Which MLB Teams Drafted The Most Big Leaguers In 2024?
Image credit: Bobby Miller (Photo by Matthew Grimes Jr./Atlanta Braves/Getty Images)
Counting players who are active on MLB Opening Day rosters is admittedly a crude measure of draft success. This count equates the 13th pitcher on a staff with an MLB ace. But it’s still a nice snapshot of what teams are able to find and sign big leaguers out of the draft and which ones aren’t.
There are 583 draftees on Opening Day active rosters (74.8% of the total number of players on rosters), so the average team will produce 19.4 big leaguers. Any club with more than that is above average. Anyone below that is below average.
It’s probably no surprise that the Los Angeles Dodgers lead the way with 29 active big leaguers on Opening Day. There are six homegrown Dodgers on its own roster (Will Smith, Bobby Miller, Michael Grove, James Outman, Gavin Stone and Gavin Lux), but 23 other Dodgers draftees have made other teams’ rosters, led by Corey Seager, Nathan Eovaldi and Alex Verdugo.
The San Diego Padres only have four players they drafted and signed on their own roster (Jackson Merrill, Luis Campusano, Graham Pauley and Tom Cosgrove), but there are 24 Padres draftees on other rosters, which leaves the club second overall.
The Nationals have the fewest, with 10 draftees on Opening Day rosters. Jake Irvin is the only National draftee on Washington’s Opening Day roster.
Here’s a look at how many players each team drafted and signed are on Opening Day rosters.
| Drafting Team | Players | Drafting Team | Players |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 29 | Texas Rangers | 19 |
| San Diego Padres | 28 | Boston Red Sox | 18 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 27 | Los Angeles Angels | 18 |
| Houston Astros | 26 | San Francisco Giants | 18 |
| Minnesota Twins | 26 | Toronto Blue Jays | 18 |
| Cleveland Guardians | 25 | Chicago White Sox | 17 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 24 | Pittsburgh Pirates | 17 |
| Atlanta Braves | 21 | Tampa Bay Rays | 17 |
| Colorado Rockies | 21 | Cincinnati Reds | 16 |
| Miami Marlins | 21 | New York Yankees | 16 |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | 20 | Seattle Mariners | 16 |
| Chicago Cubs | 19 | Milwaukee Brewers | 14 |
| Detroit Tigers | 19 | Oakland Athletics | 14 |
| Kansas City Royals | 19 | New York Mets | 11 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 19 | Washington Nationals | 10 |
