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Texas Rangers 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
2003
Texas Rangers
46.6
2001
Texas Rangers
43.3
1999
Texas Rangers
36.5
1996
Texas Rangers
32.3
1972
Texas Rangers
32.1
Bottom Five Draft Classes
Year
Team
WAR
1989
Texas Rangers
-3.1
1968
Washington Senators
-1.4
2004
Texas Rangers
-1.3
1997
Texas Rangers
-0.9
1991
Texas Rangers
-0.5
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
2001
1
5
Mark Teixeira
31.8
2003
17
496
Ian Kinsler
26.6
1972
25
572
Mike Hargrove
23.5
1973
3
49
Len Barker
18.8
1990
10
279
Rusty Greer
18.4
List made from top five WAR values alone.
Five Biggest Busts
Year Drafted
Round
Overall Pick
Name
WAR
1973
1
1
David Clyde
4.3
1983
1
3
Jeff Kunkel
0.8
1967
1
5
Johnny Jones
No MLB Experience
1989
1
5
Donald Harris
-1.5
1988
1
6
Monty Fariss
-0.4
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
2003
17
496
Ian Kinsler
26.6
1972
25
572
Mike Hargrove
23.5
1983
42
817
Glenn Davis
18.0
1979
15
381
Pete O’Brien
17.8
1996
31
923
Travis Hafner
17.3
List made from top five WAR values where a player was drafted outside of the first ten rounds.
Top Five Unsigned Draft Picks
Year Drafted
Round
Overall Pick
Name
WAR
1998
3
83
Barry Zito
23.8
1972
8
172
Jim Sundberg
23.6
1968
11
236
Chris Speier
18.6
1970
21
501
Bruce Sutter
17.0
1996
19
563
Mark Hendrickson
11.1
List made from top five WAR values where a player did not sign with the team.