I’ve been preparing for our coverage of the MLB Draft: June 9-11 – so I wanted to take you inside my books and share some research with you.

Texas Rangers:  Over the past 3 years, 8 of their first 12 picks have been pitchers.  In 2007 – the club had 5 first round picks and drafted 4 pitchers including Tommy Hunter.  8 players taken by the Rangers in the past 5 years have made it to the show.  Travis Metcalf was selected 321^st overall – his first MLB hit was a home run off of Tom Gorzellany.

New York Yankees:  In the 2005 draft – one of the best classes in history – the Yankees chose Carl Henry at #17 – ahead of Red Sox draftees Jacoby Ellsbury, Jed Lowrie, Clay Buchholz, and Michael Bowden – all of whom have played in the majors.  Henry is out of baseball. 

Florida Marlins: 9 draft picks over the past 5 years have made it to the majors.  The 2005 draft featured 5 first round picks and the organization chose 5 pitchers.  Chris Volstad led that group (#16) – Ryan Tucker pitched in 13 games for Florida in 2008.  Gaby Sanchez went in the 4^th round and earned a September call-up last season. 

Cleveland Indians: Expect this organization to change their draft philosophy and take a risk on some power armed high school kids with bigger upside than some college pitchers – also, a need for speed at the big league level should lead them to not just focus on power bats in the draft.  The Indians did draft Tim Lincecum in the 42^nd round of the 2005.  That was the year the club also drafted Trevor Crowe in the first round and Jensen Lewis (David Price’s college roommate at Vanderbilt) in the 3^rd round.

Arizona Diamondbacks: The club has 7 of the Draft’s first 66 picks.  For reference: The Brewers had 6 of the first 62 picks last year.  The Moneyball draft of 2002 for the A’s consisted of 8 selections in the first 68 spots which produced Nick Swisher (#16), Joe Blanton (#24), and Mark Teahen (#39).  Arizona currently has 4 of their top picks on their roster: Daniel Schlereth (2008 – was called up as I’m typing) Scherzer (2006), Upton (2005), Drew (2004).  Of 15 of their last first and second round picks, 12 have been pitchers and 10 of those were college arms. 

St. Louis Cardinals: 8 of their picks from the 2004-2006 drafts have played in the bigs.

New York Mets:  Their top picks between 2000 and 2004 are no longer with the organization, but have all played in the majors.  Billy Traber – part of the Roberto Alomar deal.  Aaron Heilman – part of JJ Putz trade.  Scott Kazmir (Victor Zambrano) – Lastings Milledge: traded in 2007.  Phillip Humber – involved in the deal for Johan Santana.

Philadelphia Phillies: Top pick from 1990-2004, overall pick is in parentheses, players who made it to the bigs are in bold.

Mike Lieberthal (3) – Tyler Green (10) – Chad McConnell (13 – OF, Creighton University) – Wayne Gomes (13) – Carlton Loewer (23) – Reggie Taylor (14) – Adam Eaton (11) – JD Drew (2) – Pat Burrell (1) – Brett Myers (12) – Chase Utley (15) – Gavin Floyd (4) – Cole Hamels (17) – Tim Moss (85 – no 1^st or 2^nd round pick) – Greg Golson (21)

Make sure to check out the MLB.com Draft page – and the coverage on MLB Network and MLB.com – I’ll be hosting the post-draft show LIVE on Day 1 with Jonathan Mayo (our Mel Kiper, just without hair) – and will be hosting Day 3 of the draft (1130am-330pm) http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/draft/y2009/reports.jsp

Video Draft links – Top 5 Outfielders:  http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=4768703

Top 5 College Pitchers:  http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=4757177

Top 5 Prep Pitchers:  http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=4757153

Top 5 Corner Infielders:  http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=4736997

 “Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action.”- Benjamin Disraeli (former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom)