz was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers and was traded to the New York Mets in 2003 for Jeromy Burnitz. He was then traded to the Texas Rangers for a minor league in 2006 after spending the years 2004 through 2006 splitting time between the Mets and their minor league affiliates. In 2007, he hit .240 in 37 games for the Texas Rangers.
36th Round – No Major League Experience
35th Round – There were two players in the 35th Round, Jeff Salazar (Baltimore Orioles) and Darren Clarke (Colorado Rockies) that made it to the majors. Salazar was redrafted in the 8th Round by the Colorado Rockies in 2002 and was selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks off of waivers in 2007. He appeared in the playoffs for the D’Backs in 2007, getting one hit in ten at-bats. Clarke, who was also drafted by the Rockies in 1999, finally made two major league appearances in 2007.
34th Round – Drafted by the Cardinals, Tyler Johnson has split time between the Cardinals and the minor leagues over the past three seasons. Johnson was on the roster of the 2006 World Series winners, appearing in ten games in the 2006 playoffs with a 1.23 ERA.
33rd Round – Of the three players in the 33rd Round to make it to the majors, everyone knows the name Tony Gwynn. Gwynn was reselected in the 2nd Round by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2003 and is a career .260 in the majors after playing 200 at-bats in 2006 and 2007. Tony’s cousin, Chris Gwynn played in the major leagues from 1987 to 1996.
32nd Round – The only player in this round to have major league experience is Brandon Fahey. Fahey was drafted three times. In 1999, the Padres drafted him in the 17th Round. The Baltimore Orioles drafted him in 2000 and then again in the 12th Round in 2002. Over the past two years, he has split time between the majors and the minors, playing five positions in the majors for the Orioles.
31st Round – The more known of the two people with major league experience from this round is Ruben Gotay. Gotay played with the Royals and their minor league affiliates in 2004 and 2005 and then spent all of 2006 in the minors. He was also traded in 2006 to the New York Mets and spent 2007 playing with the majors and the minors. In 2007, he played 98 games for the Mets, hitting .295.
30th Round – Two draftees have played in the major leagues. Nothing about them is notable. There are no recognizable names in their biographies.
29th Round – The 29th Round was a good round for draftees. Ian Kinsler was drafted twice by the Diamondbacks in 2000 (29th Round) and in 2001 (26th Round) and did not sign either time. The Rangers selected him in the 17th Round of the 2003 Draft. Kinsler was 7th in the Rookie of the Year voting in 2006 and is a starter for the Rangers. Adam LaRoche was also drafted three times. He was drafted twice by the Florida Marlins in 1998 (18th Round) and 1999 (42nd Round). The Braves drafted him in 2000 and he quickly became a started for the Braves from 2004 to 2006. He was traded to the Pirates in 2007. He is a career .273 hitter. The third major leaguer drafted in this round, Jason Gabbard, is only of note because he was also included in the 2007 trade for Eric Gagne, with 50th Round draft pick David Murphy.
28th Round – No Major League Experience
27th Round – Two draftees have played in the major leagues. Nothing about them is notable. There are no recognizable names in their biographies.
26th Round – Ian Snell was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Snell has been in the Pirates rotation for the past two years, winning 14 games in 2006 and pitching over 200 innings in 2007. Snell has ranked 7th in strikeouts in the National League in 2007. Chad Cordero was also drafted in this round. Drafted by the Padres in 2000, he was then drafted by the Nationals in 2003, quickly becoming a top closer in the majors. He has 128 career saves, including 47 in 2005, where he was an All-Star and won the Rolaids Relief award as the top closer in the National League.
25th Round – There were two players with major league experience and the only one of note is Nate McLouth. He has been on the Pirates roster since being called up in 2005. He is a career .249 hitter, splitting time in all three outfield positions while playing in 137 games for Pittsburgh in 2007.
24th Round and 23rd Round – Two draftees in each year have played in the major leagues. Nothing about them is notable. There are no recognizable names in their biographies.
22nd Round – This round will be best known for the draft pick of Jason Bay. Bay was traded three times after being drafted by the Nationals in 2000. The Nationals traded him to the Mets who traded him to the Padres who traded him to the Pirates (for Brian Giles). Bay is considered one of the top outfielders in the National League. He is a two-time All-Star and the National League Rookie of the Year in 2004. He has finished in the Top 25 of the Most Valuable Player voting twice.
21st Round – No Major League Experience
20th Round – It took many teams for Jose Bautista to find a home, and he finally did with the Pirates. In 2007, he played in 142 games for the Pirates, hitting 15 home runs and batting .254. The road to the Pirates was a long one. Originally drafted in 2000 by the Pirates, he was selected by the Orioles in the 2003 Rule 5 Draft. He was waived by the Orioles and picked up by Tampa, purchased by the Royals and traded back to the Pirates in a three way deal (including the Mets) all within 2 months. Since then, Bautista has found a home with the team that originally drafted him.
19th Round – There is only one player drafted in this round that has any notoriety. Brad Halsey was drafted by the Yankees and then he was re-drafted by the Yankees in the 8th Round in 2002. Halsey was one of the players included in the Yankees-D’Backs trade that brought Randy Johnson to the Yankees. He was then traded to the Athletics before the 2006 season and has been there since. Halsey has a career record of 14-19 in three seasons in the majors. On a personal note, 2005 Bakersfield Blaze pitcher A.J. Murray was picked in this round. I worked for the Blaze in 2005.
18th Round – Only part-time major leaguer Buck Coats has any experience from this round. Coats has played in a total of 38 major league games.
17th Round – Two of the six players with major league experience from this round are of note. Marlins selection Josh Willingham became the Marlins starting left fielder in 2006. He was ninth in the Rookie of the Year vote in 2006 and has a career batting average of .270 with 48 home runs in a little more than two full years of experience. While four others have been to the major leagues, the best pick of this round may be Rich Harden, selection #510 overall. Harden, originally drafted by the Mariners in the 38th Round of the 1999 Draft, was selected by the Athletics and has a career record of 31-18. He has been injured a good portion of the past two seasons, but is still only 26 years old.
16th Round – Congratulations go out to Jamie Shields, the Rays selection of the 16th Round. Jamie is the only player selected in this round to have major league experience. After making his major league debut in 2006, Shields was 12-8 in 2007, pitching 215 innings, with 184 strikeouts and an ERA of 3.85. In 2007, Shields was in the Top 10 in WHIP (BB + H per 9IP), innings, strikeouts and strikeout to walk ratio.
15th Round – There were four players in the 16th Round that has major league experience. Three have not played in the major leagues since 2005 and the fourth played in one game in 2007.
14th Round – One player selected with major league experience in this round was out of baseball in 2006. The other is Ryan Church. Church was recently traded from the Nationals to the Mets for Lastings Milledge. Church was actually drafted by the Indians and traded in 2004 to the Nationals. In his first full year as a major league player, Church batted .272, with 15 home runs.
13th Round – When the player with the most major league experience has a career record of 8-13, the 13th Round was not so lucky. Justin Germano was drafted by the Padres in 2000 and after only getting to the majors in 2004, was traded to the Reds in 2005 for Joe Randa. At the 2006 trade deadline, he was traded to the Phillies for Rheal Cormier. He was claimed off waivers by the Padres in 2007 and made 23 starts. He should be the number five started for the Padres in 2008. Another 2005 Blaze members, Larry Grayson was drafted in this round also.
12th Round – Minnesota Twins outfielder/designated hitter Jason Kubel was drafted in this round. Kugel had his first full season in the majors in 2007. He played in nearly 130 games, batting .273, with 13 home runs and 31 doubles. The other major leaguer of note that was drafted here was Brian Bruney, drafted by the D’Backs. He was part of the D’Backs organization until 2006, where he was released May 20. On July 1, he was signed by the Yankees and spent almost all of 2007 with the big league club. He pitched in 58 games for the Yankees in 2007.
11th Round – The 11th Round had eight players that had major league experience. While draft picks such as Shane Nance, John Gall, Ryan Bukvich, John Leicester and Josh Rabe have not done anything of tremendous fame in the majors. Three draft picks now have starting roles with their respective teams. The 13th pick of this round, Corey Hart was drafted by the Brewers. Hart played in 140 games in 2007, sharing time in center and right fields. He hit .295, with 24 home runs, 33 doubles, 9 triples and a slugging percentage was .539. The 7th pick of the round, and selected by the Rockies was Brad Hawpe. Hawpe became the full-time right fielder for the Rockies in 2006. In the past two seasons, Hawpe has averaged 151 games, 148 hits, 33 doubles, 26 home runs, 100 runs batted in and a batting average of .292. His slugging percentage has been over .515 each season and he placed 24th in the Most Valuable Player voting in 2007. The best player from this round was selected 22nd in the round and 332nd overall, Freddy Sanchez was selected by the Red Sox. He was traded to the Pirates in 2003 and joined the Pirates for good in 2005. In less than three full seasons in the major leagues, he is hitting .310 with 529 career hits and has been an All-Star in 2006 and 2007. He also placed 17th in the 2006 Most Valuable Player Voting. Sanchez led the National League in batting in 2006 with a .344 batting average. He placed third in hits, first in doubles and third in singles. Sanchez will be 30 in 2008.
10th Round – After the magic of the three players of the 11th Round, you would think the 100th Round would have more players to have made an impact in the majors. The tenth round did not do so well. Of the six players to have major league experience, the Rockies drafted the only player with any name recognition, Clint Barmes. Barmes had a very good half of a season in 2005. He played in 81 games, had 101 hits and batted .289. He placed 8th in the Rookie of the Year voting. Since then, not so good…not good at all.
9th Round – Marshall McDougall was drafted by the Athletics. After being traded to the Rangers in 2002 for Ricardo Rincon, he appeared in 18 games for the Rangers in 2005 and was released in 2006. In 1996, the Dodgers drafted Eric Bruntlett in the 72nd Round. He did not sign and was then drafted by the Astros in 2000. Bruntlett has played portions of the past five seasons with the Astros. He is a unique player that has played all seven fielding positions in the course of his career. Bruntlett has a career .250 with barely any power, but his fielding ability has kept him around. Drafted by the Rangers in 2000, Edwin Encarnacion was traded to the Reds in 2001. In 2007, Encarnacion started nearly 140 games for the Reds at third base. In 502 at-bats, he had 145 hits with 25 doubles and 16 home runs. Encarnacion has also been ranked in the Top 10 in 2006 and 2007 for Hit by Pitches.
8th Round – The 8th Round of the 2000 Draft will be remembered because 20 pitchers were taken. Cory Doyne (5 games for Baltimore in 2007), Phil Seibel (out of baseball), Mark Malaska (out of baseball) and Nick Masset (included in the John Danks trade to the White Sox from the Rangers for Brandon McCarthy) were all picked in this round. However two pitchers, Dontrelle Willis (Cubs, 223rd overall) and Brandon Webb (D’Backs, 249th overall) are the selections people will remember. The 2003 Rookie of the Year, Willis, was 14-6. He has been a two time all-star and won 22 games for the Marlins in 2005. He was traded from the Cubs to the Marlins in 2002 and was recently traded to the Detroit Tigers. Willis has been in the Top 10 in a variety of categories in his major league career and was considered a top pitcher in the National League before 2006. Since placing third, behind Willis in the 2003 Rookie of the Year voting, Brandon Webb has become one of the top pitchers in the National League. The two time all-star won the 2006 Cy Young Award and placed 2nd in the voting for the 2007 Cy Young Award. In the past three years, his record has been 48-30. In the past two seasons, Webb has been in the Top 5 in the following categories (2006 and 2007 seasons); earned run average, wins, WHIP (BB+H per IP), innings, strikeouts, games started, complete games, shutouts and batters faced. The Yankees selected Sam Bozanich with the pick before Webb.
7th Round – Similar to the 9th Round, this round of selections was not a collection of brilliant choices. Seven players with major league experiences were drafted in the 7th Round. The player from the draft with the most at-bats (154), Jeff Duncan, has not been in the major leagues since 2005. The Nationals selection, Wes Littleton, did not sign and was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 4th Round of the 2003 Draft. Littleton worked his way through the Rangers organization, splitting time between Oklahoma City (AAA) and the Rangers in 2006 and 2007. He has appeared in almost 70 games in two seasons, with a 5-3 record and a 4.56 ERA. He also has one at-bat in his major league career. He struck out. The 7th Round also featured the selection of 2006 Long Island Ducks (my current employer) catcher, Jared Price.
6th Round – The 6th Round featured selections #161 through #190. The player with the most at-bats is also the pitcher with the most win and losses. That means there is no one in this round that most teams are proud of. Taylor Buchholz has a career 12-15 record, pitching for the Astros in 2006 and the Rockies in 2007. Buchholz also has four career hits and one run batted in.
5th Round – Ryan Esposito was drafted by the Red Sox. He has appeared in one major league game in 2007 for the Cardinals, but has no major league at-bats. Also drafted in this round was Bobby Jenks, selected by the Angels. Jenks was waived by the Angels and signed by the White Sox after the 2004 season. Since 2005, Jenks has amassed 87 saves, was an all-star in 2006 and 2007, while ranking second in the American League in saves. Jenks was part of the 2005 World Series winners, with two saves in the 2005 World Series. The Colorado Rockies, with the 137th pick of the 2000 draft, selected Geoff Atkins. He was originally drafted by the Mets in 1997, but did not sign. Atkins became the starting third baseman for the Rockies during the 2005 season. He was fourth in the 2005 Rookie of the Year voting and 15th in the MVP voting in 2006. In 2006, Atkins hit 29 home runs, scored 117 runs, with 198 hits and 48 hit doubles. In 2006, he was in the Top 10 in batting average, on-base percentage, runs, hits, total bases, doubles, runs batted in, times on base and singles.
4th Round – 12 selections from the 4th Round have major league experience. David DeJesus has been nearly anonymous to most baseball fans, except to those in Kansas City. Originally drafted by the Mets in 1997, DeJesus was picked by the Royals in 2000. DeJesus worked his way through the Royals system, becoming the full-time center fielder in 2007. He is a career .282 hitter in a little more than three seasons in the major leagues. Selected by the Orioles in the 20th Round of the 1998 draft and then reselected by the Nationals in the 2000 Draft, Cliff Lee was included in the trade with Grady Sizemore and Brandon Phillips for Bartolo Colon and Tim Drew. Lee joined the Indians starting rotation in 2004 and was 46-24 from 2004 to 2006. He placed 4th in the Cy Young voting in 2005, where he was 18-5. Lee spent part of the 2007 on the disabled list with an abdominal strain. Selected by the Cardinals in the round was Yadier Molina, of the famous Molina catchers. In 2005, Molina started catching the majority of games for the Cardinals. In 2006, Molina was part of the World Series winners. In 2007, Molina hit a career high .275.
3rd Round – The last selection of the 3rd Round, the 100th pick overall, Blaine Boyer is a career minor leaguer pitching in 50 games in his major league career (43 games in 2005). The 99th selection, Bill White finally pitched in the major leagues in 2007 for the Texas Rangers. He was drafted by the D’Backs in 2000 after being drafted by the Pirates in the 33rd Round in 1997. He was released in 2006, signed and released by the Nationals and finally signed by the Rangers before the 2007 season. The 89th selection in the 2000 draft was Chris Young, selected by the Pirates. Young has been through two trades, ending up with the Padres in 2006. An all-star in 2007, Young has a career record of 35-22. In any of the past three seasons, Young has been in the Top 10 in the following categories; ERA (2006, 2007), won-loss percentage (2006), WHIP (BB + H per IP) (2006, 2007), strikeouts (2005, 2006, 2007) and had a career best ERA 3.12 in 2007. The 82nd pick, Mike Morse has 291 career at-bats and the 80th pick, Tommy Murphy has 108 career at-bats. The 78th selection, Nook Logan was originally selected by the Yankees in the 40th Round in 1998 before the Tigers selected him in 2000. He was sent to the Nationals near the end of the 2006 season, and played in 118 games in 2007. The speedster stole 23 bases and scored 39 runs. Lastly, the 75th selection of the 2000 draft (and a player that every team passed on twice) was Grady Sizemore. Sizemore was originally selected by the Nationals and was traded to the Indians in the Bartolo Colon trade. Since 2004, Sizemore is considered one of the top outfielders in the American League. Sizemore is a two time all-star that won a Gold Glove in 2007. Sizemore has played every game in 2006 and 2007 for the Indians and was in the Top 10 in at-bats for the past three years. He has also ranked in the Top 10 in runs (2005, 2006, 2007), hits (2006),total bases (2005, 2006), doubles (2006), triples (2005, 2006), walks (2007) stolen bases (2007) and extra base hits (2005, 2006). He will be 25 in 2008.
2nd Round – There were 17 players selected in this round that have major league experience. Of these players, nine were pitchers and only one, Chad Qualls, has more than ten career wins. Qualls was originally selected by the Blue Jays in the 52nd Round of the 1997 Draft and was made the 67th selection of the 2000 Draft by the Astros. Qualls has become a major portion of the Astros bullpen over the past few seasons, averaging 80 appearances from 2005 through 2007 (Top 10 in appearances in all three seasons). He has a career 23-12 record and has never had an ERA above 3.76. Bobby Hill was the 43rd selection overall by the Cubs. He was previously drafted in 1996 (Angels, 5th Round) and in 1999 (White Sox, 2nd Round). Hill was a player to be named later in a trade between the Cubs and Pirates and then he was a player to be named later in a trade between the Pirates and Padres. He last played in the majors in 2005 and was released in 2006. Xavier Nady was the 49th selection overall by the Padres, after originally being selected in 1997 by the Cardinals (4th Round). He was traded twice within a year, to the Mets for Mike Cameron and to the Pirates for Roberto Hernandez and Oliver Perez. He is a career .272 hitter that hit a career high 20 homeruns and 72 runs batted in during 2007. He has averaged 125 games for the Padres, Mets and Pirates over the past three seasons. The other notable draftee in this round is Lance Niekro, selected by the Giants with the 61st pick of the draft. Lance Niekro is the son of Joe Niekro and the nephew of Phil Niekro. Niekro has played nearly 200 games in the majors and is a career .246 hitter. He was send to Triple-A in 2007 and has signed with the Astros organization for 2008. He should have learned the knuckleball. 2005 Blaze alumnus Jared Abruzzo was drafted in this round as a catcher and also tried his hand as a pitcher in 2005.
1st Round Supplemental – There were ten picks in the Supplemental 1st Round. These picks are given to teams that lost certain level free agents during the off-season. The first additional pick (31st overall), Aaron Heilman was selected by the Twins. He was previously selected by the Yankees in 1997 (55th Round) and was also drafted in 2001 by the Mets (1st Round, 18th pick overall). Heilman has been a serviceable pitcher out of the Mets bullpen, increasing the number of games pitched over the past three seasons (from 53 to 81). In 2007, we pitched a career high 81 games and had an ERA of 3.03. Dustin McGowan was selected by the Blue Jays (33rd overall). He has split time between the Blue Jays minor league affiliates and the Blue Jays. In 2007, he started 27 games and had a record of 12-10. He pitched two complete games and one shutout. His ERA was 4.08 and was 4th in the American League in hits allowed per 9 innings pitched with a 7.74 hits per 9 innings. The 34th pick of the draft was Dustin Moseley, selected by the Red and traded to the Angels after the 2004 season. He pitched for the Angels for the entire 2007 season, pitching in 46 games and had a 4-3 record. The other player with substantial major league experience was the 38th player selected in 2000 by the Atlanta Braves, Kelly Johnson. Johnson became the starting second baseman or the Braves in 2007, playing in 147 games and having 521 at-bats. He batted .276, with 26 doubles, 10 triples, 16 home runs and 68 runs batted in. In 2005, he played 79 games in left field for the Braves, making no errors in left field.
1st Round – Fifteen first round selections have major league experience. With the 30th pick, the Braves selected Scott Thorman. He appeared in a total of 120 games in 2007, with a career batting average of .222. He is a career .276 hitter in the minor leagues and will be only 26 years old in 2008. The 29th selection, Adam Wainwright was also selected by the Braves. Wainwright was included in the trade that brought J.D. Drew to the Braves from the Cardinals in 2003. In 2007, Wainwright finally joined the Cardinals pitching rotation and excelled with a 14-12 record and pitching over 200 innings for the first time in his professional career. His career batting average is .309. During the 2006 playoff run by the Cardinals, Wainwright was 3-0 and 4 saves, pitching 9.2 innings. The 15th pick in the 2000 Draft was Chase Utley, originally drafted by the Dodgers in 1997 before being drafted again by the Phillies. In 2005, Utley became the starting second baseman for the Phillies. He has placed in the Top 13 in the National League Most Valuable Player voting in 2005 (13th), 2006 (7th) and 2007 (8th). He has been an all-star in 2006 and 2007, also winning the Silver Slugger award for the same two seasons. Over the past three seasons, Utley has been a dominant hitter and placed in the Top 10 in the following categories; batting average (2007, 3rd), on-base percentage (2007, 6th), slugging percentage (2007, 7th), runs (2006, 1st), hits (2006, 2nd), total bases (2005, 9th and 2006, 5th), doubles (2007, 3rd) and runs batted in (2005, 8th). Rocco Baldelli was drafted 6th overall by the Rays in 2000. Baldelli, who placed 3rd in the Rookie of the Year voting after the 2004 season, Baldelli missed the entire 2005 season and parts of the 2006 and 2007 season due to injuries. The number five selection in the 2000 draft, Justin Wayne, is out of baseball. The number two selection in the 2000 draft, Adam Johnson, is out of baseball. The number one overall pick in the 2000 Draft was Adrian Gonzalez, selected by the Marlins. In 2003, he was traded to the Rangers for Ugueth Urbina and in 2006, he was traded (with Chris Young) to the Padres in exchange for Adam Eaton and Akinori Otsuka. At 24 years old, Gonzalez became the starting first baseman for the Padres. In 2007, he had a career high of 30 home runs, 100 runs batted in, 46 doubles, 101 runs scored and had a slugging percentage of .502. He placed 20th in the voting for the Most Valuable Player.
