Rosternomics

1989 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
1989 1 1.1 BAL Ben McDonald P P 22 COLL R/R 6'7" 213 John Barr Roland Hemond 20.5 +0.8 19.6±3.8
1989 2 1.2 ATL Tyler Houston IF 3B 18 HS L/R 6'1" 220 Paul Snyder Jr Bobby Cox 1.5 -17.4 18.9±4.1
1989 3 1.3 SEA Roger Salkeld P P 18 HS R/R 6'5" 215 Roger Jongewaard Woody Woodward 0.5 -9.5 9.9±4.1
1989 4 1.4 PHI Jeffrey Jackson OF OF 17 HS R/R Jay Hankins Lee Thomas 0.0 -14.3 14.3±3.7
1989 5 1.5 TEX Donald Harris OF CF 22 COLL R/R 6'1" 185 Sandy Johnson Tom Grieve -1.5 -25.0 23.5±4.1
1989 6 1.6 STL Paul Coleman P P 19 HS R/R 5'11" 200 Dal Maxvill 0.0 -9.9 9.9±3.8
1989 7 1.7 CHW Frank Thomas DH DH 21 COLL R/R 6'5" 275 Larry Himes 67.7 +36.0 31.7±3.7
1989 8 1.8 CHC Earl Cunningham OF OF 19 HS R/R 6'2" 25 Dick Balderson Jim Frey 0.0 -8.0 8.0±3.8
1989 9 1.9 ANA Kyle Abbott P P 21 COLL L/L 6'4" 200 Bob Fontaine Jr Mike Port -0.5 -8.4 7.9±3.7
1989 10 1.10 WSN Charles Johnson C C 18 HS R/R 6'3" 225 Gary Hughes Dave Dombrowski 0.0 -7.7 7.7±4.2
1989 11 1.11 CLE Calvin Murray OF CF 18 HS R/R 5'11" 190 Hank Peters 0.0 -8.0 8.0±3.7
1989 12 1.12 HOU Jeff Juden P P 18 HS R/R 6'8" 265 Dan O'Brien Jr Bill Wood 2.0 -3.5 5.5±3.7
1989 13 1.13 KCR Brent Mayne C C 21 COLL L/R 6'1" 190 Art Stewart John Schuerholz 5.1 -11.9 17.0±4.1
1989 14 1.14 SFG Steve Hosey OF RF 20 COLL R/R 6'3" 215 Al Rosen -0.4 -4.8 4.4±3.8
1989 15 1.15 LAD Kiki Jones C C 19 HS R/R 5'11" 170 Ben Wade Fred Claire 0.0 -3.6 3.6±4.1
1989 16 1.16 BOS Greg Blosser OF LF 18 HS L/L 6'3" 200 Eddie Kasko Lou Gorman -0.4 -8.4 8.0±3.7
1989 17 1.17 MIL Cal Eldred P P 22 COLL R/R 6'4" 240 Dick Foster Harry Dalton 12.2 +6.7 5.5±3.7
1989 18 1.18 PIT Willie Greene IF 3B 18 HS L/R 5'11" 180 Cam Bonifay Larry Doughty 4.4 +1.7 2.8±3.7
1989 19 1.19 TOR Eddie Zosky IF SS 21 COLL R/R 6'0" 175 Pat Gillick -0.7 -11.5 10.8±3.7
1989 20 1.20 CIN Scott Bryant OF OF 22 COLL R/R 6'2" 215 John Cox Murray Cook 0.0 -4.4 4.4±3.7
1989 21 1.21 DET Greg Gohr P P 22 COLL R/R 6'3" 205 Jax Robertson Bill Lajoie 0.5 -5.0 5.5±3.7
1989 22 1.22 LAD Tom Goodwin OF CF 21 COLL L/R 6'0" 195 Ben Wade Fred Claire 3.9 -0.5 4.4±3.7
1989 23 1.23 BOS Mo Vaughn IF 1B 22 COLL L/R 6'1" 275 Eddie Kasko Lou Gorman 31.1 +20.3 10.8±3.7
1989 24 1.24 NYM Alan Zinter IF 1B 21 COLL S/R 6'2" 195 Roland Johnson Frank Cashen -0.5 -11.4 10.8±3.7
1989 25 1.25 MIN Chuck Knoblauch IF 2B 21 COLL R/R 5'9" 170 Terry Ryan Andy MacPhail 39.8 +28.9 10.8±3.7
1989 26 1.26 SEA Scott Burrell P P 18 HS R/R 6'6" 190 Roger Jongewaard Woody Woodward 0.0 -2.7 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.