Rosternomics

1987 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
1987 1 1.1 SEA Ken Griffey Jr. OF CF 18 HS L/L 6'2" 230 Roger Jongewaard Dick Balderson 75.9 +41.5 34.3±4.1
1987 2 1.2 PIT Mark Merchant OF OF 18 HS S/R 6'2" 185 Elmer Gray Syd Thrift 0.0 -14.3 14.3±4.2
1987 3 1.3 MIN Willie Banks P P 18 HS R/R 6'1" 200 Terry Ryan Andy MacPhail 4.3 -5.6 9.9±4.1
1987 4 1.4 CHC Mike Harkey P P 21 COLL R/R 6'5" 220 Scott Reid Dallas Green 5.1 -4.7 9.8±3.8
1987 5 1.5 CHW Jack McDowell P P 21 COLL R/R 6'5" 180 Larry Himes 33.6 +25.1 8.5±3.9
1987 6 1.6 ATL Derek Lilliquist P P 21 COLL L/L 6'0" 210 Paul Snyder Jr Bobby Cox 3.7 -4.2 7.9±3.8
1987 7 1.7 BAL Chris Myers P P 18 HS L/L 6'2" 194 Fred Uhlman Sr Hank Peters 0.0 -9.9 9.9±3.8
1987 8 1.8 LAD Dan Opperman P P 19 HS R/R 6'2" 175 Ben Wade Al Campanis 0.0 -5.8 5.8±3.8
1987 9 1.9 KCR Kevin Appier P P 20 COLL R/R 6'2" 220 Art Stewart John Schuerholz 50.3 +42.4 7.9±3.7
1987 10 1.10 SDP Kevin Garner IF 1B 22 COLL L/R 6'2" 205 Jack McKeon 0.0 -14.8 14.8±3.8
1987 11 1.11 OAK Lee Tinsley OF CF 18 HS S/R 5'10" 185 Dick Bogard Jr Sandy Alderson 1.4 -6.6 8.0±3.7
1987 12 1.12 WSN Delino DeShields IF 2B 18 HS L/R 6'1" 180 Gary Hughes Murray Cook 24.0 +16.2 7.8±3.8
1987 13 1.13 MIL Bill Spiers IF SS 21 COLL L/R 6'2" 190 Harry Dalton 9.6 -1.3 10.8±3.7
1987 14 1.14 STL Cris Carpenter P P 22 COLL R/R 6'1" 185 Dal Maxvill 1.9 -6.0 7.9±3.7
1987 15 1.15 BAL Brad Duvall P P 21 COLL R/R 6'0" 180 Fred Uhlman Sr Hank Peters 0.0 -7.9 7.9±3.7
1987 16 1.16 SFG Mike Remlinger P P 21 COLL L/L 6'1" 215 Al Rosen 6.8 +1.3 5.5±3.7
1987 17 1.17 TOR Alex Sanchez P P 21 COLL R/R 6'2" 185 Pat Gillick -0.2 -5.7 5.5±3.7
1987 18 1.18 CIN Jack Armstrong P P 22 COLL R/R 6'5" 215 Larry Doughty Bill Bergesch 3.6 -1.9 5.5±3.7
1987 19 1.19 TEX Brian Bohanon P P 19 HS L/L 6'2" 250 Sandy Johnson Tom Grieve 9.3 +3.8 5.5±3.7
1987 20 1.20 DET William Henderson P P 18 HS R/R 6'1" 175 Bill Schudlich Bill Lajoie 0.0 -5.5 5.5±3.7
1987 21 1.21 DET Steve Pegues OF LF 19 HS R/R 6'2" 190 Bill Schudlich Bill Lajoie -0.6 -8.6 8.0±3.7
1987 22 1.22 HOU Craig Biggio IF 2B 22 COLL R/R 5'11" 185 Dan O'Brien Jr Bill Wood 59.7 +48.9 10.8±3.7
1987 23 1.23 TEX Bill Haselman C C 21 COLL R/R 6'3" 215 Sandy Johnson Tom Grieve 2.5 +0.5 2.0±3.9
1987 24 1.24 NYM Chris Donnels IF 3B 21 COLL L/R 6'0" 215 Roland Johnson Frank Cashen 1.0 -9.8 10.8±3.7
1987 25 1.25 ANA John Orton C C 22 COLL R/R 6'1" 195 Mike Port -0.1 -2.1 2.0±3.9
1987 26 1.26 BOS Reggie Harris P P 19 HS R/R 6'1" 180 Eddie Kasko Lou Gorman -0.4 -3.1 2.7±3.7
1987 27 1.27 BAL Pete Harnisch P P 21 COLL S/R 6'0" 220 Fred Uhlman Sr Hank Peters 19.6 +16.6 3.0±3.7
1987 28 1.28 WSN Tyrone Kingwood OF CF 22 COLL R/R 6'1" 205 Gary Hughes Murray Cook 0.0 -3.8 3.8±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.