Tampa Bay Rays 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

YearTeamWAR
2006Tampa Bay Devil Rays59.2
1999Tampa Bay Devil Rays54.4
2007Tampa Bay Devil Rays35.0
2000Tampa Bay Devil Rays32.5
2010Tampa Bay Rays29.9

Bottom Five Draft Classes

YearTeamWAR
2009Tampa Bay Rays-0.9
2003Tampa Bay Devil Rays0.5
1997Tampa Bay Devil Rays2.7
1996Tampa Bay Devil Rays4.2
2008Tampa Bay Rays5.2
This list excludes any season past 2010, since those draft classes have a multitude of active players.

Top Five Draft Picks

Year DraftedRoundOverall PickNameWAR
200613Evan Longoria37.8
199911Josh Hamilton26.5
200711David Price24.3
200016466James Shields24.0
1999252Carl Crawford23.2
List made from top five WAR values alone.

Five Biggest Busts

Year DraftedRoundOverall PickNameWAR
200311Delmon Young-1.2
200811Tim Beckham4.3
200113Dewon Brazelton-0.8
200518Wade TownsendNo MLB Experience
2010117Josh SaleNo 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 DraftedRoundOverall PickNameWAR
200016466James Shields24.0
201031941Kevin Kiermaier17.5
200413375Andy Sonnanstine5.2
199917505Matt Diaz4.8
2001341009Chad Gaudin4.3
List made from top five WAR values where a player was drafted outside of the first ten rounds.

Top Five Unsigned Draft Picks

Year DraftedRoundOverall PickNameWAR
200223674Jacoby Ellsbury22.2
200520598Wade Miley12.3
2000451327Luke Scott11.0
200119559Jason Hammel10.1
20014109Dave Bush10.1
List made from top five WAR values where a player did not sign with the team.

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