The Cleveland Guardians made history at the Fort Worth Stockyards on Sunday night, drafting Oregon State second baseman Travis Bazzana first overall.
I planted my flag on Bazzana Island back in February, noting that he could become the first Australian player drafted no. 1 overall and the first player born and raised outside of the U.S. Keith Law pointed out that because no. 2 overall pick Chase Burns was born in Italy, 2024 marked the first time that both of the top two picks were born outside the U.S.
Had the Guardians chosen University of Georgia third baseman Charlie Condon, a different kind of history could’ve been made. Condon would’ve been the third no. 1 overall pick from Marietta, Georgia, giving that city the distinction of being the only municipality in America to produce three no. 1 overall picks.
I concede I can’t make a compelling argument for why anyone should care. However, I noticed the Condon connection due to my interest in obscure baseball trivia and my personal connection to Marietta, where my wife is from.
Condon ended up not going no. 1 overall, leaving Marietta tied with San Diego and nearby Atlanta as the leading producers of no. 1 draft picks. Intrigued, I decided to research the origins of top picks in the draft era, resulting in a list of the origins of every top-five pick along with their alma maters and hometowns.
Overall, in the history of the draft, there is almost an even split between high school and college players in the top-five picks. Bryce Harper and Alex Fernandez are the only two Juco players to enter the draft early and win the Golden Spikes Award. The top of the draft has become increasingly college-heavy in the 2020s due to various factors such as NIL, the transfer portal, and changes to the draft and minors structure.
In recent years, the top five picks have predominantly come from four-year colleges, with schools like Arizona State, Stanford, Vanderbilt, LSU, Rice, and Wichita State producing a significant number of top-five picks throughout history. Each of these schools represents a specific era in college baseball history.
