May 11, 2014; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; St. Louis Cardinals left fielder Matt Holliday (7) at bat against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the seventh inning at PNC Park. The St. Louis Cardinals won 6-5. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
As we continue to count down the days to the 2014 First Year Player Draft, its always fun to look at past drafts with your team and see what talent the organization grabbed and what they missed out. Yesterday I took a look at the Snakes first two drafts, and today we will take a look at the 1998 and 1999 drafts. The 2014 draft will take place from June 5th through June 7th.
1998:
First Pick: Darryl Conyer
Could have chosen: Matt Holliday
Best Pick: Javier Lopez
The Dbacks did not have a pick in the top 100 of that draft losing out on their first and second round picks to the Royals and Tigers respectively as a result of signing free agents Jay Bell and Willie Blair. The 1998 draft was the third bad draft in a row for the Diamondbacks. Their first pick was Darryl Conyer and he didn’t ammount to much. He had 3 seperate stints with the Snakes and three different stints in 2000, but never played a full season with the team. The Dbacks could have picked Matt Holliday. That hurts.
1999:
First Pick: Corey Myers
Best Pick: Lyle Overbay
Could have chosen: Carl Crawford
This was the Dbacks first draft not picking last, the team had the 4th pick. This is where this draft went from promising to another bad draft. They had a wealth of future starts to choose from including Alex Rios, Carl Crawford, and Justin Morneau. Instead they picked a local high school kid Corey Myers out of Desert Vista High School and never played one major league game. The best pick of this draft was Lyle Overbay who ended up playing 5 seasons with the Dbacks over three stints and really helped Paul Goldschmidt develop. He was a rookie when the Snakes won the World Series in 2001.
What do you guys think of the Dbacks 1998 and 1999 drafts? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.