The MLB draft may not receive the same amount of national recognition and overall coverage as its NFL and NBA counterparts, but it is still important for franchises looking to build sustained winners.
After all, Baseball Tonight noted every team except one that won a World Series since the Wild Card era started (first used in 1995) has had at least one player on the roster it drafted in the first round. That is a testament to how critical Thursday’s early picks were in the 2016 MLB draft for teams looking to create their own World Series rosters.
With that in mind, here is a look at the full results and order listing from Thursday, per MLB.com, as well as grades for each team. Rounds 3-10 will be held Friday, and the order of the selections can be found at MLB.com.
Top Pick: Mickey Moniak, OF, Philadelphia Phillies
The top pick in any draft is always going to generate interest, and the Philadelphia Phillies—who landed the first pick after losing 99 games in 2015—selected California high school outfielder Mickey Moniak.
According to the Associated Press (h/t ESPN.com), Moniak is the first high school outfielder to go No. 1 overall since Delmon Young went to the Tampa Bay Rays in 2003.
Jim Callis of MLB.com said Moniak “has one of the highest floors” of any of Thursday’s prospects and called him a “surefire up-the-middle player in a draft that doesn’t have many of them.” Callis pointed to Moniak’s variety of tools, including his ability to hit for average and play a solid centerfield.
Moniak also seemed excited to join Philadelphia, via the Phillies:
Keith Law of ESPN.com ranked the outfielder as the fifth-best player available in the draft, while USA Today noted he hit .476 with seven home runs, 46 RBI and 12 triples in 29 contests as the Gatorade California Baseball Player of the Year.
A rival team’s talent evaluator praised the pick, per Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com: “The bat is good. He’s going to hit and hit for average. He’s a good centerfielder. He can run. The question is how many home runs will he hit? If he ends up getting stronger, he could be a corner bat that’s unbelievable. There’s no negative here. It’s a good pick.”
The Phillies could have done much worse than “no negative here” with the top pick in the draft.
Intriguing Gamble: Delvin Perez, SS, St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals landed one of the most talented players in the entire draft when they selected shortstop Delvin Perez, and they did so with the No. 23 overall pick.
However, there was a reason he was still available in the latter portions of the first, which made it a high-risk, high-reward selection for the defending National League Central champions. According to Jon Heyman of Today’s Knuckleball, Perez reportedly failed a drug test leading up to the draft, and he “recently slid down draft boards” in the aftermath despite his status as a “potential top-five pick.”
While that is reason for concern, Heyman also said Perez “has been compared to Houston Astros shortstop Carlos Correa,” who is fresh off the American League Rookie of the Year effort in 2015 after hitting .279 with 22 home runs, 68 RBI and 14 stolen bases. Someone with Correa’s skill set would represent incredible value at the No. 23 pick.
Perez is a smooth fielder who uses his overall athleticism to get to balls in the hole and patrol the middle of the infield. Law ranked him as the 15th-best player available in the draft and said he was “the most tooled-up player in the class, with lightning-quick hands, a plus arm, plus range and 70 running speed.”
Perez’s ceiling is what makes him so intriguing, especially since he slid down draft boards before Thursday.
It should be noted the Cardinals are not a team looking for a franchise-altering superstar to change their losing ways. Rather, they have been in the playoffs the last five years and 12 of the past 16 and are seemingly always in win-now mode. They can afford to wait for Perez—who isn’t even 18 years old yet—to eventually live up to his incredibly high ceiling without rushing him to the major leagues.
There was risk involved with this pick, but the upside was apparently too much for St. Louis to pass up.
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