MLB vs NBA & NFL Draft

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?

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6 replies on “MLB vs NBA & NFL Draft”
  1. says: Callum

    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.

  2. says: Pearkes

    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.

  3. says: Kman

    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.

  4. says: Early

    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.

  5. says: Early

    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

Comments are closed.