The 5: Facts on D-backs’ draft history

The MLB First Year Player draft gets underway next week.

Over a thousand amateur baseball players will get the call from the 30 Major League franchises that their services are wanted. Some will sign, others will opt to play college baseball.

This will be the 20th June draft in the history of the Arizona Diamondbacks. They stocked their roster with 62 players in 1996 — almost two full calendar years before they’d ever play a real game.

In accordance with the D-backs’ platinum draft anniversary, we thought we’d take a look back at five things you probably didn’t know about the franchise’s first 19 drafts.

5. The odds are long … very long

Since 1997, the Diamondbacks have drafted a total of 995 players. Only 12.3 percent (122) ever played in a big-league game. Only 75 of those ever suited up for the D-backs.

The D-backs’ best draft haul came in 2009. Eight of the 55 players they picked played for them. Three (A.J. Pollock, Chris Owings and Paul Goldschmidt) are still with the team. Pitcher Charles Brewer is back with the organization, pitching in the minor leagues.

4. First-round not a guarantee

Of the 32 players the D-backs have selected in the first round of the MLB First Year Player Draft, only 23 of them have reached the big leagues. Of course, recent picks like Dansby Swanson (2015), Touki Toussaint (2014) and Braden Shipley (2013) are well on their way to “the show,” they’re still early in their respective careers.

Eighteen of those 23 first-rounders to make it to the bigs did so in D-backs uniforms.

Twice, the D-backs have had the number-one overall pick. In 2005, they picked Virginia high school phenom Justin Upton with the top pick. Upton would go on to play six seasons in Arizona, hitting .278 with 108 home runs and two All-Star appearances.

Last June, they took Vanderbilt shortstop Dansby Swanson first. Swanson’s time in the organization was short however. In December, he was dealt to the Atlanta Braves as part of the trade that brought Shelby Miller to Arizona. Swanson played only 22 games in the D-backs’ minor league system

3. Rookies having good luck elsewhere

The Diamondbacks have never had a National League Rookie of the Year, but they’ve actually drafted two.

In 2003, Arizona selected catcher Chris Coghlan out of East Lake High School in Florida in the 18th round (546th overall). Coghlan opted to play college baseball, signing with the University of Mississippi. In 2009 as a member of the Florida Marlins (who drafted him in the first round in 2006), Coghlan won the NL Rookie of the Year when he batted .321 with nine home runs and 47 RBI.

In 1997, the D-backs invested a 54th-round pick on Texas high school pitcher Jason Jennings. He ended up playing college ball at Baylor University, where he elevated his draft stock and became a first-round pick of the Colorado Rockies. In 2002, Jennings won 16 games to capture the National League Rookie of the Year Award.

Another D-backs’ draft pick, Dan Uggla (11th round, 2001), was a Rule 5 pick of the Marlins in 2005 and finished third in the NL Rookie of the Year balloting the next year when he clubbed 27 home runs and batted .282 for Florida.

2. The eighth round the charm?

So many players are selected in the First Year Player Draft every year, that it’s easy to lose track of players who were drafted in later rounds.

The D-backs have struck gold twice in the eighth round. In 2009, they took Texas State first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, who belted 36 home runs in three college seasons, with the 246th overall selection. Goldschmidt has been one of the game’s best players since breaking into the Majors in 2011. The career .297 hitter has 126 home runs and has finished second in the National League MVP voting twice in the last three seasons.

In 2000, the D-backs found a gem with the 249th overall pick, taking right-hander Brandon Webb out of the University of Kentucky. Webb struggled early in his big league career, losing 16 games for a woeful 2004 ball club. But he’d go on to win 70 games over the next four seasons, winning the National League Cy Young Award in 2006 and finishing second in 2007 and 2008. Webb’s career was cut short by a shoulder injury suffered on Opening Day of 2009, and he would never throw another pitch in a Major League game.

Chris Capuano, who has had a solid 12-year career, was also a D-backs’ eighth-round pick (238th overall) in 1999.

1. The D-backs love the local products

Since 1996, the Diamondbacks have selected a total of 77 players from Arizona institutions — either four-year universities, junior colleges or high schools.

Four different universities have had players drafted by the D-backs, with Arizona State leading the way, having 11 players picked. The University of Arizona has had three, Arizona Christian University has had two and Grand Canyon University has had one.

The D-backs have selected 23 players from Arizona junior colleges and 37 high school products from the state.

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