The fate of David Price

David Price is likely to go #1 in the draft to the Devil Rays in a couple of days. I knew that high draft picks don't often pan out, but I was surprised to see that there haven't been any great pitchers to come out of the first three draft picks, ever. There have been some good pitchers, but no great ones so far. Here are the best ones:

#1 picks: Andy Benes, Floyd Bannister, Tim Belcher, Kris Benson
#2 picks: Justin Verlander, Josh Beckett, Bill Gullickson, J.R. Richard, Mark Prior, Mark Mulder
#3 picks: Steve Avery, Braden Looper, Dustin Hermanson, Bobby Witt, Brian Anderson

The #2 guys are the best, and you could make a good argument that Richard was a great pitcher for a few years, even though he had a short career. But there's a good chance that no pitcher drafted in the first three spots so far will make the Hall of Fame.

Hitters, of course, are another story:

#1 picks: Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey, Jr., Chipper Jones, Harold Baines, Darryl Strawberry, Jeff Burroughs
#2 picks: Reggie Jackson, Joe Carter, Will Clark
#3 picks: Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, Matt Williams

By the way, Baseball Reference has all this information now. Way cool.