But the other standout in the Bruins’ rotation, a 6-foot-4 fireballer and Friday night starter named Gerrit Cole, continued to intrigue Smith and the Pirates, even though his 2011 stats were a notch below Bauer’s. Yes, right-hander Trevor Bauer was having a tremendous junior season at UCLA and was drawing legions of scouts with each appearance. The prospect road, however, kept leading to UCLA and the player Smith thought would be the most “impactful” in the future. They spent some time at the University of Virginia watching Danny Hultzen and even more days at Rice University, meeting with and scouting Rendon. Smith, who was Pittsburgh’s scouting director at the time, made sure he and his scouts did their due diligence throughout the spring, sifting through a handful of candidates for the top spot. Here’s what was going on as Draft Day 2011 approached, and as the first 15 picks were on the clock. So, we wanted to take a closer look at the first 15 picks from the eyes of the executives who made those decisions. It was a fascinating draft - especially the top half - and one alteration here or there could have changed the fate of several organizations. But I just can’t imagine it happening ever again. Obviously, it’s not impossible, because it happened. “For the first 29, to have them all make the major leagues, that’s close to impossible. “I’ve seen a lot of players, but I’ve never seen a class that had that many consecutive big leaguers with that kind of impact,” said former Miami Marlins scouting director Stan Meek, who has scouted for three decades. The 2011 group has a chance to extend its own mark: 30th overall pick Levi Michael and 32nd selection Jake Hager both were in Triple A in 2019, one step from the majors, and the 31st selection, outfielder Mikie Mahtook, has logged 291 big-league games. Perhaps more impressive, the first 29 selections have made the majors - smashing the record of 21 set in 2008. Consider that seven of the first 14 picks already have double-digit Wins Above Replacement, according to. That’s the thing about the 2011 draft: It has star power and depth. Furthermore, the best pick of 2011 didn’t occur until the fifth round, when the Boston Red Sox chose a high-schooler from Nashville nicknamed Mookie with the 172nd pick. The 2011 group placed third, behind the 1985 class that included, among others, Barry Bonds, Barry Larkin and Rafael Palmeiro, and the 2005 class that boasted Ryan Braun, Troy Tulowitzki, Andrew McCutchen and Ryan Zimmerman.Ī third-place ranking is particularly impressive for the 2011 group, given that many are still in their prime. It selected the Top 10 first rounds since 1981, the magazine’s first year of publication. It’s a difficult proposition, ranking drafts, but Baseball America gave it a shot in May, at least partially. *denotes that the player did not sign with the 2011 drafting team and re-entered a later draft
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The impact of that 2011 draft should surge again this winter, when Cole and Rendon lead the free-agent class, although those two won’t match the financial windfall received by the best free agents last year, Bryce Harper and Manny Machado, graduates of 2010’s top-heavy draft class. (The Nationals ultimately received Turner in a 2015 trade after the Padres selected him in the first round of the 2014 draft, 13th overall.) A fourth star, the Nationals’ Trea Turner, was selected in the 20th round out of high school by the Pirates in 2011 but chose to attend North Carolina State University instead of signing.
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Three of the headliners of the 2011 class - of the top 11 picks, in fact - are on full display during this year’s World Series: Houston’s Springer and Gerrit Cole and Washington’s Anthony Rendon. “What do you want? You can get all 31 flavors, but you can’t get them all at once.” You had left, you had right, you had high school, you had college, you had pitchers, you had position players, It’s like it was Baskin-Robbins out here,” said Greg Smith, who picked first overall in 2011 as the Pittsburgh Pirates’ scouting director.
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This class boasts an American League MVP ( Mookie Betts), an AL Cy Young ( Blake Snell), an AL Rookie of the Year ( Michael Fulmer), an NL Rookie of the Year (the late José Fernández), a World Series MVP ( George Springer), an ALCS MVP ( Jackie Bradley Jr.) and an NLCS MVP ( Javier Báez), as well as five Gold Glovers, six Silver Sluggers and 20 All-Stars. The accomplishments, though, are already noteworthy. It’s already in the conversation, despite its class members being in the 25-to-30 age range, meaning there’s still a lot of baseball left to play for most of them. When the dust settles, in a decade or so, there will be more clarity and maybe more gusto added to the debate: How extraordinary was the MLB draft class of 2011? Could it emerge as the best ever? It’s been kicked around within baseball circles for the last year or so, but it took this postseason for the discussion to gain more traction.
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