Rosternomics

2020 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
2020 1 1.1 DET Spencer Torkelson IF 1B 21 COLL R/R 6'1" 220 $8.42M 60% Scott Pleis Al Avila 2.9 -5.7 40.2±3.9
2020 2 1.2 BAL Heston Kjerstad OF LF 21 COLL L/R 6'2" 215 $5.2M 38% Mike Elias -0.7 -8.8 23.5±4.2
2020 3 1.3 MIA Max Meyer P P 21 COLL L/R 6'0" 196 $6.7M 56% Michael Hill 1.5 -3.2 9.8±3.9
2020 4 1.4 KCR Asa Lacy P P 21 COLL L/L 6'4" 215 $6.67M 53% Dayton Moore 0.0 -4.7 9.8±3.8
2020 5 1.5 TOR Austin Martin OF LF 21 COLL R/R 5'10" 185 $7.0M 69% Shane Farrell Ross Atkins 1.6 -6.4 23.5±4.1
2020 6 1.6 SEA Emerson Hancock P P 21 COLL R/R 6'4" 213 $5.7M 57% Jerry Dipoto 0.7 -4.0 7.9±3.8
2020 7 1.7 PIT Nick Gonzales IF 3B 21 COLL R/R 5'8" 193 $5.43M 49% Joe Dellicarri Ben Cherington 3.3 -2.1 14.8±4.0
2020 8 1.8 SDP Robert Hassell III OF CF 19 HS L/L 6'1" 186 $4.3M 38% Mark Conner AJ Preller -0.5 -2.2 8.0±3.8
2020 9 1.9 COL Zac Veen OF LF 19 HS L/R 6'3" 243 $5.0M 48% Jeff Bridich -0.3 -2.0 8.0±3.8
2020 10 1.10 ANA Reid Detmers P P 21 COLL L/L 6'2" 210 $4.67M 72% Matt Swanson Billy Eppler 7.9 +3.2 7.9±3.7
2020 11 1.11 CHW Garrett Crochet P P 21 COLL L/L 6'6" 245 $4.55M 59% Garrett Guest Kenny Williams 12.2 +8.3 7.9±3.7
2020 12 1.12 CIN Austin Hendrick OF OF 19 HS L/L 6'0" 204 $4.0M 47% Brad Meador Nick Krall 0.0 -1.7 8.0±3.7
2020 13 1.13 SFG Patrick Bailey C C 21 COLL S/R 6'0" 223 $3.8M 40% Michael Holmes Farhan Zaidi 10.0 +4.6 17.0±4.1
2020 14 1.14 TEX Justin Foscue IF 2B 21 COLL R/R 5'11" 205 $3.25M 45% Kip Fagg Jon Daniels -0.5 -5.0 10.8±3.7
2020 15 1.15 PHI Mick Abel P P 19 HS R/R 6'5" 190 $4.08M 71% Brian Barber Ned Rice 0.6 -1.3 5.5±3.7
2020 16 1.16 CHC Ed Howard IF SS 18 HS R/R 6'1" 185 $3.75M 55% Dan Kantrovitz Jed Hoyer 0.0 -1.0 2.8±3.7
2020 17 1.17 BOS Nick Yorke IF 3B 18 HS R/R 5'11" 220 $2.7M 51% Paul Toboni Chaim Bloom -0.2 -1.2 2.8±3.7
2020 18 1.18 ARI Bryce Jarvis P P 23 COLL L/R 6'2" 195 $2.65M 37% Mike Hazen -0.7 -3.3 5.5±3.7
2020 19 1.19 NYM Pete Crow-Armstrong OF CF 18 HS L/L 6'0" 184 $3.36M 45% Marc Tramuta Brodie Van Wagenen 9.5 +7.8 8.0±3.7
2020 20 1.20 MIL Garrett Mitchell OF CF 22 COLL L/R 6'2" 229 $3.24M 60% David Stearns 3.6 +1.7 4.4±3.7
2020 21 1.21 STL Jordan Walker OF RF 18 HS R/R 6'6" 250 $2.9M 35% Charles Peterson John Mozeliak 1.2 -0.5 8.0±3.7
2020 22 1.22 WSN Cade Cavalli P P 22 COLL R/R 6'4" 223 $3.03M 46% Michael Rizzo 1.4 -1.2 5.5±3.7
2020 23 1.23 CLE Carson Tucker IF SS 18 HS R/R 6'1" 180 $2.0M 27% Scott Barnsby Chris Antonetti 0.0 -1.0 2.8±3.7
2020 24 1.24 TBR Nick Bitsko P P 18 HS R/R 6'4" 225 $3.0M 40% Rob Metzler Erik Neander 0.0 -1.2 5.5±3.7
2020 25 1.25 ATL Jared Shuster P P 22 COLL L/L 6'3" 220 $2.2M 55% Dana Brown Alex Anthopoulos 0.5 -2.2 5.5±3.7
2020 26 1.26 OAK Tyler Soderstrom OF LF 19 HS L/R 6'2" 200 $3.3M 61% Eric Kubota David Forst 2.7 +2.1 2.4±3.7
2020 27 1.27 MIN Aaron Sabato IF 1B 21 COLL R/R 6'0" 230 $2.75M 64% Sean Johnson Derek Falvey 0.0 -1.1 3.8±3.7
2020 28 1.28 NYY Austin Wells C C 21 COLL L/R 6'1" 220 $2.5M 68% Brian Cashman 7.1 +5.4 2.0±3.8
2020 29 1.29 LAD Bobby Miller P P 21 COLL L/R 6'5" 220 $2.2M 35% Billy Gasparino Andrew Friedman 2.0 +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.