MLB vs NBA & NFL Draft
So it’s Monday morning, I’m eating my breakfast and I decide to get my “Nerd†on. I head over to YouTube and I watch the latest edition on Rip and Pull. (To see our past article on this show click here.) The basic premise of this show is that the host, Robert, opens a box of cards and you get to see what he’s pulled. I watch this show just about every week, and in the past few editions he’s either opened a box of football or basketball cards. The big thing to pull in cards these days are the rookie signature cards. So Robert started pulling some second round basketball auto cards, and I was kinda feeling sorry for him. When does a second round basketball player have a superstar level career? Not too often.
This led me to mull over the other two major sports and their drafts. In football, if you’re not in the first five rounds you might not even make the club. But in baseball, a large number of players in the majors come from the middle rounds of the draft. Not a big deal right? Well, the MLB draft is over 50 rounds! I wanted to see if I could find some proof for my theory or if I was just talking out of my ass. So I choose a nice round number of 10, subtracted it from 2006, and ended up with 1996. Below are the first rounds of the MLB, NFL, and NBA drafts from 1996. I’ve put serviceable player’s names in green, and superstars in red. Now, if I screwed one up, don’t roast me. You’ll still get the basic gist of things. Here are the results;
MLB Round 1
1 |
Pittsburgh Pirates |
Kris Benson |
rhp |
Clemson |
2 |
Minnesota Twins |
Travis Lee |
1b |
San Diego State |
3 |
St. Louis Cardinals |
Braden Looper |
rhp |
Wichita State |
4 |
Toronto Blue Jays |
Billy Koch |
rhp |
Clemson |
5 |
Montreal Expos |
John Patterson |
rhp |
West Orange Stark High School (Orange, TX) |
6 |
Detroit Tigers |
Seth Greisenger |
rhp |
University of Virginia |
7 |
San Francisco Giants |
Matt White |
rhp |
Waynesboro HS (Pennsylvania) |
8 |
Milwaukee Brewers |
Chad Green |
Of |
University of Kentucky |
9 |
Florida Marlins |
Mark Kotsay |
Of |
Cal State Fullerton |
10 |
Oakland Athletics |
Eric Chavez |
3b |
Mt. Carmel HS (San Diego) |
11 |
Philadelphia Phillies |
Adam Eaton |
rhp |
Snohomish HS (Washington) |
12 |
Chicago White Sox |
Bobby Seay |
lhp |
Sarasota HS (Florida) |
13 |
New York Mets |
Robert Stratton |
Of |
San Marcos HS (Santa Barbara, CA) |
14 |
Kansas City Royals |
Dermal Brown |
Of |
Marlboro Central HS (New York) |
15 |
San Diego Padres |
Matt Halloran |
Ss |
of Chancellor HS (Fredricksburg, VA) |
16 |
Toronto Blue Jays [*1] |
Joe Lawrence |
Ss |
Barbe HS (Lake Charles, LA) |
17 |
Chicago Cubs |
Todd Noel |
rhp |
of North Vermillion HS (Maurice, LA) |
18 |
Texas Rangers |
R.A. Dickey |
rhp |
University of Tennessee |
19 |
Houston Astros |
Mark Johnson |
rhp |
University of Hawaii |
20 |
New York Yankees [*2] |
Eric Milton |
lhp |
University of Maryland |
21 |
Colorado Rockies |
Jake Westbrook |
rhp |
Madison County HS (Danielsville, GA) |
22 |
Seattle Mariners |
Gil Meche |
rhp |
Acadiana HS (Lafayette, LA) |
23 |
Los Angeles Dodgers |
Damian Rolls |
3b |
Schlagel HS (Kansas City) |
24 |
Texas Rangers [*3] |
Sam Marsonek |
rhp |
Jesuit HS (Tampa) |
25 |
Cincinnati Reds |
John Oliver |
Of |
Lake-Lehman HS (Lehman, PA) |
26 |
Boston Red Sox |
Josh Garrett |
rhp |
South Spencer HS (Richland, IN) |
27 |
Atlanta Braves |
A.J. Zapp |
1b |
of Center Grove HS (Greenwood, IN) |
28 |
Cleveland Indians |
Danny Peoples |
1b |
Texas |
29 |
Tampa Bay Devil Rays |
Paul Wilder |
of |
Cary HS (North Carolina) |
30 |
Arizona Diamondbacks |
Nick Bierbrodt |
lhp |
Millikan HS (Long Beach, CA) |
NFL Round 1
Sel# |
Team |
Player |
Pos. |
School |
1 |
N.Y. Jets |
Johnson, Keyshawn |
WR |
Southern California |
2 |
Jacksonville |
Hardy, Kevin |
OLB |
Illinois |
3 |
Arizona |
Rice, Simeon |
DE |
Illinois |
4 |
Baltimore |
Ogden, Jonathan |
T |
UCLA |
5 |
N.Y. Giants |
Jones, Cedric |
DE |
Oklahoma |
6 |
St. Louis |
Phillips, Lawrence |
RB |
Nebraska |
7 |
New England |
Glenn, Terry |
WR |
Ohio State |
8 |
Carolina |
Biakabutuka, Tim |
RB |
Michigan |
9 |
Oakland |
Dudley, Rickey |
TE |
Ohio State |
10 |
Cincinnati |
Anderson, Willie |
T |
Auburn |
11 |
New Orleans |
Molden, Alex |
CB |
Oregon |
12 |
Tampa Bay |
Upshaw, Regan |
DE |
California |
13 |
Chicago |
Harris, Walt |
CB |
Mississippi State |
14 |
Houston |
George, Eddie |
RB |
Ohio State |
15 |
Denver |
Mobley, John |
OLB |
Kutztown, Pa. |
16 |
Minnesota |
Clemons, Duane |
DE |
California |
17 |
Detroit |
Brown, Reggie |
LB |
Texas A&M |
18 |
St. Louis |
Kennison, Eddie |
WR |
Louisiana State |
19 |
Indianapolis |
Harrison, Marvin |
WR |
Syracuse |
20 |
Miami |
Gardener, Daryl |
DT |
Baylor |
21 |
Seattle |
Kendall, Pete |
G |
Boston College |
22 |
Tampa Bay |
Jones, Marcus |
DE |
North Carolina |
23 |
Detroit |
Hartings, Jeff |
C |
Penn State |
24 |
Buffalo |
Moulds, Eric |
WR |
Mississippi State |
25 |
Philadelphia |
Mayberry, Jermane |
G |
Texas A&M-Kingsville |
26 |
Baltimore |
Lewis, Ray |
MLB |
Miami |
27 |
Green Bay |
Michels, John |
T |
Southern California |
28 |
Kansas City |
Woods, Jerome |
FS |
Memphis |
29 |
Pittsburgh |
Stephens, Jamain |
T |
North Carolina A&T |
30 |
Washington |
Johnson, Andre |
T |
Penn State |
NBA Draft
First Round |
Player |
College |
1. Philadelphia |
Allen Iverson |
Georgetown |
2. Toronto |
Marcus Camby |
Massachusetts |
3. Vancouver |
Shareef Abdur-Rahim |
California |
4. Milwaukee (a) |
Stephon Marbury |
Georgia Tech |
5. Minnesota (a) |
Ray Allen |
Connecticut |
6. Boston (from Dallas) |
Antoine Walker |
Kentucky |
7. LA Clippers |
Lorenzen Wright |
Memphis |
8. New Jersey |
Kerry Kittles |
Villanova |
9. Dallas (from Boston) |
Samaki Walker |
Louisvile |
10. Indiana (from Denver) |
Erick Dampier |
Mississippi State |
11. Golden State |
Todd Fuller |
North Carolina State |
12. Cleveland (from Wash.) |
Vitaly Potapenko |
Wright State |
13. Charlotte |
Kobe Bryant |
Lower Merion HS |
14. Sacramento |
Predrag Stojakovic |
PAOK (Greece) |
15. Phoenix |
Steve Nash |
Santa Clara |
16. Charlotte (from Miami) |
Tony Delk |
Kentucky |
17. Portland |
Jermaine O’Neal |
Eau Claire HS |
18. New York (from Detroit) |
John Wallace |
Syracuse |
19. New York (from Atlanta) |
Walter McCarty |
Kentucky |
20. Cleveland |
Zydrunas Ilgauskas |
Lithuania |
21. New York |
Dontae Jones |
Mississippi State |
22. Vancouver (from Houston) |
Roy Rogers |
Alabama |
23. Denver (from Indiana) |
Efthimis Rentzias |
PAOK |
24. LA Lakers |
Derek Fisher |
Arkansas-Little Rock |
25. Utah (b) |
Martin Muursepp |
BC Kalev Tallinn |
26. Detroit (from San Antonio) |
Jerome Williams |
Georgetown |
27. Orlando |
Brian Evans |
Indiana |
28. Atlanta (from Seattle) |
Priest Lauderdale |
Peristeri (Greece) |
29. Chicago |
Travis Knight |
Connecticut |
Maybe it was the years I choose, but I doubt it. I assume the NFL & NBA will win out vs the MLB every time.
Help me out here, how come NFL & NBA drafts traditionally yield more superstar level players from the first round than the MLB draft?
I have nothing to back this up with, but my theory is that baseball is a sport that requires much more skill to be successful at a high level than basketball or football. With football, it is easy to scout a guy who can throw the ball, catch the ball, and run. Same with basketball, is he tall? can he shoot? can he jump? I think Joe Morgan said it best about baseball players: by the time you have mastered your craft, you are too old to play any more. I think thats why you see all the different levels of minor leagues and fall development leagues in baseball as opposed to football and basketball which are thin in that regard. It requires more time and intensive coaching to develop into a baseball superstar for the most part because there are so many fine skills that need to be mastered.
The idea that baseball requires more skill than football or basketball is insane. Certain positions in all three sports require virtually zero skill or mental ability, while others require genius level athletes with years of development behind them. See: Quarterback, Point Gaurd, Safety…
I believe that the reason for the disparity in Drafts is due to the developmental systems between the three leagues. Baseball has no qualms in throwing rookies into a years long trip through three different levels of minor leagues. Football, on the other hand, has virtually no minor league. And finally basketball has a small scale development system which is decidedly underutilized. Baseball teams are willing to put the time into developing the bodies, skills and minds of their players, where as football and basketball expect a far more imidiate impact on the court or field.
This was a very cool idea. But I’d say Marbury has only been a superstar in the eyes of Starbury himself.
I’m not much of a BBall guy but he has a 20 PPG career avg, close to 15,000 points and a number of all-star appearences, number 5 in assists for active players. I’d say superstar.
NBA and NFL hope their picks can step right into the line-up. Have to pick the studs right out of NCAA. MLB has to cultivate their players. Some players are 18 years old and the team and the player themselves know they are still a long way from being a star. I can’t remember many teenaged baseball stars in the past 10 years. Whereas someone like Kobe Bryant or LeBron James is big and fast and can be a teenaged superstar, much more individual game, the skill set is there and there is no need for further development. A LG in the NFL has the skill set from NCAA, the players get bigger and stronger but a 22 yr old guard has as much on his side as a 30 yr old guard.
Oh and Kman, you say “Robert started pulling some second round basketball auto cards, and I was kinda feeling sorry for him”, I am surprised you show compassion, I didn’t know you were able to show human emotion