(AP) – The Chicago White Sox took shortstop Roch Cholowsky with the first pick of the amateur draft this past weekend, and Tampa Bay selected shortstop Grady Emerson one spot later.
Yes, both those teams are currently in first place.
Pro drafts — even those with lotteries — generally start with some of the weakest teams from the previous season. But because baseball doesn’t conduct its draft until the middle of the ensuing season, sometimes the teams picking at the top have already made impressive strides. The White Sox lost 102 games last year and Tampa Bay dropped 85. Now they’re in contention — and adding possible help for the future via the draft.
Here are a few teams that actually reached 90 wins the same year they had the top pick:
2008 RAYS (97-65)
This was Tampa Bay’s fourth No. 1 pick in a 10-year span, and the Rays haven’t had one since. Starting in that 2008 season, which ended with a World Series appearance, Tampa Bay became a lot more successful. The Rays didn’t take full advantage of that final No. 1 pick, selecting infielder Tim Beckham when Eric Hosmer and Buster Posey went later in the top five.
2024 GUARDIANS (92-69)
Cleveland won the draft lottery, then proceeded to win the AL Central. The Guardians drafted Travis Bazzana, who made his big league debut earlier this season.
1984 METS (90-72)
The Mets began their mid-1980s rise in ’84, finishing 6 1/2 games out of first place in the NL East with Dwight Gooden winning Rookie of the Year honors. New York would peak two years later with a World Series title, but this draft pick — outfielder Shawn Abner — never played for them.
1977 WHITE SOX (90-72)
Chicago’s rise in 1977 — from 64 wins to 90 — was short lived. But the White Sox drafted a keeper that year in Hall of Famer Harold Baines. He’d go on to play more than two decades in the major leagues and was part of division champions in Chicago in 1983 and toward the end of his career in 2000.
Trivia time
Cholowsky, of UCLA, became the school’s first No. 1 overall draft pick since Gerrit Cole in 2011. But there was another UCLA star, drafted in the first round, who has been worth even more wins above replacement than Cole. Who was it?
Comeback of the week
The Mets led 9-4 and, according to Baseball Savant, had a 94.2% win probability after Juan Soto’s three-run homer in the bottom of the fourth against Kansas City on Tuesday night. The lead didn’t even last until New York’s next at-bat.
The Royals scored five runs in the fifth, then added seven more in the seventh on their way to a 16-12 victory.
Then on Sunday, the Mets blew a two-run lead in the ninth and lost to Boston 3-2 in 10 innings. Meanwhile, the rival Yankees swept three straight in Washington, coming from behind in the eighth inning or later in each game.
Performance of the week
Toronto’s Dylan Cease had a no-hit bid broken up in the ninth inning of a 10-0 win over San Francisco on Wednesday. He finished with 11 strikeouts and one hit allowed in eight-plus innings.
Honorable mention: Kansas City’s Tyler Tolbert went 5 for 6 with a homer in that big comeback victory over the Mets. He tied a major league record with hits in 12 straight plate appearances.
Trivia answer
Chase Utley, drafted with the 15th overall pick in 2000, was worth 64.6 WAR according to Baseball Reference.
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