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While the 1970s yielded such first-round draft picks as Mike Scioscia, Bob Welch, Rick Sutcliffe, and Steve Howe, it's pretty much been a nightmare since then. Thanks to some tremendous scouting and brilliant decision-making over the last twenty years, the term "draft dodger" has been given new meaning. Since 1980, the Dodgers have made some of baseball's most hideous first round draft picks. Below we detail each draft since 1980, paying special attention to the players drafted after the Dodgers' first-round picks.

 

YEAR .LA's 1st ROUND PICK LATER PICKS IN DRAFT
     
1980

Ross Jones - SS
Picked out of the U of Miami, Jones never played for the Dodgers; ended up with a .221 average in parts of three ML seasons with NYM, SEA, and KC.

 

Eric Davis
Glenn Wilson
Danny Tartabull

 

1981

Dave Anderson - IF
A utility backup infielder his entire career, Anderson had no stick—until, of course, he joined the Giants in '90 and hit .350.

 

Tony Gwynn
David Cone
Fred McGriff
Paul O'Neill
Mark Gubicza
Frank Viola
Mark Langston

 

1982

Franklin Stubbs - 1B
Spent the first 5 years of his 10 year ML career with the Dodgers, never living up to expectations.

 

Jose Canseco
Todd Worrell
Bret Saberhagen
David Wells
Kenny Rogers

 

1983

Eric Sonberg - LHP
Never made it the major leagues.

Roger Clemens
Wally Joyner
Ron Gant
Terry Steinbach

 

1984

Dennis Livingston - LHP
Never made it to the major leagues.

 

Tom Glavine
Greg Maddux
Al Leiter
Ken Caminiti
Jamie Moyer

 

1985

Chris Gwynn - OF
Spent 7 of his 10 ML seasons with the Dodgers, but never emerged as more than a pinch-hitter.

 

Randy Johnson
Rafael Palmero
David Justice
Mark Grace
John Smoltz
1986

Mike White - OF
Never made it to the major leagues.

 

Curt Schilling
Kevin Tapani
Todd Zeile
Bo Jackson
Tom Gordon

 

1987

Dan Opperman - RHP
Never made it to the major leagues.

 

Craig Biggio
Albert Belle
Steve Finley
Robb Nen
Kevin Appier

 

1988

Bill Bene - RHP
Never made it to the major leagues.

 

Robin Ventura
Jim Abbott
Tino Martinez
Royce Clayton
Jim Edmonds
Alex Fernandez
Charles Nagy
Marquis Grissom
Luis Gonzalez

 

1989

Kiki Jones - RHP
Never made it to the major leagues.

Tom Goodwin - OF
Wish he never made it to the major leagues.

 

John Olerud
Tim Salmon
Jeff Bagwell
Jeff Kent
Ryan Klesko
Trevor Hoffman
     
YEAR .LA's 1st ROUND PICK LATER PICKS IN DRAFT
     
1990

Ronnie Walden - LHP
Never made it to the major leagues.

 

Mike Mussina
Jeromy Burnitz
Mike Hampton
Garret Anderson
Rondell White
Steve Karsay
Troy Percival

 

1991

No 1st Round pick
First-round pick lost because of Darryl Strawberry signing.

 

--

 

1992

Ryan Luzinski - C
Son of former PHI/CHI outfielder Greg Luzinski, Ryan never made it to the major leagues.

 

Jason Giambi
Jonny Damon
Jose Vidro

 

1993

Darren Dreifort - RHP
Dreifort's greateast career feat was perhaps ducking out of the way of Andres Galarraga's punch. Other than that, he spent the majority of his career on the DL.

 

Torii Hunter
Scott Rolen
Jermain Dye
Richie Sexson

 

1994

Paul Konerko - 1B
Perhaps the Dodgers best draft pick since the 70's, Tommy Lasorda had to go and fuck it up by trading Konerko for Jeff Shaw.

 

 

 

1995

David Yocum - LHP
Never made it to the major leagues.

 

Sean Casey
Carlos Beltran
Russ Ortiz

 

1996

Damian Rolls - 3B
Never played for the Dodgers, but has spent parts of three seasons with Tampa Bay.

 

Jacque Jones
Jimmy Rollins
Shea Hillenbrand
Roy Oswalt

 

1997

Glenn Davis - 1B
Brother of former major leaguer Ben Davis, Glenn topped out at Double-A and was released in the spring of '01.

 

Tim Hudson
Randy Wolf
Jim Parque
David Eckstein
Johnny Estrada

 

1998

Bubba Crosby - CF
Crosby sucked and was traded to NY (where he somehow started hitting home runs... for a minute or two).

 

Mike Williams
Adam Dunn
Josh Fogg
Eric Hinske
Brian Lawrence
Juan Pierre
Jay Gibbons
Mark Buehrle
Jack Wilson
Morgan Ensberg
Eric Byrnes

 

1999

No 1st Round pick
First-round pick lost because of the genius Kevin Brown signing.

 

--

 

     
YEAR .LA's 1st ROUND PICK LATER PICKS IN DRAFT
     
2000

Ben Diggins - RHP
Traded to the Brewers in July '02 in exchange for Tyler Houston, whose career with the Dodgers lasted 65 at-bats.

 

Dontrelle Willis
Jason Bay
Brandon Webb
Xavier Nady
Lance Niekro
Chad Qualls
Grady Sizemore
Yadier Molina
Koyie Hill
Laynce Nix
Garrett Atkins
Brandon Webb
Clint Barmes
Brad Hawpe

 

2001

No 1st Round pick
First-round pick lost because of Andy Ashby signing. Andy Ashby!

 

--

 

2002

James Loney - 1B
Born when Sid Bream was just a rookie, Loney is finally making an impact at the major league level.

 

Jeff Francoeur
Jeff Francis
Matt Cain
Brad Eldred
Mark Teahen
Brian McCann
Chris Snyder

 

2003

Chad Billingsley - P
Stepped up in 2008 to become one of the Dodgers' most reliable starters.

 

Jarrod Saltalamacchia
Tony Gwynn, Jr.
Andre Ethier
Jonathan Papelbon

2004

Scott Elbert - P
At Jacksonville, and injury-plagued.

Blake DeWitt - 2B
Took advantage of injuries in '08 to earn the starting spot at third... and then second.

 

Huston Street
Chris Iannetta
2005

No 1st Round pick
First-round pick lost because of Derek Lowe signing. (The Dodgers' first pick was Luke Hochevar, who demanded billions and never signed.)

 

--

 

2006

Clayton Kershaw - LHP
Breaking in with the Dodgers in '08.

Bryan Morris - RHP

 

None of significance... yet.

 

2007

Chris Withrow - RHP

 

None of significance... yet.

 

 


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