You’ll never believe the NY Mets first round draft pick with the most games played

Who is the best New York Mets first-round draft pick of all-time? Dwight Gooden’s 53 bWAR tops the list. David Wright probably means the most to the franchise. Darryl Strawberry lived up to the hype.

No Mets first-round pick won more games than Doc, hit more home runs than Darryl, or had a better lifetime batting average than Captain America. All three had their careers cut short, some by bad life choices and another by injuries. The Mets first-round pick with the most big league games played is someone you’d never guess.

No Mets first-round draft pick played more MLB games than Tim Foli

With 1696 MLB games, Tim Foli tops Jeromy Burnitz by a pair. He outduels Wright and Strawberry by about 100. It’s going to take a while before we see anyone match or overtake him.

Foli wasn’t just a first-round pick. He was the first overall selection in 1968. Debuting in 1970 with the Mets for a handful of games, he ended up traded to the Montreal Expos with Mike Jorgensen and Ken Singleton for Rusty Staub in April 1972.

Foli spent parts of 6 seasons with Montreal. Later traded to the San Francisco Giants, he made his Mets return after he was purchased from his new team after one season. Traded for a third time in the month of April in 1979, he logged 218 total games as a member of the Mets.

The large majority of his games came in those years with the Expos. 710 total games with a .586 OPS, Foli was a light-hitting infielder who never won a Gold Glove, earned an All-Star selection, and timed out his career year at the plate in 1979 as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates. They won the World Series with him as their shortstop in a season where he hit .291.

Foli had a long yet unsensational career. He ranks 12th all-time in games played by a first overall selection. Parts of 16 seasons served, he was an attendance compiler. A participation trophy is still a trophy.

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