2019 MLB Draft Winners And Losers

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While there’s an appetite for instant reaction in the minutes and hours following the draft, it often takes four or five years before an MLB Draft class can really be fully assessed because of the time it takes for players to ascend through the minors. At Baseball America, we even wait 2-3 months before writing up draft report cards that take an initial temperature of how players perform upon turning pro.

Enough time has now passed, though, to get a better picture of the 2019 draft. That class was particularly fun because of the talent at the top. Several players factored prominently into the 2023 MLB playoffs, including National League Rookie of the Year Corbin Carroll, who propelled the D-backs to the World Series. Of course, as you’ll see below, other clubs were not nearly as fortunate.

Today, we revisited how MLB teams might approach the first round if given a chance to do it again in a 2019 redraft. We take it a step further below, identifying five teams that found value throughout the draft and five teams that have, at least so far, mostly whiffed.

Here are some additional resources to help revisit the 2019 draft class.

WINNERS

Baltimore Orioles

This is an 80-grade draft, right? Sure, you can feel free to remove some praise because any team with the No. 1 pick would have happily taken Adley Rutschman, but Baltimore acquired not just one but two franchise pieces with Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson. There’s a legitimate argument to be made right now that they drafted the best two players in the class. On top of that, the Orioles drafted Joey Ortiz, who ranked as a Top 100 prospect in 2023 and was among the top 32 picks in our redraft, and also landed Darell Hernaiz, who was in consideration and later traded to the A’s. They have another big leaguer in Kyle Stowers, who they picked in the supplemental second round.

Arizona Diamondbacks

Arizona had to wait until the 16th pick to make its first selection and wound up with Corbin Carroll, who would go anywhere from 1-4 if you redid the draft today. That alone is a huge success, but the D-backs also layered on six more big leaguers including Drey Jameson (supplemental 1st), Ryne Nelson (2nd), Tommy Henry (supplemental 2nd), Dominic Fletcher (supplemental 2nd), Andrew Saalfrank (6th) and Dominic Canzone (8th). Arizona had insane draft capital in this class with seven picks among the first 75 selections and they appear to have cleaned up excellently by going 7-for-15 (47%) with big leaguers among their top-10 round picks.

Minnesota Twins

The Twins have one of the most notorious whiffs in the 2019 draft with shortstop Keoni Cavaco their pick at No. 13 overall, but don’t let that pick fool you. The Twins did a lot of damage in this draft and have developed a bit of a reputation for finding steals in later rounds. Matt Wallner was a sound pick at No. 39 overall as mentioned above, and the Twins found multiple big league pieces on day three between 15th rounder Louie Varland and 18th rounder Edouard Julien. The Twins are the only team to join the Orioles with four players going in the first round in our 2019 redraft and they have produced seven big-leaguers overall from this class — tied for second along with the Marlins, Mariners and D-Backs. The others include Sawyer Gipson-Long (6th), Casey Legumina (8th) and Brent Headrick (9th).

Seattle Mariners

It’s hard to find an ace picking at the top of the draft, let alone 20th overall. Seattle may have done so with George Kirby in 2019. Even if you don’t want to give him ace status just yet, he’s at the very least a strong No. 2. Move past Kirby and the Mariners also hit on big leaguers with their next three picks: Brandon Williamson (2nd), Isaiah Campbell (supplemental 2nd) and Levi Stoudt (3rd). Eighth rounder Ty Adcock and 20th rounder Cade Marlowe. You could also give bonus points for 34th rounder Christian Encarnacion-Strand, who didn’t sign and was later a fourth-round pick by the Twins* and made the majors with the Reds.

Detroit Tigers

Eight players from Detroit’s 2019 draft class are now big leaguers, though 11th rounder John McMillon didn’t sign and instead reached the majors with the Royals. That’s an impressive haul regardless of quality, and the Tigers still have a chance for plenty of that between Riley Greene and Kerry Carpenter. While Tigers fans might still be waiting on the full Greene breakout, it could be coming in the near future.

LOSERS

San Francisco Giants

Eleven of the first 12 players selected in the 2019 draft have at least made the majors. The one who has yet to do so? Hunter Bishop, who the Giants selected with their first pick at No. 10 overall and signed for just over $4 million. It wasn’t a reach of a pick at the time—Bishop ranked as the No. 7 player in the class—but he was perhaps a polarizing profile because he had gaudy tools and questionable pure hitting ability that made more of a high-risk, high-reward sort of college player. Bishop just finished his age-24 season and has yet to reach Double-A. He’s a career .223/.346/.388 hitter in the minors and missed the 2023 season with injury.

Los Angeles Angels

The Angels had the final pick in the first half of the first round at No. 15 overall, and opted for North Carolina State infielder Will Wilson. Like Bishop, this wasn’t a shocking pick at the time and Wilson ranked as the No. 22 player in the class, but he has largely struggled in his pro career with a minor league slash line of .237/.315/.413. Second rounder Kyren Paris and/or third rounder Jack Kochanowicz doing well in the majors could help this class look a bit better.

Chicago Cubs

The next player to reach the majors from the Cubs’ 2019 class will be the first. The Cubs are the lone team from this draft class to not have a single big leaguer, though pitchers like DJ Herz (now with the Nationals) and Porter Hodge are two of the most prominent names who could change that in the future. The Cubs took righthander Ryan Jensen with their first round pick at No. 27 overall, and that was probably the biggest surprise of the first round considering his No. 109 draft ranking. Now in the bullpen, Jensen pitched in Double-A and Triple-A during his age-25 season in 2023, but he has struggled with control of both his fastball and cutter.

New York Mets

Brett Baty looks like a perfectly solid first-round pick at this stage, and he still has a bit of untapped potential that could be unlocked in the big leagues, but there’s not much beyond him to get excited about with this class. New York opted for a top-heavy class and invested big money in Baty and prep righthanders Josh Wolf and Matt Allan before turning to senior signs for the rest of their top-10 round picks and neither Wolf nor Allan has panned out or retains prospect value at this stage. It’s a good thing Baty has large shoulders, because he is carrying this draft class.

Oakland Athletics

The lone big leaguer from the A’s 2019 class at the moment is Drew Milas, who spent his 2023 season in the upper levels of the minors and played in 11 big league games with the Nationals. Perhaps first rounder Logan Davidson can change that after a decent season in the upper minors, but he has significant strikeout issues and is now playing first base more than any other position which tanks any prospect value he may have had. Other top picks like Tyler Baum, Marcus Smith, Kyle McCann and Jalen Greer haven’t panned out either.

*Editor’s note: In the initial post we incorrectly wrote that Encarnacion-Strand was later drafted by the Reds. He was in fact drafted by the Twins and traded to the Reds. This has been fixed. We apologize for the error.