Baseball’s Mr. Irrelevants

Every year, the last player chosen in the NFL draft is lauded as Mr. Irrelevant. Sometimes he makes the roster out of training camp, sometimes he doesn’t, but for awhile, at least, he enjoys some measure of semi-celebrity status.

The baseball equivalent, however, has never been as celebrated. This clearly has a lot to do with the fact that Major League Baseball’s draft is nowhere near the event that the NFL draft is – Mel Kiper has been a household name for twenty years, while baseball only started televising the event within the past two or three years.

There is also the problem of visibility. There have been 45 Mr. Irrelevants in major league history. Of those, only two have played in the major leagues, and only then after they went back to school and were selected higher in a later year. Don Wakamatsu, currently the manager of the Seattle Mariners, got into 18 games with the Chicago White Sox in 1991 (both Baseball-Reference.com and Thebaseballcube.com list Wakamatsu as having been drafted by the Reds in the 11th round in 1985; no mention is made 1984, when he was the last pick, except in the year-by-year databases. Some articles have mentioned his Mr. Irrelevant status).

In 1989, the Houston Astros spent the draft’s 1,490th pick on Desi Wilson, a first baseman from Fairleigh Dickinson University. Wilson’s draft odyssey was interesting to say the least: he was a fifteenth round selection by the Red Sox in 1987, but failed to sign. The Astros took him in the 87th round in 1989 – understandably, he again refused to sign. Finally, the Rangers nabbed him in the 30th round in 1991. He wisely signed. Though his major league career only lasted 41 games, he enjoyed a seventeen year career in professional baseball.

Thirty-two Mr. Irrelevants didn’t even play in the minor leagues, according to the two Web sites referenced above. Between 1985 and 1995, only Wilson had any statistics available. For seven of those years (1989-95), the last pick was made by either the Houston Astros or the Florida Marlins.

At least two of these players are still active. Boston’s Kyle Stroup did not play after being drafted last year but is listed as a member of the Gulf Coast League Red Sox this season, and Los Angeles’ Alibay Barkley was chosen out New York’s George Washington High School just last week. According to the New York Times, he is still undecided between signing a contract immediately or attending junior college for a year and re-entering the draft in 2010.

Major and Minor League Experience

Year	Round	Pick	Team	Player	Position	Years	High Level
1984	51	839	New York Yankees	Don Wakamatsu	C	12	MLB
1989	87	1490	Houston Astros	Desi Wilson	1B	17	MLB

Minor League Experience

Year	Round	Pick	Team	Player	Position	Years	High Level
1977	42	775	St. Louis Cardinals	Deron Thomas	INF	4	AA
1980	44	832	Cleveland Indians	Shanie Dugas	SS	10	AAA
1981	44	853	San Francisco Giants	Mark Winters	LHP	4	High A
1982	47	832	New York Yankees	Robert Woodcock	2B	1	Low A
1983	50	827	Texas Rangers	Brad Hill	OF	4	AA
1996	100	1740	New York Yankees	Aron Amundson	3B	2	Independent
1997	92	1607	Tampa Bay Rays	Andy Baxter	SS	2	Low A
2000	50	1452	Atlanta Braves	Drew Jackson	OF	5	Rookie
2002	50	1482	St. Louis Cardinals	John Powell	RHP	2	Rookie
2004	50	1498	Atlanta Braves	Eric Gonzalez	RHP	2	A
2007	50	1453	New York Yankees	Larry Day	C	2	A

No Stats Available

Year	Round	Pick	Team	Player	Position
1965	72	824	Houston Astros	Reginald Thomas	OF
1966	63	833	New York Yankees	Matt Galante	INF
1967	77	975	New York Yankees	Donald Van Deusen	SS
1968	71	913	Los Angeles Dodgers	Carl Amendola	C
1969	90	1044	Kansas City Royals	James Beal	2B
1970	60	929	Pittsburgh Pirates	Anthony Buckley	RHP
1971	48	803	Los Angeles Dodgers	Don Stackpole	C
1972	46	791	San Francisco Giants	Carl Wesley	OF
1973	52	747	St. Louis Cardinals	Bert Francks	RHP
1974	41	690	Baltimore Orioles	Ron DeGrande	OF
1975	37	679	Minnesota Twins	Al Arthur	RHP
1976	40	713	San Francisco Giants	Sammy Bickham	RHP
1978	48	779	Cleveland Indians	Delbert Stacey	RHP
1979	44	870	Pittsburgh Pirates	Paul Cox	LHP
1985	39	832	Cleveland Indians	Clay Parrach	1B
1986	49	891	Baltimore Orioles	Daniel Johnston	2B
1987	74	1263	Kansas City Royals	Stewart Anthony	SS
1988	75	1433	New York Yankees	Robert LeFebre	OF
1990	99	1489	Houston Astros	Jeff Caldwell	OF
1991	96	1600	Houston Astros	Brian Hudson	RHP
1992	50	1412	Florida Marlins	James Woods	OF
1993	91	1721	Florida Marlins	Shawn Summers	OF
1994	98	1707	Houston Astros	Cameron Saska	LHP
1995	87	1666	Florida Marlins	Brian Haught	SS
1998	50	1446	Arizona Diamondbacks	Lucas Gruner	C
1999	50	1474	Atlanta Braves	Scott Leitz	LHP
2001	50	1485	San Francisco Giants	P.J. McGinnis	RHP
2003	50	1480	Atlanta Braves	John Scaglione	RHP
2005	50	1501	New York Yankees	Blake Heym	C
2006	50	1502	St. Louis Cardinals	Charles Matthews	RHP
2008	50	1504	Boston Red Sox	Kyle Stroup	RHP
2009	50	1521	Los Angeles Angels	Alibay Barkley	1B