The 1984 MLB Draft

With the MLB amateur draft coming up shortly - I thought it would be worthwhile to look back at a couple of drafts from the past. Today we'll take a look at the 1984 draft (20 years ago).

The Mets had the first pick of the 1984 draft (because they had the worst record in the NL in 1983) and they used that pick on high school outfielder Shawn Abner of Mechanicsburg, PA. Abner was pretty much a bust for the Mets. He never appeared in uniform for New York and in total only had 392 games at the major league level with three different teams over parts of seven seasons. Abner finished with a career 11 HR and a .227 batting average (his career OPS+ was 65).

The Mariners had the second pick (because they had the worst record in the AL in 1983 - MLB flip flops giving the NL the top pick in even years and the AL the top pick in odd years). Seattle used the second pick on the pride of the University of Maine - Billy Swift who would have a pretty decent pro career (94-78 with a 3.95 ERA over 13 years). Swift's best year would be in 1993 when he would go 21-8 with a 2.82 ERA for the San Francisco Giants (although in 1992 he led the NL in ERA with a 2.08 mark).

(Interesting side-note 1: Both Shawn Abner and Bill Swift were involved in trades that included portly Kevin Mitchell. Abner was traded along with Mitchell to the Padres for Kevin McReynolds in an 8-player deal in 1986. In 1991 - Swift plus Dave Burba and Mike Jackson were traded to San Francisco for Kevin Mitchell and Mike Remlinger.)

(Interesting side-note 2: About 12 years ago I was drinking up at the Old Port Fest in Portland, ME. I wound up at a bar where I was seated next to Billy Swift's brother. If I was three-sheets to the wind - Swift's brother was about five. This memory sticks in my head because Swift called the bartender a "c*cksucker" and got thrown out. On the way back from giving him the heave-ho - the bartender nodded to me and said, "That's Billy Swift's brother.")

So of the first two picks - one was used on a high schooler and one was made on a college player. In all - of the 26 picks in the first round - 18 were college players and 8 were drafted straight from high school. Of the 18 players who were drafted out of college - 7 had significant MLB careers (over 500 games for position players or 100 games for pitchers). Of the high school players - only Jay Bell, who was taken 8th overall by the Twins, had a significant MLB career (actually Jay is technically still playing).

Of the first two picks - one was a position player and one was a pitcher. In fact - the first round in 1984 was evenly split with 13 pitchers being selected and 13 position players.

The most successful player drafted in 1984 was definitely Mark McGwire - who was taken 10th by the A's (right after the Giants drafted the immortal Alan Cockrell). McGwire had more All-Star game appearances by himself than all the other players taken in the first round in 1984 combined.

McGwire was definitely the best player and best position player chosen in 1984. It can be argued that Billy Swift was the best pitcher selected (although arguments could be made for the Giants 24th pick - Terry Mulholland - not a very good argument but an argument nonetheless).

Other well known players chosen in 1984 include:

- Cory Snyder - picked 4th by the Indians out of BYU

- Shane Mack - 11th pick by the Padres out of UCLA

- Oddibe McDowell - 12th by the Rangers out of Arizona State

- Scott Bankhead - 16th by the Royals out of the University of North Carolina

Two quick final notes on the 1984 draft - two players were chosen in the first round out of New England (Swift from Maine and Pete Smith from Burlington, MA - 21st to the Phillies) - this year there is a good chance that again at least two players will be chosen in the first round from New England (this never happens). Also - two players taken in the first round had the first name of Drew - Drew Hall taken 3rd by the Cubs and Drew Denson taken 19th by the Braves (I just thought that was interesting). I also wanted to point out that Drew Denson had a better baseball career than Drew Henson (no word on how good Drew Denson is at football).