Breaking Down the 1990-97 Drafts

Jim Callis compiled a database of the 2,115 players who signed out of the first 10 rounds of the 1990-97 drafts, figuring we’ve had time to get a good read on the careers of all of those players. We’ve noted where they came from (college, high school, junior college) and how they’ve fared. Draft-and-follows who signed the following year were considered where they were drafted from (high school or junior college). Players’ careers were graded because the value of a player who becomes an all-star is clearly different than that of a player who gets one big league at-bat, even though both can be called big leaguers. Using Angels draftees as examples, the categories are: flops who fell short of big leagues (Pete Janicki), players who got a cup of coffee (Phil Leftwich), fringe big leaguers (Jorge Fabregas), big league regulars (Brian Anderson), good big league regulars (Garret Anderson) and stars (Troy Percival). The chart includes players who made their major league debuts through May 4th, 2003.

Overall
	Players	Flops	Coffee	Fringe	Regular	Good	Star	Regular or Better
College	1,023	61.2%	21.8%	8.4%	6.5%	1.4%	0.9%	8.7%
High School	920	71.8%	12.6%	7.2%	4.1%	3.2%	1.1%	8.4%
Junior College	171	77.8%	12.9%	7.0%	1.8%	0.6%	0.0%	2.3%
Total	2,115	67.1%	17.1%	7.8%	5.1%	2.1%	0.9%	8.0%

By Round
First Round	Players	Flops	Coffee	Fringe	Regular	Good	Star	Regular or Better
College	148	27.0%	25.7%	21.6%	16.2%	6.1%	4.1%	26.4%
High School	145	42.1%	15.2%	15.2%	12.4%	10.3%	4.8%	27.6%
Junior College	7	57.1%	14.3%	14.3%	0.0%	14.3%	0.0%	14.3%
Total	301	34.9%	20.3%	18.3%	14.0%	8.3%	4.3%	26.6%
Second Round	Players	Flops	Coffee	Fringe	Regular	Good	Star	Regular or Better
College	91	37.4%	40.7%	6.6%	11.0%	3.1%	1.1%	15.4%
High School	123	63.4%	22.8%	8.1%	3.3%	1.6%	0.8%	5.7%
Junior College	9	66.7%	11.1%	22.2%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Total	223	52.9%	29.6%	8.1%	6.3%	2.2%	0.9%	9.4%
Third Round	Players	Flops	Coffee	Fringe	Regular	Good	Star	Regular or Better
College	86	60.5%	25.6%	8.1%	5.8%	0.0%	0.0%	5.8%
High School	111	73.0%	13.5%	6.3%	5.4%	1.8%	0.0%	7.2%
Junior College	14	78.6%	7.1%	14.3%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Total	211	68.2%	18.0%	7.6%	5.2%	0.9%	0.0%	6.2%
Fourth Round	Players	Flops	Coffee	Fringe	Regular	Good	Star	Regular or Better
College	96	59.4%	27.1%	8.3%	5.2%	0.0%	0.0%	5.2%
High School	93	79.6%	11.8%	5.4%	2.2%	1.1%	0.0%	3.2%
Junior College	15	86.7%	13.3%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Total	204	70.6%	19.1%	6.4%	3.4%	0.5%	0.0%	3.9%
Fifth Round	Players	Flops	Coffee	Fringe	Regular	Good	Star	Regular or Better
College	97	69.1%	18.6%	6.2%	5.2%	1.0%	0.0%	6.2%
High School	94	73.4%	14.9%	6.4%	2.1%	3.2%	0.0%	5.3%
Junior College	13	69.2%	15.4%	15.4%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Total	204	71.1%	16.7%	6.9%	3.4%	2.0%	0.0%	5.4%
Sixth Round	Players	Flops	Coffee	Fringe	Regular	Good	Star	Regular or Better
College	107	77.6%	13.1%	3.7%	3.7%	0.0%	1.9%	5.6%
High School	81	80.2%	8.6%	7.4%	1.2%	1.2%	1.2%	3.7%
Junior College	13	53.8%	15.4%	23.1%	7.7%	0.0%	0.0%	7.7%
Total	201	77.1%	11.4%	6.5%	3.0%	0.5%	1.5%	5.0%
Seventh Round	Players	Flops	Coffee	Fringe	Regular	Good	Star	Regular or Better
College	101	67.3%	19.8%	8.9%	4.0%	0.0%	0.0%	4.0%
High School	76	84.2%	6.6%	5.3%	3.9%	0.0%	0.0%	3.9%
Junior College	22	81.8%	13.6%	0.0%	4.5%	0.0%	0.0%	4.5%
Total	199	74.5%	14.1%	6.5%	4.0%	0.0%	0.0%	4.0%
Eighth Round	Players	Flops	Coffee	Fringe	Regular	Good	Star	Regular or Better
College	108	77.8%	16.7%	1.9%	3.7%	0.0%	0.0%	3.7%
High School	62	82.3%	6.5%	3.2%	1.6%	6.5%	0.0%	8.1%
Junior College	26	88.5%	11.5%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Total	196	80.6%	12.8%	2.0%	2.6%	2.0%	0.0%	4.6%
Ninth Round	Players	Flops	Coffee	Fringe	Regular	Good	Star	Regular or Better
College	100	75.0%	16.0%	5.0%	3.0%	1.0%	0.0%	4.0%
High School	68	88.2%	8.8%	2.9%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Junior College	22	81.8%	13.6%	4.5%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Total	190	80.5%	13.2%	4.2%	1.6%	0.5%	0.0%	2.1%
Tenth Round	Players	Flops	Coffee	Fringe	Regular	Good	Star	Regular or Better
College	89	74.2%	15.7%	7.9%	2.2%	0.0%	0.0%	2.2%
High School	67	86.6%	6.0%	3.0%	1.5%	1.5%	1.5%	4.5%
Junior College	30	80.0%	13.3%	3.3%	3.3%	0.0%	0.0%	3.3%
Total	186	79.6%	11.8%	5.4%	2.2%	0.5%	0.5%	3.2%

By Position
Lefthanders	Players	Flops	Coffee	Fringe	Regular	Good	Star	Regular or Better
College	159	56.0%	30.8%	6.9%	5.0%	0.6%	0.6%	6.3%
High School	99	69.7%	19.2%	7.1%	3.0%	1.0%	0.0%	4.0%
Junior College	35	68.6%	17.1%	14.3%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Total	293	62.1%	25.3%	7.8%	3.8%	0.7%	0.3%	4.8%
Righthanders	Players	Flops	Coffee	Fringe	Regular	Good	Star	Regular or Better
College	397	63.0%	22.2%	6.8%	6.3%	1.0%	1.0%	8.3%
High School	291	67.0%	15.1%	8.6%	6.5%	2.4%	0.3%	9.3%
Junior College	84	79.8%	11.9%	4.8%	2.4%	1.2%	0.0%	3.6%
Total	773	66.2%	18.4%	7.4%	6.0%	1.6%	0.6%	8.2%
Catchers	Players	Flops	Coffee	Fringe	Regular	Good	Star	Regular or Better
College	82	63.4%	18.3%	9.8%	7.3%	1.2%	0.0%	8.5%
High School	91	73.6%	6.6%	9.9%	4.4%	4.4%	1.1%	9.9%
Junior College	6	100.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Total	179	69.8%	11.7%	9.5%	5.6%	2.8%	0.6%	8.9%
First Baseman	Players	Flops	Coffee	Fringe	Regular	Good	Star	Regular or Better
College	43	58.1%	20.9%	7.0%	7.0%	2.3%	4.7%	14.0%
High School	47	78.7%	6.4%	6.4%	0.0%	8.5%	0.0%	8.5%
Junior College	3	100.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Total	93	69.9%	12.9%	6.5%	3.2%	5.4%	2.2%	10.8%
Second Baseman	Players	Flops	Coffee	Fringe	Regular	Good	Star	Regular or Better
College	33	69.7%	12.1%	3.0%	12.1%	3.0%	0.0%	15.2%
High School	7	42.9%	14.3%	0.0%	14.3%	14.3%	14.3%	42.9%
Junior College	5	80.0%	20.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Total	45	66.7%	13.3%	2.2%	11.1%	4.4%	2.2%	17.8%
Third Baseman	Players	Flops	Coffee	Fringe	Regular	Good	Star	Regular or Better
College	49	57.1%	16.3%	16.3%	4.1%	4.1%	2.0%	10.2%
High School	42	69.0%	7.1%	9.5%	7.1%	2.4%	4.8%	14.3%
Junior College	7	100.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Total	98	65.3%	11.2%	12.2%	5.1%	3.1%	3.1%	11.2%
Shortstops	Players	Flops	Coffee	Fringe	Regular	Good	Star	Regular or Better
College	82	53.7%	20.7%	13.4%	11.0%	0.0%	1.2%	12.2%
High School	127	71.7%	15.0%	7.1%	2.4%	1.6%	2.4%	6.3%
Junior College	6	50.0%	16.7%	16.7%	16.7%	0.0%	0.0%	16.7%
Total	215	64.2%	17.2%	9.8%	6.0%	0.9%	1.9%	8.8%
Outfielders	Players	Flops	Coffee	Fringe	Regular	Good	Star	Regular or Better
College	178	64.6%	18.5%	9.6%	5.1%	2.2%	0.0%	7.3%
High School	216	78.7%	9.7%	4.2%	2.3%	4.2%	0.9%	7.4%
Junior College	25	76.0%	16.0%	8.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Total	419	72.6%	13.8%	6.7%	3.3%	3.1%	0.5%	6.9%