Rosternomics

1988 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
1988 1 1.1 SDP Andy Benes P P 21 COLL R/R 6'6" 245 Jack McKeon 37.0 +17.4 19.6±3.8
1988 2 1.2 CLE Mark Lewis IF 2B 19 HS R/R 6'1" 190 Jeff Scott Hank Peters -2.8 -21.7 18.9±4.1
1988 3 1.3 ATL Steve Avery P P 18 HS L/L 6'4" 205 Paul Snyder Jr Bobby Cox 20.7 +10.7 9.9±4.1
1988 4 1.4 BAL Gregg Olson P P 22 COLL R/R 6'4" 210 Fred Uhlman Sr Roland Hemond 10.0 +0.2 9.8±3.8
1988 5 1.5 LAD William Bene P P 21 COLL R/R 6'4" 200 Ben Wade Fred Claire 0.0 -8.5 8.5±3.9
1988 6 1.6 TEX Monty Fariss OF LF 21 COLL R/R 6'4" 180 Sandy Johnson Tom Grieve -0.4 -23.9 23.5±4.1
1988 7 1.7 HOU Willie Ansley OF OF 19 HS R/R 6'2" 196 Dan O'Brien Jr Bill Wood 0.0 -8.0 8.0±3.9
1988 8 1.8 ANA Jim Abbott P P 21 COLL L/L 6'3" 210 Mike Port 22.5 +14.6 7.9±3.7
1988 9 1.9 CHC Ty Griffin IF 2B 21 COLL S/R 6'0" 185 Jim Frey 0.0 -14.8 14.8±3.8
1988 10 1.10 CHW Robin Ventura IF 3B 21 COLL L/R 6'1" 200 Larry Himes 56.2 +41.4 14.8±3.8
1988 11 1.11 PHI Pat Combs P P 22 COLL L/L 6'3" 200 Jack Pastore Woody Woodward 3.4 -4.5 7.9±3.7
1988 12 1.12 BOS Tom Fischer P P 21 COLL L/L 5'11" 190 Eddie Kasko Lou Gorman 0.0 -7.9 7.9±3.7
1988 13 1.13 PIT Austin Manahan IF 3B 18 HS R/R 6'1" 185 Cam Bonifay Larry Doughty 0.0 -7.8 7.8±3.8
1988 14 1.14 SEA Tino Martinez IF 1B 21 COLL L/R 6'2" 230 Roger Jongewaard Dick Balderson 26.8 +16.0 10.8±3.7
1988 15 1.15 SFG Royce Clayton IF SS 18 HS R/R 6'0" 200 Bob Fontaine Sr Al Rosen 17.0 +9.2 7.8±3.8
1988 16 1.16 OAK Stan Royer IF 3B 21 COLL R/R 6'3" 195 Dick Bogard Jr Sandy Alderson -0.3 -11.1 10.8±3.7
1988 17 1.17 CLE Charles Nagy P P 21 COLL L/R 6'3" 200 Jeff Scott Hank Peters 30.8 +25.4 5.5±3.7
1988 18 1.18 KCR Hugh Walker OF OF 18 HS L/R 5'11" 209 Art Stewart John Schuerholz 0.0 -8.0 8.0±3.7
1988 19 1.19 WSN David Wainhouse P P 21 COLL L/R 6'2" 190 Gary Hughes Bill Stoneman -1.0 -6.4 5.5±3.7
1988 20 1.20 MIN Johnny Ard P P 21 COLL R/R 6'5" 200 Terry Ryan Andy MacPhail 0.0 -5.5 5.5±3.7
1988 21 1.21 NYM David Proctor P P 20 COLL L/R 6'3" 195 Roland Johnson Frank Cashen 0.0 -5.5 5.5±3.7
1988 22 1.22 STL John Ericks P P 21 COLL R/R 6'7" 220 Dal Maxvill 1.0 -4.5 5.5±3.7
1988 23 1.23 STL Brad Duvall P P 22 COLL R/R 6'0" 180 Dal Maxvill 0.0 -5.5 5.5±3.7
1988 24 1.24 MIL Alex Fernandez P P 19 HS R/R 6'1" 235 Dick Foster Harry Dalton 0.0 -5.5 5.5±3.7
1988 25 1.25 TOR Ed Sprague Jr. IF 3B 21 COLL R/R 6'2" 205 Pat Gillick 4.6 -6.3 10.8±3.7
1988 26 1.26 DET Rico Brogna IF 1B 18 HS L/L 6'2" 205 Jax Robertson Bill Lajoie 1.9 -0.9 2.8±3.7
1988 27 1.27 CLE Jeff Mutis P P 22 COLL L/L 6'2" 185 Jeff Scott Hank Peters -1.0 -4.0 3.0±3.7
1988 28 1.28 SFG Ted Wood OF OF 21 COLL L/L 6'2" 178 Bob Fontaine Sr Al Rosen -0.9 -4.8 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.