Sporcle Saturday: Draft picks from the first-round
When the White Sox selected this year’s first-round draft pick at number 22, it marked the first time since 2012 that the team took a high schooler in the first round. Unlike last year’s first-round selection, this guy will have to wait a few years to make his major league debut. At least I would assume so, else things have either gone extremely well in the minors or incredibly poorly in the majors.
The White Sox, like many teams, have had a mixed bag of success over the years with their first round selections. Since the first draft in 1965, there have been 75 names, of which 51 have made the majors: some are familiar while others have fallen into the dustbin of history. Today, your memory will be put to the test: of those 75 names, how many can you fill in? Good luck!
Quiz Parameters
- I’ve allotted 15 minutes for completion attempts.
- For hints, I’ve provided the year and the pick number.
Useless information to amaze, annoy, confuse, and/or confound your friends and family:
- The White Sox have had just two first-overall picks in team history: 1971 and 1977.
- By career bWAR, the top-five for the Sox: 73.7, 56, 38.5, 33.5, 28.9.
- Strangely, the White Sox have never selected second-overall. In fact, looking at the top-30 picks, the only numbers that have gone unused: 2, 27, and 30.
All data from baseballreference.com
Author
59/75 before I ran out of time. I take it the 1st round of the gone and unlamented secondary phase doesn’t count in this quiz? I’m fuzzier on the pre-1976 picks, but I think
Good lord, the period after Reinsdorf fired Larry Himes and Al Goldis is fallow. The Sox followed maybe the best four-year run of first picks in MLB history with a couple decades of stumbling in the dark (even when the picks were high). Some years that should raise the blood pressure for different reasons include 1985 and 1996.
Whenever I think of
I really should add those secondary phase picks. Definitely would need to bump the timer to the max of 20 minutes, then!
Some of them are less obscure than the ones on this list! (And not just the guys from the 60s. Duane Shaffer’s tenure as scouting director has some deservedly unmemorable top picks.)
43/75. Just too many names that time has caused me to forget.