St. Louis Cardinals Draft History

_{All tables below are based on the amount of WAR each player produced during their first seven seasons in Major League Baseball. The WAR totals for each draft class include both Pitching and Hitting WAR, but excludes any player that did not sign with their drafting team. The total WAR also reflects the total value the drafted player provided, not just the value to his drafting team.}

_{^{*Data accurate through 2019 season.}}

Top Five Draft Classes

Year	Team	WAR
1999	St. Louis Cardinals	76.0
2009	St. Louis Cardinals	48.2
2006	St. Louis Cardinals	43.5
1984	St. Louis Cardinals	40.6
1988	St. Louis Cardinals	39.4

Bottom Five Draft Classes

Year	Team	WAR
2007	St. Louis Cardinals	-4.1
2002	St. Louis Cardinals	-1.1
1989	St. Louis Cardinals	-0.8
2004	St. Louis Cardinals	-0.4
1975	St. Louis Cardinals	-0.3

This list excludes any season past 2010, since those draft classes have a multitude of active players.

Top Five Draft Picks

Year Drafted	Round	Overall Pick	Name	WAR
1999	13	402	Albert Pujols	53.5
1998	1	5	J.D. Drew	26.1
2001	2	72	Dan Haren	25.6
1979	1	6	Andy Van Slyke	24.9
1971	42	785	Keith Hernandez	23.8

List made from top five WAR values alone.

Five Biggest Busts

Year Drafted	Round	Overall Pick	Name	WAR
1996	1	3	Braden Looper	4.1
1989	1	6	Paul Coleman	No MLB Experience
1984	1	7	Mike Dunne	2.5
1966	1	7	Leron Lee	2.6
1971	1	8	Ed Kurpiel	No MLB Experience

List made from first round picks that produced less than 5.0 WAR in their first seven seasons and ordered by lowest overall pick.

Top Five Value Picks

Year Drafted	Round	Overall Pick	Name	WAR
1999	13	402	Albert Pujols	53.5
1971	42	785	Keith Hernandez	23.8
2009	13	399	Matt Carpenter	23.7
1984	22	554	Jeff Fassero	22.5
1970	37	811	Bake McBride	18.7

List made from top five WAR values where a player was drafted outside of the first ten rounds.

Top Five Unsigned Draft Picks

Year Drafted	Round	Overall Pick	Name	WAR
2003	43	1291	Max Scherzer	26.2
1978	3	67	Mike Moore	24.3
1974	28	587	Paul Molitor	21.6
1969	11	260	Bill Madlock	19.5
1968	38	809	Ed Halicki	16.1

List made from top five WAR values where a player did not sign with the team.

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