Rosternomics

1986 MLB Draft

Every MLB amateur draft, 1985–2025. Real = career WAR so far. Expected = the model's full-career projection for this slot × position × age-at-draft (HS vs college), ± a predictive band. DVOS = Real minus what the same cohort has produced by the same number of years post-draft (apples-to-apples — so we don't punish a 2024 pick for not yet being a 10-yr veteran). Example: Bazzana (2024 #1, college IF) has Real 0.8; the typical #1 college IF has produced 1.6 WAR by year 2 post-draft, so his DVOS = −0.8 (0.8 behind cohort); long-run Expected ≈ 40 WAR. Model: empirical-Bayes hierarchical, fit on 41 years of realized outcomes. SD leaderboard →

Round:
Year Pick Rd Team Player Pos Age B/T Ht Wt Bonus Bonus% Scouting Dir GM / POBO Real DVOS Expected
1986 1 1.1 PIT Jeff King IF 3B 22 COLL R/R 6'1" 180 Elmer Gray Syd Thrift 17.0 -23.2 40.2±3.9
1986 2 1.2 CLE Greg Swindell P P 21 COLL L/L 6'1" 240 Joe Klein 32.3 +14.5 17.9±3.9
1986 3 1.3 SFG Matt Williams IF 3B 21 COLL R/R 6'2" 225 Al Rosen 44.5 +23.0 21.5±3.9
1986 4 1.4 TEX Kevin Brown P P 21 COLL R/R 6'4" 220 Sandy Johnson Tom Grieve 65.4 +55.6 9.8±3.8
1986 5 1.5 ATL Kent Mercker P P 18 HS L/L 6'2" 205 Paul Snyder Jr Bobby Cox 7.5 -2.4 9.9±3.9
1986 6 1.6 MIL Gary Sheffield OF RF 18 HS R/R 6'0" 215 Harry Dalton 40.5 +32.5 8.0±3.9
1986 7 1.7 PHI Brad Brink P P 21 COLL R/R 6'2" 195 Jack Pastore Bill Giles 0.3 -7.6 7.9±3.8
1986 8 1.8 SEA Pat Lennon OF LF 18 HS R/R 6'2" 200 Roger Jongewaard Dick Balderson -0.6 -8.5 8.0±3.8
1986 9 1.9 CHC Derrick May OF LF 18 HS L/R 6'4" 225 Scott Reid Dallas Green 3.1 -4.9 8.0±3.8
1986 10 1.10 MIN Derek Parks C C 18 HS R/R 6'0" 205 Terry Ryan Andy MacPhail -0.5 -8.2 7.7±4.2
1986 11 1.11 SDP Thomas Howard OF LF 22 COLL S/R 6'2" 205 Jack McKeon 2.2 -2.1 4.4±3.8
1986 12 1.12 OAK Scott Hemond C C 21 COLL R/R 6'0" 205 Dick Bogard Jr Sandy Alderson 0.9 -16.1 17.0±4.1
1986 13 1.13 HOU Ryan Bowen P P 18 HS R/R 6'0" 185 Dan O'Brien Jr Dick Wagner 0.9 -4.6 5.5±3.7
1986 14 1.14 BOS Gregory McMurtry OF CF 19 HS L/R 6'2" 195 Eddie Kasko Lou Gorman 0.0 -8.0 8.0±3.7
1986 15 1.15 WSN Kevin Dean OF OF 19 HS R/R 6'1" 190 Gary Hughes Murray Cook 0.0 -8.0 8.0±3.7
1986 16 1.16 ANA Roberto Hernandez P P 22 COLL R/R 6'4" 245 Mike Port 13.9 +8.5 5.5±3.7
1986 17 1.17 CIN Scott Scudder P P 18 HS R/R 6'2" 185 Larry Doughty Bill Bergesch 0.6 -4.9 5.5±3.7
1986 18 1.18 DET Phil Clark OF LF 18 HS R/R 6'0" 200 Bill Lajoie 1.2 -6.8 8.0±3.7
1986 19 1.19 LAD Mike White OF OF ·/· Ben Wade Al Campanis 0.0 -6.9 6.9±3.7
1986 20 1.20 CHW Grady Hall P P 22 COLL R/L 6'4" 200 Terry Logan Ken Harrelson 0.0 -5.5 5.5±3.7
1986 21 1.21 NYM Lee May OF OF 18 HS S/R 6'1" 170 Roland Johnson Frank Cashen 0.0 -8.0 8.0±3.7
1986 22 1.22 ANA Lee Stevens IF 1B 19 HS L/L 6'4" 235 Mike Port 2.7 -0.1 2.8±3.7
1986 23 1.23 STL Luis Alicea IF 2B 21 COLL S/R 5'9" 177 Dal Maxvill 10.4 -0.5 10.8±3.7
1986 24 1.24 KCR Anthony Clements OTH X ·/· John Schuerholz 0.0 -6.3 6.3±3.7
1986 25 1.25 ANA Terence Carr OF OF 18 HS R/R 6'1" 167 Mike Port 0.0 -8.0 8.0±3.7
1986 26 1.26 TOR Earl Sanders P P 21 COLL R/R 6'4" 230 Pat Gillick 0.0 -3.0 3.0±3.7
1986 27 1.27 ANA Mike Fetters P P 22 COLL R/R 6'4" 230 Mike Port 4.2 +1.1 3.0±3.7
1986 28 1.28 ANA Daryl Green P P 18 HS R/R Mike Port 0.0 -2.7 2.7±3.7

Model: empirical-Bayes hierarchical — smooth monotone slot curve × position group (P/IF/OF/C/DH) × age bin (HS <20 vs COLL 20+) × maturity. The slot curve is forced monotone-decreasing within each position+age cell, so pick N can't have lower expected than pick N+1 by construction. Predictive ± band = √(σ²·(1 + 1/n_cell)) — pooled within-cell residual SD plus the cell-mean uncertainty for a new pick at that cell. Fallback chain when a (slot, pos, age) cell is too sparse: → (slot, pos) → (slot). Position × age effects: pitchers debut earlier (high realized at 2 yrs, lower career due to attrition); college catchers ~2× HS catchers career WAR at top slots; HS slot-1 IF/OF carry premium upside (Harper/Correa/A-Rod pattern). Coverage: position 100% (1985–2025), bio (born/ht/wt) ~97%, age 97%, signing bonus only ~11% (sparse pre-2008 — MLB Stats API hasn't backfilled). SD attribution follows SABR (single unambiguous name per team-year), GM uses our hire/POBO records. Team/GM development effects intentionally NOT in the model — that signal belongs on the DVOS-attribution side (per-SD on /sds, per-GM in this table), or it would collapse to zero by construction.