May 13, 2014; Bronx, NY, USA; New York Mets third baseman David Wright (5) hits an RBI single against the New York Yankees during the fourth inning of a game at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
The 2014 MLB draft is only 8 days away and while it doesn’t get as much hype as the NFL draft, for baseball people it is the same thing: talent coming into the minors that could be a star in the big leagues. Its really fun to dive into your team’s past drafts and see where they made it big and where they really missed out on guys that are starts now. 1996-1999 was like that for the Dbacks: they missed out on guys like Chase Utley, and Jimmy Rollins. Continuing my countdown we look at 2000 and 2001.
2000:
First Pick: Mike Schultz
Could have chosen: Grady Sizemore
Best Pick: Brandon Webb
The 2000 First Year Player Draft was the best draft for this team up to this point. While Mike Schultz didn’t amount to much, the best pick of this draft became one of the best pitchers in Dbacks history probably only behind Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling and if it weren’t for all of his shoulder problems who knows how good he would have been. Webb won the 2006 CY Young Award for the National League and he was a three time all star. Through August of 2007, Webb had logged the team’s record for most consecutive scoreless innings at 42.0 innings, and he won 22 games in 2008 his last full season with Arizona. The Dbacks could have chosen Grady Sizemore but as it turns out they didn’t really need him, and because of Webb the 2000 draft was a successful one for the Dbacks.
2001:
First Pick: Jason Bulger
Could have chosen: David Wright
Best Pick: Dan Uggla
The 2001 draft was a different story. The Dbacks picked Bulger first at number 22 and he didn’t amount to much. On top of that this team could have chosen David Wright. Wright is a franchise third basemen and if we had him, we probably wouldn’t need Martin Prado, and we probably wouldn’t have traded Justin Upton. Just imagine how many more times this team could have made the playoffs with Wright on the left side of the infield. He is a career .301 hitter with 225 HR and 903 RBI and many make the case that he is a hall of famer. That hurts. While the Snakes picked Uggla, he never played a game with Arizona and Wright is much better.