Mets360 Draft series: The 2002 MLB Draft

Today we examine our third draft. The 2000 Draft was kind of a bust and the 2001 was essentially a top-heavy affair, at least among the top 100 picks, which is the extent of our look. It appears that there was better drafting – or better players – in the first round of 2002 but still far from an ideal selection with the benefit of hindsight.

Here’s the 2002 Draft in the order the picks were actually made. Please note that all WAR references in this article are for the Baseball-Reference version of the metric.

Upton was considered the top talent in the draft but Bullington was considered an easier sign, so he went first overall. Upton was grabbed second and while he did not have the career that was expected, he’s been a positive producer, which is more than you can say for the next three picks. But from Greinke at sixth overall to Cain at 25, the overwhelming majority of picks made the majors and contributed. Only one player in this span didn’t reach the show and of the rest, only three finished with a negative WAR. That’s a huge step forward from what we witnessed with the first two drafts.

After the first round, there were a handful of strong performers selected in the top 100, including Votto at #44 overall, who’s put up the second-highest WAR total to date of our 2002 draftees. Lester, McCann and Granderson each topped 30 WAR, making them terrific picks beyond the first round.

As for the Mets, they only had one selection among the top 100 but made it count by selecting Kazmir, who amassed the 10th-highest WAR so far among the top 100 picks. The Mets picked him 15th . Two other picks in the top 100 that were originally scheduled to belong to the Mets went elsewhere. The 56th overall pick went to the Cubs, as compensation for the Mets signing David Weathers while the 87th overall pick went to the Tigers as the cost for signing Roger Cedeno. Neither of the picks made by the clubs made the majors.

Here were the picks ordered by most WAR

So far, 38 of the top 100 players selected have contributed a positive WAR, while 54 have reached the majors. Those numbers were 41 and 53, respectively, for the 2001 Draft. In the 2000 edition the respective numbers were 26 and 47. While fewer players from the top 100 drafted in 2002 contributed a positive WAR than the previous year of the draft, we see 16 had a double-digit contribution in ’02, compared to just 10 in ’01 and only 7 in the ’00 top 100.

Is this the beginning of a trend or just an outlier? Stay tuned as we examine the 2003 Draft next.

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