With Joe Mauer being selected as the #1 pick by the Minnesota Twins in this week’s Amateur Draft, he becomes the sixth catcher to be the number one pick since the draft was created in 1965. In all, there have been 88 first-round catchers chosen. 58 have been drafted out of high school and 30 out of college. Danny Goodwin was twice selected as the number one pick. In 1971 he was chosen by the Chicago White Sox, but did not sign opting to go to college instead. He was later drafted as the #1 pick by the California Angels in 1975.
Besides Goodwin, there have been two other catchers who were twice selected as first-round picks. Charles Johnson was the 10th pick in the 1989 draft but did not sign with Montreal choosing to go to Miami University. He was drafted 28th by the Florida Marlins in 1992. Jason Varitek was the choice for Minnesota in 1993 as the 21st pick overall, but wanted to continue studies at Georgia Tech. He was subsequently chosen as the 7th pick the next year (1974) by Seattle.
Steve Chilcott, a catcher, the #1 pick in 1966 (New York Mets) is the only top choice to have never made it to the majors. Mike Piazza was selected in the 62nd round, some 1600-plus players chosen ahead of him. Johnny Bench was drafted in the 2nd round of the 1965 draft and is the first draft player to be enshrined in the Hall Of Fame. The very first catcher ever chosen in the amateur draft was Ray Fosse, who was the #7 pick in 1965 (by Cleveland). Brian Milner, a 7th round pick in 1978, went straight to the majors (Toronto), but his major league career lasted only two games.
Seton Hall college has provided two first-round catchers (Craig Biggio 1987 and Rick Cerone 1975), which no other school can boast. No high school has been marked twice as first-round catcher material. The Chicago White Sox have chosen seven catchers in their first-rounds which leads all MLB teams. Arizona, Tampa Bay and Colorado have never chosen a catcher as their first-round pick. No catchers were chosen in the first round in the years 1988, 1996 and 1998. There were six catchers chosen in the first round of the 1970 draft, all out of high school.
» Chuck Rosciam maintains the Encyclopedia of Baseball Catchers at www.baseballcatchers.com
Also by Chuck Rosciam
» Gold & Silver Catchers
» Catching Three No-Hitters
» More submissions
Posted June 7, 2001.
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