Perhaps a result of the Moneyball philosophy, maybe by design or maybe by sheer luck. It might even have been because the Oakland A's used 54 players during their 76-86 3rd place finish in the AL West. Whatever the reason, the 2007 Oakland Athletics set a Major League record by using 17 first-round draft picks in their lineup.
Were they all Oakland draft picks? No. Only 7.
Joe Blanton 2003 #24
Travis Buck 2005 #36
Eric Chavez 1996 #10
Bobby Crosby 2001 #25
Danny Putnam 2004 #36
Huston Street 2004 #40
Nick Swisher 2002 #16
The others were acquired by free agency or trade.
Daric Barton 2003 #28 stl
Hiram Bocachica 1994 #21 mtl
Dee Brown 1996 #14 kc
Jack Cust 1997 #30 ari
Jason Kendall 1992 #23 pit
Mark Kotsay 1996 #9 fla
Colby Lewis 1999 #8 tex
Dan Meyer 2002 #34 atl
Shannon Stewart 1992 #19 tor
Todd Walker 1994 #8 min
The list includes sandwich picks and the A's had a lot of those during the early to mid 2000s.
Some other teams with a high number of #1 draft picks
2000 Chicago White Sox 16
2001 Chicago White Sox 16
2003 Cincinnati Reds 16
2009 Chicago White Sox 16
2010 Chicago White Sox 15
1990 San Diego Padres 14
1991 Oakland Athletics 14
2004 Tampa Bay Rays 14
2006 Oakland Athletics 14
2009 Boston Red Sox 14
2010 Boston Red Sox 14
2010 Oakland Athletics 14
1 comment:
It's possible Beane had no idea how many of these players had been first round picks. The amount of players used ( 54 ) was a result of injuries upon injuries.
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