Striking gold: 5 late-round steals in MLB draft history
After three long days, the 2017 MLB draft will finally end Wednesday following 40 tedious rounds. And if you didn't care who your team took late in the game, that's perfectly understandable.
Unlike other sports, of course, the baseball draft seemingly goes on forever, with even the best prospects still several years away. At one time, teams were even allowed to draft as many players as they wanted until they chose to stop. Fortunately, those days of a 100-round draft are now gone for good, though the length and sheer volume of players selected continues to sap casual interest in the process.
But if you keep an eye out in the late rounds, you might be able to find some gems who slip through the cracks. There's a long history of this, with current All-Stars and even all-time greats somehow being passed over repeatedly until one lucky team takes a lucky shot. Perhaps, when it's all said and done, we'll look back at rounds 12-40 of the 2017 draft and wonder how everybody missed on that 37th-rounder at his Cooperstown induction ceremony.
Here's a look back at five of the greatest late-round draft steals in draft history:
Mark Buehrle
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Position: LHP
Drafted by: White Sox, 1998, Round 38 (1,139th)
Career WAR: 58.5
Fittingly, few noticed when the White Sox drafted Buehrle - a slop-throwing lefty out of Jefferson College - as a "draft-and-follow" player for $150,000. But he kept on quietly throwing his slop, and from 2000-15 few major-league hitters could touch it. Buehrle was one of the great workhorses of his era, throwing at least 200 innings in 14 consecutive seasons while never going on the disabled list and winning at least 10 games every year from 2001-15. He made five All-Star appearances, won four Gold Gloves, threw a no-hitter and a perfect game, and he'll soon have his number retired by the White Sox. Only one other pitcher drafted in 1998, CC Sabathia, has a higher career WAR than Buehrle. Not bad for a 38th-rounder who barely touched 89 mph on a good day.
Keith Hernandez
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Position: 1B
Drafted by: Cardinals, 1971, Round 42 (785th)
Career WAR: 60.0
Three future star NFL quarterbacks - Archie Manning, Joe Theismann, and Steve Bartkowski - were drafted by baseball teams ahead of Hernandez. The first and fourth overall picks in this draft were both wasted when the selected players didn't sign and went to college. And yet Hernandez, an actual baseball player who had sat out his senior year of high school, slipped down to Round 42. What the Cardinals got with that pick was arguably the greatest defensive first baseman ever who won 11 Gold Gloves, the 1979 National League MVP, and, despite issues with drugs and teammates, became a superstar with a borderline Hall of Fame case who led teams in St. Louis and New York to championships. "Who does this guy think he is?" teams who bizarrely passed on him probably asked themselves when he retired in 1990. He's an absolute steal of a draft pick, is what he is. He's Keith Hernandez.
John Smoltz
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Position: RHP
Drafted by: Tigers, 1985, Round 22 (574th)
Career WAR: 69.5
Three pitchers who were selected in 1985's 22nd round reached the majors, and combined to pitch in 738 major-league games. John Smoltz pitched 735 of them. Now to be fair, the first few rounds of this draft were absolutely stacked with legendary names, but it's still incredible that Smoltz fell that far behind. The Tigers weren't scared off by the fact that Smoltz, a Michigan native, had an offer to play at Michigan State, and swiped him up under everyone else's noses for pennies on the dollar. But alas, it was the Braves who benefited from this Hall of Fame draft pick when the Tigers - in need of an extra arm for the pennant race - traded him to Atlanta for Doyle Alexander in August 1987.
Albert Pujols
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Position: 1B
Drafted by: Cardinals, 1999, Round 13 (402nd)
Career WAR: 100.4
In 1999, Josh Hamilton was the consensus first overall pick - OK, fine. Josh Beckett went second - not great, but his 2003 postseason sort of excuses the Marlins. Then it begins. Eric Munson went third. Picks four through six never played in the majors. There were 12 more rounds. With pick No. 401, the Angels - of all teams - took Alfredo Amezaga. Then, and only then, did Albert Pujols - a shortstop at Maple Woods Community College - hear his name called by the Cardinals. What on earth did teams miss? "I didn't think he could play," one scout who chose to remain anonymous - with good reason - told the Los Angeles Times in 2012. Pujols was in the majors less than two years after being drafted, and he's since made 29 other teams look silly for repeatedly passing on one of the greatest hitters to ever step on a diamond.
Mike Piazza
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Position: C
Drafted by: Dodgers, 1988, Round 62 (1,390th)
Career WAR: 59.4
Just how big of a steal was this? Well, consider that in 1988 Piazza was a non-prospect first baseman. Consider that only seven teams chose to make picks in 1988's 62nd round, and the Dodgers only stuck around for this pick as a favor to Piazza's godfather, manager Tommy Lasorda. Consider that the 22 other catchers drafted ahead of Piazza in 1988 who eventually reached the majors accumulated a combined career WAR of 8.2. Consider that the Dodgers' own first-round pick that year - Bill Bene, fifth overall - never even reached the majors. And yet the Dodgers beat 'em all in this draft and literally lucked into taking a Hall of Famer in a round that no longer exists. In the MLB draft, you just never know where you'll find them.