Biggest Mets busts drafted in the first round in franchise history

Baseball, especially, is a sport that relies heavily on its foundation, the farm system, that feeds prospects to the big league level. Organizations that thrive long-term are those that tend to scout well, draft efficiently, and build the team from the bottom up. The New York Yankees and the St. Louis Cardinals, the two winningest teams in baseball history, have almost made an art form of it. The New York Mets, well, they don’t appear to have gotten the hang of it…yet.

When the Mets came into existence in 1962, ownership grabbed a hold of a number of old-time Yankees executives to build the operations of the organization. That group was led by a man named George Weiss.

But in order to draw attention to the young team, management sought to bring in big names in hopes of drawing big crowds. Unfortunately, some of those big names – like Duke Snider, Warren Spahn, Yogi Berra, Ken Boyer, and even Willie Mays – would be over the hill by the time they took the field in a Mets uniform.

A brief history of the Mets draft picks

The Major League Baseball draft didn’t actually come into existence until June of 1965, during the Mets fourth season. And the Mets were a young organization trying to get its footing. But the scouts are out there, scouring the country, and the outskirts, seeking talent. Are they not seeing the same thing that other scouts are seeing? Well, that’s sort of obvious.

But I sometimes wonder if it is nothing more than when we were kids and choosing up sides on the playground. As a captain, did you always select the best player? I know, at times, I didn’t. But I wasn’t choosing for a Major League baseball team when I was 10 years old.

Regardless of how you look at it, it’s a crapshoot. There have been some successful picks over the years like Jon Matlack, Darryl Strawberry, and Doc Gooden. And, more recently, there have been guys like David Wright, Michael Conforto, and Brandon Nimmo come out of the first round. But there have been a heck of a lot of duds in there too.

You begin to wonder what management was thinking when they made these decisions. Because just take a look at some of the first-round debacles – by position – over the years:

Mets Pitcher

Billy Traber was a first-round pick in the 2000 draft, 16th pick overall, out of Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles, California. The 2000 draft was pretty much without name recognition in the first round. The only player of any significance who was selected immediately ahead of Traber was long-time Mets nemesis, Chase Utley.

Traber would never play for the Mets as he was eventually included as a player to be named later in the trade that brought Roberto Alomar from the Cleveland Indians. Traber was a college pitcher with a lot of promise but couldn’t translate that into big league success. He played a year for the Indians before suffering arm troubles and sitting out two full seasons. He bounced around to the Washington Nationals, New York Yankees, and Boston Red Sox before retiring with an ERA over 5.60.

Mets Catcher

Steve Chilcott was chosen No. 1 in the second free agent draft by the Mets in 1966 out of Antelope Valley High School in Lancaster, California…chosen immediately before some guy from Arizona State University named Reggie. “Well, we need a catcher…” was what was told to everyone.

Chilcott dislocated his right shoulder when he dove back into the second base bag during his second season in the minor leagues, and was never the same. Chilcott never played a single game for the Mets nor any other team in the Major Leagues for that matter, and is one of only three overall first picks to never play a Major League baseball game. He is most known as the answer to a trivia question that has haunted Mets fans for many years.

Mets Left fielder

Lastings Milledge was a first-round selection in the 2003 draft, 12th overall, out of Lakewood Ranch High School in Bradenton, Florida. The 2003 draft was not one with a lot of popular names with the exception of a couple of standout Baltimore Orioles outfielders, Adam Jones and Nick Markakis.

Milledge was already known as a problem kid when the Mets selected him. But they took a chance as he was known to have a world of talent. However, it wasn’t long before he alienated everyone around him. After hitting his first major league home run, he returned to his right field position and, on the way, was high-fiving fans in the stands. It angered his teammates, management, and drew heavy criticism from the media. A few games later, a sign was placed on his locker that said, “Know your place, rook!”

He, and his antics, were sent packing a year later. He played parts of two seasons for the Mets with less than stellar results. He wound up in Washington and had one pretty good year for the Nationals, before wearing out his welcome there, and then with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago White Sox…his career-ending at the age of 26 years old.

Mets Centerfield

Stan Jefferson was a first-round choice in the 1983 draft, 20th overall, out of Bethune-Cookman in Daytona Beach, Florida. Jefferson was actually the second of two first-round picks the Mets had that year. The first was some guy you probably never heard of, Eddie Williams, the third was some guy that is a huge part of Mets lore, Calvin Schiraldi.

Jefferson was supposed to be the next five-tool superstar centerfielder, a switch-hitter with the combination of power and speed. He got a taste of the big leagues during the Mets stretch drive in 1986 for an inauspicious 14 games but it didn’t matter much, as he had Lenny Dykstra, Mookie Wilson, and Darryl Strawberry ahead of him, and was part of the package sent to the San Diego Padres that brought Kevin McReynolds to the team before the ’87 season.

Jefferson struggled with the Padres before moving on for stints with the New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians, and Cincinnati Reds, and finally retired at the age of 28.

Mets Right fielder

Terry Blocker was a first-round choice in the 1981 draft, 4th pick overall, out of Tennessee State University. The 1981 draft was loaded with talent…truly loaded. How in the world the Mets made this choice is truly mind-boggling.

After the Mets made the selection of Blocker, some of the other players chosen were Kevin McReynolds, Tony Gwynn, Ron Darling, Frank Viola, Sid Fernandez, David Cone, Mark Langston, Paul O’Neill, Mark McGwire…and some dude named John Elway. Notice Darling, Viola, Fernandez, and Cone…but none of them drafted by the Mets. What were they thinking?

Well, Blocker would go on to have a less than spectacular career for the Mets. He would get to the bigs in 1985, playing in 18 games and getting one hit in 15 at-bats. He would disappear for a couple of years and play portions of two seasons with the Braves before fading away into obscurity.

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Some of the guys bypassed in favor of Blocker…well…this is the same team that drafted some guy name Steve Chilcott rather than a guy who had a candy bar named after him years earlier.