Rosternomics

2021 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 →

Unsettled: selected year(s) include a class with <5 seasons to play out — realized WAR is partial and vs-Pace is preliminary. Most picks take ~5 years to surface; the back of the draft can take a decade. The Expected column is the right "asset value" read for fresh picks.
Round:
Year Pick Rd Team Player Pos Age B/T Ht Wt Bonus Bonus% Scouting Dir GM / POBO Real DVOS Expected
2021 1 1.1 PIT Henry Davis C C 22 COLL R/R 5'11" 225 $6.5M 41% Joe Dellicarri Ben Cherington -1.7 -11.2 28.2±3.7
2021 2 1.2 TEX Jack Leiter P P 21 COLL R/R 6'1" 205 $7.92M 59% Kip Fagg Jon Daniels 2.6 -4.6 17.9±3.9
2021 3 1.3 DET Jackson Jobe P P 19 HS R/R 6'2" 190 $6.9M 43% Scott Pleis Al Avila 0.1 -2.5 9.9±4.1
2021 4 1.4 BOS Marcelo Mayer IF 2B 19 HS L/R 6'3" 188 $6.66M 62% Paul Toboni Chaim Bloom 0.7 -4.5 18.9±3.9
2021 5 1.5 BAL Colton Cowser OF CF 21 COLL L/R 6'3" 220 $4.9M 39% Mike Elias 4.3 -1.2 23.5±4.1
2021 6 1.6 ARI Jordan Lawlar OF LF 19 HS R/R 6'0" 190 $6.71M 56% Deric Ladnier Mike Hazen -0.4 -1.4 8.0±3.9
2021 7 1.7 KCR Frank Mozzicato P P 18 HS L/L 6'3" 175 $3.55M 28% J.J. Picollo 0.0 -1.3 9.9±3.8
2021 8 1.8 COL Benny Montgomery OF OF 19 HS R/R 6'5" 200 $5.0M 44% Jeff Bridich 0.0 -1.0 8.0±3.8
2021 9 1.9 ANA Sam Bachman P P 22 COLL R/R 6'1" 235 $3.85M 36% Matt Swanson Perry Minasian 0.7 -3.0 7.9±3.7
2021 10 1.10 NYM Kumar Rocker P P 22 COLL R/R 6'5" 245 Marc Tramuta Jared Porter 0.0 -3.7 7.9±3.7
2021 11 1.11 WSN Brady House IF 3B 18 HS R/R 6'4" 208 $5.0M 49% Michael Rizzo -0.3 -1.1 7.8±3.8
2021 12 1.12 SEA Harry Ford C C 18 HS R/R 5'10" 200 $4.37M 46% Jerry Dipoto -0.0 -0.4 3.6±4.1
2021 13 1.13 PHI Andrew Painter P P 18 HS R/R 6'7" 215 $3.9M 41% Brian Barber Dave Dombrowski 0.3 -1.0 5.5±3.7
2021 14 1.14 SFG Will Bednar P P 21 COLL R/R 6'2" 246 $3.65M 40% Michael Holmes Farhan Zaidi 0.0 -2.9 7.9±3.7
2021 15 1.15 MIL Sal Frelick OF RF 21 COLL L/R 5'9" 191 $4.0M 38% David Stearns 6.0 +4.9 4.4±3.8
2021 16 1.16 MIA Kahlil Watson OF LF 18 HS L/R 5'9" 178 $4.54M 40% D J Svihlik Kim Ng 0.0 -1.0 8.0±3.7
2021 17 1.17 CIN Matt McLain IF 2B 22 COLL R/R 5'8" 180 $4.62M 34% Brad Meador Nick Krall 4.9 +2.4 10.8±3.7
2021 18 1.18 STL Michael McGreevy P P 21 COLL L/R 6'4" 220 $2.75M 29% John Mozeliak 2.2 +0.3 5.5±3.7
2021 19 1.19 TOR Gunnar Hoglund P P 22 COLL L/R 6'4" 220 $3.25M 47% Shane Farrell Ross Atkins -0.4 -2.4 5.5±3.7
2021 20 1.20 NYY Trey Sweeney IF SS 21 COLL L/R 6'2" 212 $3.0M 37% Brian Cashman -0.5 -3.0 10.8±3.7
2021 21 1.21 CHC Jordan Wicks P P 22 COLL L/L 6'3" 220 $3.13M 40% Dan Kantrovitz Jed Hoyer 0.3 -1.6 5.5±3.7
2021 22 1.22 CHW Colson Montgomery IF SS 19 HS L/R 6'3" 230 $3.03M 37% Mike Shirley Kenny Williams 4.6 +3.8 2.8±3.7
2021 23 1.23 CLE Gavin Williams P P 22 COLL L/R 6'6" 250 $2.25M 27% Scott Barnsby Chris Antonetti 4.8 +2.9 5.5±3.7
2021 24 1.24 ATL Ryan Cusick P P 22 COLL R/R 6'6" 235 $2.7M 36% Dana Brown Alex Anthopoulos 0.0 -1.9 5.5±3.7
2021 25 1.25 OAK Max Muncy IF 3B 19 HS R/R 6'0" 180 $2.85M 40% Eric Kubota David Forst -0.2 -1.1 2.8±3.7
2021 26 1.26 MIN Chase Petty P P 18 HS R/R 6'1" 190 $2.5M 28% Sean Johnson Derek Falvey -0.3 -0.7 2.7±3.7
2021 27 1.27 SDP Jackson Merrill OF CF 18 HS L/R 6'2" 195 $1.8M 23% Mark Conner AJ Preller 8.7 +8.3 2.4±3.7
2021 28 1.28 TBR Carson Williams IF SS 18 HS R/R 6'1" 180 $2.35M 27% Rob Metzler Erik Neander -0.7 -1.3 2.8±3.7
2021 29 1.29 LAD Maddux Bruns P P 19 HS L/L 6'2" 205 $2.2M 38% Billy Gasparino Andrew Friedman 0.0 -0.4 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.