Rosternomics

2016 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
2016 1 1.1 PHI Mickey Moniak OF LF 18 HS L/R 6'1" 209 Johnny Almaraz Matt Klentak 3.1 -15.5 34.3±4.1
2016 2 1.2 CIN Nick Senzel IF 3B 21 COLL R/R 6'0" 217 Chris Buckley Dick Williams -1.1 -18.6 21.5±4.0
2016 3 1.3 ATL Ian Anderson P P 18 HS R/R 6'3" 170 Brian Bridges John Hart 3.4 -3.4 9.9±4.1
2016 4 1.4 COL Riley Pint P P 19 HS R/R 6'5" 225 Marc Gustafson Jeff Bridich -0.2 -7.1 9.9±4.1
2016 5 1.5 MIL Corey Ray OF CF 22 COLL L/L 6'0" 196 Ray Montgomery David Stearns -0.0 -16.4 23.5±4.1
2016 6 1.6 OAK A.J. Puk P P 21 COLL L/L 6'7" 248 Eric Kubota David Forst 3.3 -3.9 7.9±3.8
2016 7 1.7 MIA Braxton Garrett P P 19 HS R/L 6'2" 202 Michael Hill 5.2 -1.5 9.9±3.8
2016 8 1.8 SDP Cal Quantrill P P 21 COLL L/R 6'3" 195 Mark Conner AJ Preller 7.3 +0.1 7.9±3.7
2016 9 1.9 DET Matt Manning P P 18 HS R/R 6'6" 195 Scott Pleis Al Avila 2.7 -1.7 5.8±3.8
2016 10 1.10 CHW Zack Collins C C 21 COLL L/R 6'3" 220 Kenny Williams -2.1 -16.3 17.0±4.2
2016 11 1.11 SEA Kyle Lewis OF CF 21 COLL R/R 6'4" 222 Tom McNamara Jerry Dipoto 2.5 -1.2 4.4±3.8
2016 12 1.12 BOS Jay Groome P P 18 HS L/L 6'6" 262 Mike Rikard Dave Dombrowski 0.0 -3.5 5.5±3.7
2016 13 1.13 TBR Josh Lowe OF LF 18 HS L/R 6'3" 220 Rob Metzler Matt Silverman 4.1 -0.7 8.0±3.7
2016 14 1.14 CLE Will Benson OF RF 18 HS L/L 6'4" 230 Brad Grant Chris Antonetti 0.7 -4.1 8.0±3.7
2016 15 1.15 MIN Alex Kirilloff OF RF 19 HS L/L 6'2" 195 Deron Johnson Rob Antony 0.0 -4.8 8.0±3.7
2016 16 1.16 ANA Matt Thaiss C C 21 COLL L/R 5'11" 215 Ric Wilson Billy Eppler 0.3 -2.7 2.0±3.9
2016 17 1.17 HOU Forrest Whitley P P 19 HS R/R 6'7" 208 Mike Elias Jeff Luhnow -0.1 -3.6 5.5±3.7
2016 18 1.18 NYY Blake Rutherford OF LF 19 HS L/R 6'1" 205 Damon Oppenheimer Brian Cashman -0.3 -5.2 8.0±3.7
2016 19 1.19 NYM Justin Dunn P P 21 COLL R/R 6'2" 210 Marc Tramuta Sandy Alderson -0.4 -4.8 5.5±3.7
2016 20 1.20 LAD Gavin Lux OF LF 19 HS L/R 5'11" 190 Billy Gasparino Andrew Friedman 5.7 +0.9 8.0±3.7
2016 21 1.21 TOR T.J. Zeuch P P 21 COLL R/R 6'7" 245 Brian Parker Ross Atkins -0.8 -5.2 5.5±3.7
2016 22 1.22 PIT Will Craig IF 3B 22 COLL R/R 6'3" 235 Joe Dellicarri Neal Huntington -0.6 -8.7 10.8±3.7
2016 23 1.23 STL Delvin Pérez IF SS 18 HS R/R 6'1" 175 Randy Flores John Mozeliak 0.0 -3.0 2.8±3.7
2016 24 1.24 SDP Hudson Potts IF 3B 18 HS R/R 6'2" 205 Mark Conner AJ Preller 0.0 -3.0 2.8±3.7
2016 25 1.25 SDP Eric Lauer P P 21 COLL R/L 6'3" 209 Mark Conner AJ Preller 5.7 +1.3 5.5±3.7
2016 26 1.26 CHW Zack Burdi P P 21 COLL R/R 6'3" 210 Kenny Williams -0.3 -2.3 3.0±3.7
2016 27 1.27 BAL Cody Sedlock P P 21 COLL R/R 6'4" 220 Gary Rajsich Dan Duquette 0.0 -2.0 3.0±3.7
2016 28 1.28 WSN Carter Kieboom IF 3B 19 HS R/R 6'1" 221 Eddie Longosz Michael Rizzo -2.1 -4.1 2.8±3.7
2016 29 1.29 WSN Dane Dunning P P 22 COLL R/R 6'4" 225 Eddie Longosz Michael Rizzo 5.2 +3.2 3.0±3.7
2016 30 1.30 TEX Cole Ragans P P 19 HS L/L 6'4" 190 Kip Fagg Jon Daniels 9.1 +6.9 2.7±3.7
2016 31 1.31 NYM Anthony Kay P P 21 COLL L/L 6'0" 225 Marc Tramuta Sandy Alderson 0.3 -1.7 3.0±3.7
2016 32 1.32 LAD Will Smith C C 21 COLL R/R 5'10" 195 Billy Gasparino Andrew Friedman 23.1 +20.1 2.0±3.8
2016 33 1.33 STL Dylan Carlson OF LF 18 HS S/L 6'1" 200 Randy Flores John Mozeliak 2.7 +1.0 2.4±3.7
2016 34 1.34 STL Dakota Hudson P P 22 COLL R/R 6'5" 215 Randy Flores John Mozeliak 2.8 +0.8 3.0±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.