Just something I was thinking about earlier, with a commenter asking about Gillick’s drafting philosophy, and a question of being more prepared than previous regimes. I did some quick checking, and I thought this was interesting. Check out the first round picks (or second, if the team didn’t have a first) of the NL East teams from 1997-2004, and where those players currently are. An “*” means the guy was a second round pick, but that team’s first player taken

ATL

1997: Troy Cameron, SS – Out of baseball
1998: Matt Belisle, RHP* – Cincinatti
1999: Matt Butler, RHP* – Out of baseball
2000: Adam Wainwright, RHP – St Louis
2001: McCay McBride, LHP – Braves
2002: Jeff Francouer, OF – Braves
2003: Luis Atilano, INF – Washington
2004: Eric Campbell, 3B* – Braves

Only 3/8 still in the organization

FLA

1997: Aaron Akin, RHP – Out of baseball
1998: Chip Ambres, OF – Kansas City
1999: Josh Beckett, RHP – Boston
2000: Adrian Gonzalez, 1B – San Diego
2001: Garrett Berger, RHP* – Out of baseball
2002: Jeremy Hermida, OF – Florida
2003: Jeff Allison, RHP – Florida
2004: Taylor Tankersley, LHP – Florida

Only 3/8 still in the org, though Beckett would be 4 if he weren’t dumped in the purge last year

NYM:

1997: Geoff Getz, LHP – Can Am League
1998: Jason Tyner, OF – Minnesota
1999: Neil Musser, LHP* – Kansas City
2000: Billy Traber, LHP – Washington
2001: Aaron Heilman, RHP – New York
2002: Scott Kazmir, LHP – Tampa Bay
2003: Lastings Milledge, OF – New York (for now)
2004: Phillip Humber, RHP – New York

Only 3/8, and with Milledge likely to get traded, it will only be 2/8

WAS/MON:

1997: Donnie Bridges, RHP – Independent League
1998: Josh McKinley, SS – Out of baseball
1999: Josh Girdley, LHP – Out of baseball
2000: Justin Wayne, RHP – Out of baseball
2001: Josh Karp, RHP – Washington
2002: Clint Evarts, RHP – Washington
2003: Chad Cordero, RHP – Washington
2004: Bill Bray, LHP – Cincinatti

Only 3/8 still with the org.

PHI:

1997: JD Drew, OF – Did Not Sign
1998: Pat Burrell, 1B – Phillies
1999: Brett Myers, RHP – Phillies
2000: Chase Utley, 2B – Phillies
2001: Gavin Floyd, RHP – Chicago
2002: Cole Hamels, LHP – Phillies
2003: Tim Moss, 2B* – Phillies
2004: Greg Golson, OF – Phillies

6/8 in the org, 6/7 if you don’t count Drew.

When you glance at that, it sure looks like we had the best run of first round picks, huh? What makes some of those drafts painful, however, is that after getting past the second round, we’d find one decent player in 15 rounds. 2005 looks like it might have been a solid draft class overall, but the years prior weren’t much to brag about. With Pat Gillick in charge, I’m still not really sure what his plan is. He seemed to really take a chance with Drabek, but it’s a chance worth taking, at #18, and he seemed to have a fairly good idea on signability of the lower guys, getting premium high schoolers like Myers, Brown, and Warren. I’m planning to look at Gillick’s drafting history in Baltimore in Seattle, but that’s for another time.

EDIT, the * next to Golson was supposed to be an “F” to complete OF, but I typed it incorrectly as I was in a hurry. Thanks to the commenter for the catch.