Adam's recent tweets got me interested in the history of Rangers draft picks. I was a little curious to see all the top picks over the history of the franchise. Here are the 31 best Ranger Draft picks, sorted by Baseball-Reference WAR. The cutoff I used was 10 Career WAR.
Edit: The table is now after the jump, to conserve front page space
Rank | Year | Rnd | Pos | WAR ▾ | |
1 | 1986 | 1 | Kevin Brown | RHP | 64 |
2 | 1982 | 39 | Kenny Rogers | LHP | 46.3 |
3 | 2001 | 1 | Mark Teixeira | 3B | 36.7 |
4 | 1972 | 8 | Jim Sundberg | C | 35.1 |
5 | 1972 | 25 | Mike Hargrove | 1B | 30 |
6 | 1996 | 31 | Travis Hafner | 3B | 21.5 |
7 | 1965 | 1 | Joe Coleman | RHP | 20.3 |
8 | 1990 | 10 | Rusty Greer | OF | 19.8 |
9 | 1985 | 16 | Mike Stanley | 1B | 19.4 |
10 | 2003 | 17 | Ian Kinsler | SS | 19.2 |
11 | 1996 | 10 | Doug Davis | LHP | 18.9 |
12 | 1992 | 1 | Rick Helling | RHP | 18.6 |
13 | 1992 | 24 | Rich Aurilia | SS | 18.5 |
14 | 1974 | 4 | Jim Clancy | RHP | 18.1 |
15 | 1981 | 1 | Ron Darling | RHP | 17.8 |
16 | 1986 | 13 | Rey Sanchez | SS | 17.8 |
17 | 1988 | 3 | Darren Oliver | LHP | 17.4 |
18 | 1969 | 1 | Jeff Burroughs | OF | 17.2 |
19 | 2003 | 1 | John Danks | LHP | 16.9 |
20 | 1987 | 32 | Robb Nen | RHP | 16.6 |
21 | 1979 | 15 | Pete O'Brien | 1B | 16 |
22 | 1999 | 6 | Aaron Harang | RHP | 14.4 |
23 | 1982 | 5 | Steve Buechele | 2B | 13.5 |
24 | 1970 | 5 | Rick Waits | LHP | 13.3 |
25 | 1985 | 1 | Bobby Witt | RHP | 13.1 |
26 | 1998 | 1 | Carlos Pena | 1B | 12.9 |
27 | 1994 | 3 | Scott Podsednik | OF | 12.3 |
28 | 1973 | 3 | Len Barker | RHP | 12.2 |
29 | 1986 | 2 | Roger Pavlik | RHP | 10.3 |
30 | 1995 | 3 | Ryan Dempster | RHP | 10.3 |
31 | 1986 | 3 | Dean Palmer | SS | 10.1 |