2024 Draft - Part 9 - Let's Look at Trends at the Top of the Past 10 Drafts - DH, 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, C

 OK, in the 3rd of this series we will look at the remaining players drafted in the top 10 picks of each of the last 10 drafts (100 players total).  So far we have looked at outfielders (30 players) and pitchers (38 players).  In this post we will look at the remaining 32 players who cover all the infield positions (C, 1B, 2B, SS and 3B).  As in part 8, the players in bold are HS players.  Their draft slot is in parentheses

DESIGNATED HITTER (One player drafted)

2014 - Kyle Schwarber (4)

CATCHER (Seven)

2023 - Blake Mitchell (8)

2021 - Henry Davis (1) 

2019 - Adley Rutschman (1), Shea Langeliers (9)

2018 - Joey Bart (2)

2016 - Zack Collins (10)

2014 - Alex Jackson (6)

FIRST BASE (Four)

2022 - Jacob Berry (6)

2020 - Spencer Torkelson (1)

2019 - Andrew Vaughan (3)

2017 - Keston Hiura (9)

SECOND BASE (Five)

2022 - Temarr Johnson (4)

2020 - Austin Martin (5), Nick Gonzales (7)  

2018 - Jonathon India (5)

2015 - Brendan Rogers (3)

SHORTSTOP (Eight)

2023 - Jacob Wilson (6)

2022 - Jackson Holliday (1), Brooks Lee (8)

2021 - Macelo Mayer (4), Jordan Lawler (6)

2019 - Bobby Witt Ir. (2), C. J. Abrams (6)

2016 - Dansby Swanson (1)

THIRD BASE (SIX)

2019 - Josh Jung (8)

2018 - Alec Bohm (3), Nick Madrigal (4)

2017 - Royce Lewis (1)

2016 - Nick Senzel (2)

2015 - Alex Bregman (2)

SUMMARY

• Interestingly, except for DH, all groups are represented in 4, 5 or 6 drafts.  
• Except for DH and secondbasemen, at least one 1-1 draft pick came from catcher, 1B, SS and 3B.
• Two 1-1 picks were college catchers
• Only 10 of 29 of these players were HS kids and, unsurprisingly, 5 of those were HS shortstops
• Of the players on the above list, six of them were the #1 overall pick including 2 catchers (Rutschman, Davis), 2 shortstops (Swanson, Holliday), 1 third baseman (Lewis) and 1 firstbaseman (Torkelson)
• 13 were drafted in slots 1-3, 11 in slots 4-6, 7 in slots 7-10.
• Third basemen were drafted higher, on average, than any other group.  
• Buoyed by the higher percentage of shortstops were drafted out of high school more shortstops were drafted than any other position in the listings above, but still fewer than either pitcher or outfielder, if you refer back to Part 7 and 8.

Going just by trends, it would not be impossible to imagine any of these groups from being eliminated, a priori, from being a 1-1 pick.  Obviously, it would depend on the talent in an individual draft, but none of this, just based on trends from the last 10 drafts, eliminates JJ Wetherholt, Travis Bazzana or Nick Kurtz, although Bazzana, as a second baseman, at 1-1 would buck the trends seen at the top of the last 10 drafts, with the highest second baseman having been drafted 1-4.  

Note that the only one 2 way player drafted in the top 10 of any group is Brendan McKay, drafted 4th in 2017.  And we know how that turned out.

Well, there it is.  Looking at the last three installments in this series in total, it would not be impossible to believe that, a priori, any position is out of the question for the Guardians to take #1.  Certainly, HS catchers, outfielders and second baseman would be unlikely and even college second basemen would be problematic, unless that player would be drafted with the intent to move him to a different position which, of course, breaks one of my cardinal rules of the draft: don't draft a high first round pick if the intent is to have him change positions to one he has not played before.

More on the draft coming up in the future.  I hope you enjoyed this 3 part series on trends from the top of the last 10 drafts!