NASBL Draft History - #1 Picks

Burlington Free Press -

What to do with the #1 pick of the draft? That is a question that can haunt or delight the NASBL general manager who possesses said gem. With the NASBL about to kick off its annual rookie/free agent draft, it's time to take a look back through the available records at past top picks.

1998 - Nomar Garciaparra - Oklahoma Black Bears
Nomar had a fine rookie season on his way to winning the 1998 Taste Great Rookie of the Year, along with many top 10 seasons in a variety of offensive categories. One of the finest all-around shortstops in the NASBL in the mid-1990s and early 2000s, Garciaparra's Achilles heel has been his health, he missed almost all of the 2002 season after undergoing wrist surgery. But when he's healthy he's one of the best players the league's seen with a career .297 average, and career highs of 32 homers, 125 RBI, 183 hits, .348 avg. and 110 runs scored. Nomar has spent the majority of his career with the Lake Champlain Cannibals and hopes to find a home this year and continue to build his NASBL Hall of Fame credentials.

1999 - Kerry Wood - Canyon Country Cannons
Selected #1 by NASBL HOFer Brendan Conrad, Wood has compiled an impressive career W-L record of 85-38, including his 20-4, 2.81 Cy Young season of 2004, all while maintaining a K/9 ratio above 9. The sterling start to his career has been tarnished in recent years with a series of maddening arm injuries which had Wood switching between the rotation and the pen. He has now established himself as a bona fide NASBL closer and hopes to have a Smoltzian like transition to that role.


2000 - Kris Benson - North Celtic Druids
He is mostly an unremarkable pitcher, who is more well known for a money/attention loving wife. If they get actually decide to get divorced, his career will be in limbo forever and ever. Career 44-60, 5.61 NASBL hurler who will be out the league this year tending to a shoulder injury.

2001 - Rafael Furcal - Springfield Isotopes
This lifetime Isotope has served his franchise well, starting with winning the Taste Great ROY in 2001. Fookie, as his friends call him, can be counted on for 80 runs a year, solid SS defense and aggressive base running. He will attempt to bounce back from a tough back injury suffered last season, which may limit his effectiveness. But you'd be wise not to sleep on Furcal as he can be counted on as a productive player for the next few seasons.

2002 - Albert Pujols - Vermont Fighting Sioux
Perhaps the NASBL's most consistent superstar in his 7 seasons, he has to his credit a ROY and MVP award and a handful of top 5 MVP finishes. In each season so far, Phat Albert hit at least .292, slugged at least 30 homers, and drove in at least 84 runs. In his sixth season, at the age of 25, he won the Less Filling Most Valuable Player Award. He earned Rookie of the Year honors in 2001, is all over the year end stat leaders annually and helped the Fighting Sioux to their first LCS in 2007. A mediocre third baseman and left fielder early in his career, Pujols was switched to first base in 2004 and is an annual contender for a Gold Glove and coveted "1" rating. Unless his elbow ends up sidelining him for significant time, pencil him in for conservatively six more 30/110/.300 seasons with an eventual bust in the HOF and making a run at numerous NASBL career statistical numbers.

2003 - Mark Prior - Grundy County Grizzlies
We all remember well the famed headline, "Griz Make Prior Commitment". Came with as much, if not more hype ever thrown at a prospect, he had a promising start to his career and put up respectable numbers for the Griz. But, saddled with the same frailty as boyhood pal Kerry Wood, today this perennial shoulder surgery candidate is nothing more than a low-end injury-risk sleeper for his next owner, if in fact NASBL employment is in his future. To their credit, GCG has stuck by Prior and at 28, he might not be done, but you can grow old waiting for this guy to come back out of rehab purgatory. Will spend the '09 NASBL season playing soft toss with Kris and Anna Benson on the IR.

2004 - Brandon Webb - Honolulu Hawaiians
Built like a horse, Webb has put together five solid seasons (73-57, 4.52) in the hitter friendly environs of HHA park, and is roundly considered the best "heavy ball" thrower in the game. He doesn't need to knock you out to get out. Surpassing 200 Ks only once, his lower pitch counts allow him to work deeper into games and be in the 230/240 innings ballpark annually. Reliable Webb has to be one of the top ten starting pitchers in the league and at this point of his career and the history of NASBL, can be considered the most successful pitcher ever drafted #1 with an outside chance at NASBL historical significance if this type of production continues for 5+ more years.

2005- Draft Records Lost (if you know who went #1 in '05 let me know and I'll add him)

2006 - Grady Sizemore - New York Knights
New York has gotten everything you could hope out of a #1 pick from Sizemore; namely top of the order production and middle of the field defense. Grady is a true star in the making, if not already there. The quintessential 5-tooler, Grady will keep 'em cheering in New York for the next decade. This rumored son of Tom Sizemore and the Virgin Mary. If you live in the Metro NYK area, and have a girlfriend, there is absolutely no chance she is safe from being canoodled by Grady Sizemore.


2007 - Stephen Drew - Grundy County Grizzlies
While the jury's still out on Drew, boy does this guy have potential. He's a great candidate to have a breakout '09 NASBL season - his third full season in the league, a typical barometer for fulfilling one's potential. Clearly, he has a chance to be one of the few power hitters at his position, and his pedigree suggests he has room to get even better. By this time next year, he might have even forced his way into a top 5 SS.

2008 - Tim Lincecum - New Jersey Trash Heap
Tim is coming off a stellar rookie season and the sky is the limit. Listed at 5-foot-11 and 160 pounds, tiny by today's standards for a power pitcher, Lincecum defied detractors - and the laws of physics - by firing 95+ mph fastballs past one hulking slugger after another. The 24-year-old right-hander, whose father helped engineer his delivery and advise him to never ice his arm after starts, was 14-7 with a 3.32 ERA with 189 strikeouts in 182 IP, remarkable numbers for a rookie on a fourth-place team. Lincecum is arguably the No. 1 pitcher in the league already and figures to fill up the W and K columns of NJT's stat sheet. He has a ton of upside and strikeout potential and at 24, there is no better long-term keeper pitcher in the league.

We have explored the career of the above ten #1 draft picks. Based on their production to date and/or expected production they fall into five categories. One is a sure HOFer (Pujols), three others have a chance at the HOF (Nomar, Webb, Lincecum), two are annual all-star threats (Furcal & Sizemore), one has all-star potential (Drew), two had early success but eventual injury issues (Wood & Prior) and one is Chris with a "K".