2016 Amateur Draft

The 2016 First Year Player Draft was the fifty-second Major League Baseball Amateur Draft. It began on June 9, 2016.

The draft was considered particularly open, with no clear top pick. Up until the moment the Philadelphia Phillies announced they had selected high school outfielder Mickey Moniak first overall, as many as six players were considered to be in the running for the honor, including Corey Ray, A.J. Puk, Kyle Lewis, Jason Groome and Riley Pint. A couple of other players, including number 2 pick Nick Senzel, were considered to have equal talent without necessarily being under consideration by the Phillies.

Because a number of teams lost their first-round pick as a result of signing Type A free agents, and because no team had failed to sign its first-round selection in 2015, which would have resulted in an equivalent pick this year as compensation, there were only 23 picks in the first round proper - the fewest since 1968.

Draft Order

First Round

Pick	Team	Player	Position	School (Type)	Hometown	Notes
1	Philadelphia Phillies	Mickey Moniak	OF	La Costa Canyon High School (HS)	Carlsbad, CA
2	Cincinnati Reds	Nick Senzel	3B	University of Tennessee (Col.)	Knoxville, TN
3	Atlanta Braves	Ian Anderson	P	Shenendehowa High School (HS)	Clifton Park, NY
4	Colorado Rockies	Riley Pint	P	St. Thomas Aquinas High School (Overland Park) (HS)	Overland Park, KS
5	Milwaukee Brewers	Corey Ray	OF	University of Louisville (Col.)	Chicago, IL
6	Oakland Athletics	A.J. Puk	P	University of Florida (Col.)	Cedar Rapids, IA
7	Miami Marlins	Braxton Garrett	P	Florence (AL) High School (HS)	Foley, AL
8	San Diego Padres	Cal Quantrill	P	Stanford University (Col.)	Port Hope, ON
9	Detroit Tigers	Matt Manning	P	Sheldon High School (Sacramento) (HS)	Sacramento, CA
10	Chicago White Sox	Zack Collins	C	University of Miami (Col.)	Pembroke Pines, FL
11	Seattle Mariners	Kyle Lewis	OF	Mercer University (Col.)	Snellville, GA
12	Boston Red Sox	Jason Groome	P	Barnegat High School (HS)	Barnegat, NJ
13	Tampa Bay Rays	Josh Lowe	3B	Pope High School (HS)	Marietta, GA
14	Cleveland Indians	Will Benson	OF	The Westminster School (HS)	Atlanta, GA
15	Minnesota Twins	Alex Kirilloff	OF	Plum High School (HS)
16	Los Angeles Angels	Matt Thaiss	C	University of Virginia (Col.)	Jackson, NJ
17	Houston Astros	Forrest Whitley	P	Alamo Heights High School (HS)	San Antonio, TX
18	New York Yankees	Blake Rutherford	OF	Chaminade College Preparatory School (HS)
19	New York Mets	Justin Dunn	P	Boston College (Col.)	Freeport, NY
20	Los Angeles Dodgers	Gavin Lux	SS	Indian Trail High School (HS)	Kenosha, WI
21	Toronto Blue Jays	T.J. Zeuch	P	University of Pittsburgh (Col.)	Mason, OH
22	Pittsburgh Pirates	Will Craig	3B	Wake Forest University (Col.)	Johnson City, TN
23	St. Louis Cardinals	Delvin Perez	SS	Puerto Rican Baseball Academy High School (HS)	San Juan, Puerto Rico

Compensation Round A

Pick	Team	Player	Position	School (Type)	Hometown	Notes
24	San Diego Padres	Hudson Potts	SS	Carroll Senior High School (Southlake) (HS)	Southlake, TX	Compensation for Justin Upton
25	San Diego Padres	Eric Lauer	P	Kent State University (Col.)	Elyria, OH	Compensation for Ian Kennedy
26	Chicago White Sox	Zach Burdi	P	University of Louisville (Col.)	Downers Grove, IL	Compensation for Jeff Samardzija
27	Baltimore Orioles	Cody Sedlock	P	University of Illinois (Col.)	Sherrard, IL	Compensation for Wei-Yin Chen
28	Washington Nationals	Carter Kieboom	SS	Walton High School (HS)	Marietta, GA	Compensation for Jordan Zimmerman
29	Washington Nationals	Dane Dunning	P	University of Florida (Col.)	Fleming Island, FL	Compensation for Ian Desmond
30	Texas Rangers	Cole Ragans	P	North Florida Christian High School (HS)	Tallahassee, FL	Compensation for Yovani Gallardo
31	New York Mets	Anthony Kay	P	University of Connecticut (Col.)	Stony Brook, NY	Compensation for Daniel Murphy
32	Los Angeles Dodgers	Will Smith	C	University of Louisville (Col.)	Louisville, KY	Compensation for Zack Greinke
33	St. Louis Cardinals	Dylan Carlson	OF	Elk Grove (CA) High School (HS)	Elk Grove, CA	Compensation for John Lackey
34	St. Louis Cardinals	Dakota Hudson	P	Mississippi State University (Col.)	Dunlap, TN	Compensation for Jason Heyward

Competitive Balance Round A

Pick	Team	Player	Position	School (Type)	Hometown	Notes
35	Cincinnati Reds	Taylor Trammell	OF	Mount Paran Christian School (HS)	Kennesaw, GA
36	Los Angeles Dodgers	Jordan Sheffield	P	Vanderbilt University (Col.)	Tullahoma, TN	for failure to sign Kyle Funkhouser
37	Oakland Athletics	Daulton Jefferies	P	University of California, Berkeley (Col.)	Atwater, CA
38	Colorado Rockies	Robert Tyler	P	University of Georgia (Col.)	Cordele, GA
39	Arizona Diamondbacks	Anfernee Grier	OF	Auburn University (Col.)	Phenix City, AL
40	Atlanta Braves	Joey Wentz	P	Shawnee Mission East High School (HS)	Prairie Village, KS	via trade with Marlins
41	Pittsburgh Pirates	Nick Lodolo	P	Damien High School (HS)	La Verne, CA	Did not sign

Notes

OF Austin Hays, a third-round selection by the Baltimore Orioles, was the first player from the draft to reach the major leagues, making his debut on September 7, 2017. Number 25 pick Eric Lauer made it to the majors at the end of April in 2018. In May of 2019, Cal Quantrill became the first player from the 1st round proper to make the grade, beating out Nick Senzel by only a couple of days.

The older brother of #13 pick Josh Lowe, Nate Lowe, was also selected by the Rays, in the 13th round.

Further Reading

• Jim Callis: "Draft: Pick-by-pick, first-round analysis", mlb,com, June 10, 2016. [1]
• Anthony Castrovince: "Epic picks: Draft delivers awe, intrigue", mlb,com, June 10, 2016. [2]
• Jonathan Mayo: "Final impressions shaking up Draft in latest mock", mlb.com, May 26, 2016. [3]
• Jonathan Mayo: "Which Draft picks will reach Majors quickest?", mlb.com, June 10, 2016. [4]
• Jonathan Mayo: "Inbox: Top 5 picks in a redo of 2016 Draft?", mlb.com, December 28, 2017. [5]
• Frankie Pillere: "Draft prep: Top 30 baseball prospects in June draft", USA Today Sports, May 17, 2016. [6]