2019 Amateur Draft

The 2019 First Year Player Draft was the fifty-fifth Major League Baseball Amateur Draft. It began on June 3, 2019. In a first, the Boston Red Sox saw their first pick drop ten ranks, from #33 to #43, as a penalty for exceeding the luxury tax threshold. The team with the biggest draft bonanza was the Arizona Diamondbacks, with 8 of the first 93 selections.

There were two players clearly ahead of the pack heading into the draft, college C Adley Rutschman and high school SS Bobby Witt Jr., and they were expected to go 1-2 in that order - which is exactly what transpired. There were also three college pitchers considered can't miss - but then a huge drop after that, making experts predict that the first round would be dominated by hitters. Indeed, the first pitcher selected, Nick Lodolo was at #7, and there was only one more taken before pick #17, after which a few more were taken.

Draft Order

First Round

Pick	Team	Player	Position	School (Type)	Hometown	Notes
1	Baltimore Orioles	Adley Rutschman	C	Oregon State University (Col.)	Sherwood, OR
2	Kansas City Royals	Bobby Witt Jr.	SS	Colleyville Heritage High School (H.S.)	Colleyville, TX
3	Chicago White Sox	Andrew Vaughn	1B	University of California, Berkeley (Col.)	Santa Rosa, CA
4	Miami Marlins	JJ Bleday	OF	Vanderbilt University (Col.)	Panama City Beach, FL
5	Detroit Tigers	Riley Greene	OF	Paul J. Hagerty High School (H.S.)	Oviedo, FL
6	San Diego Padres	C.J. Abrams	SS	Blessed Trinity Catholic High School (H.S.)	Alpharetta, GA
7	Cincinnati Reds	Nick Lodolo	LHP	Texas Christian University (Col.)	La Verne, CA
8	Texas Rangers	Josh Jung	3B	Texas Tech University (Col.)	San Antonio, TX
9	Atlanta Braves	Shea Langeliers	C	Baylor University (Col.)	Keller, TX	Compensation for failure to sign Carter Stewart
10	San Francisco Giants	Hunter Bishop	OF	Arizona State University (Col.)	Palo Alto, CA
11	Toronto Blue Jays	Alek Manoah	RHP	West Virginia University (Col.)	Miami, FL
12	New York Mets	Brett Baty	3B	Lake Travis High School (H.S.)	Austin, TX
13	Minnesota Twins	Keoni Cavaco	3B	Eastlake High School (Chula Vista) (H.S.)	Chula Vista, CA
14	Philadelphia Phillies	Bryson Stott	SS	University of Nevada, Las Vegas (Col.)	Las Vegas, NV
15	Los Angeles Angels	Will Wilson	SS	North Carolina State University (Col.)	Kings Mountain, NC
16	Arizona Diamondbacks	Corbin Carroll	OF	Lakeside High School (Seattle) (H.S.)	Seattle, WA
17	Washington Nationals	Jackson Rutledge	RHP	San Jacinto College (Col.)	St. Louis, MO
18	Pittsburgh Pirates	Quinn Priester	RHP	Cary-Grove High School (H.S.)	Cary, IL
19	St. Louis Cardinals	Zack Thompson	LHP	University of Kentucky (Col.)	Selma, IN
20	Seattle Mariners	George Kirby	RHP	Elon University (Col.)	Rye, NY
21	Atlanta Braves	Braden Shewmake	SS	Texas A&M University (Col.)	Wylie, TX
22	Tampa Bay Rays	Greg Jones	SS	University of North Carolina at Wilmington (Col.)	Cary, NC
23	Colorado Rockies	Michael Toglia	1B	University of California, Los Angeles (Col.)	Gig Harbor, WA
24	Cleveland Indians	Daniel Espino	RHP	Georgia Premier Academy
25	Los Angeles Dodgers	Kody Hoese	3B	Tulane University (Col.)	Griffith, IN
26	Arizona Diamondbacks	Blake Walston	LHP	New Hanover High School (H.S.)		Compensation for failure to sign Matt McLain
27	Chicago Cubs	Ryan Jensen	RHP	California State University, Fresno (Col.)	Salinas, CA
28	Milwaukee Brewers	Ethan Small	LHP	Mississippi State University (Col.)	Lexington, TN
29	Oakland Athletics	Logan Davidson	SS	Clemson University (Col.)	Charlotte, NC
30	New York Yankees	Anthony Volpe	SS	Delbarton School (H.S.)
31	Los Angeles Dodgers	Michael Busch	2B	University of North Carolina (Col.)	Inver Grove Heights, MN	Compensation for failure to sign J.T. Ginn
32	Houston Astros	Korey Lee	C	University of California, Berkeley (Col.)	Vista, CA

Compensation Picks

Pick	Team	Player	Position	School (Type)	Hometown	Notes
33	Arizona Diamondbacks	Brennan Malone	RHP	IMG Academy		Compensation for Patrick Corbin
34	Arizona Diamondbacks	Drey Jameson	RHP	Ball State University (Col.)	Greenfield, IN	Compensation for A.J. Pollock

Competitive Balance Round A

Pick	Team	Player	Position	School (Type)	Hometown	Notes
35	Miami Marlins	Kameron Misner	OF	University of Missouri (Col.)	Poplar Bluff, MO
36	Tampa Bay Rays	JJ Goss	RHP	Cypress Ranch High School (H.S.)
37	Pittsburgh Pirates	Sammy Siani	OF	William Penn Charter School (H.S.)		Compensation for failure to sign Gunnar Hoglund
38	New York Yankees	T.J. Sikkema	LHP	University of Missouri (Col.)	DeWitt, IA	Obtained from Cincinnati Reds as part of trade for Sonny Gray
39	Minnesota Twins	Matt Wallner	OF	University of Southern Mississippi (Col.)	Forest Lake, MN
40	Tampa Bay Rays	Seth Johnson	RHP	Campbell University (Col.)	Concord, NC	Obtained from Oakland Athletics as part of trade for Jurickson Profar
41	Texas Rangers	Davis Wendzel	3B	Baylor University (Col.)	San Clemente, CA	Obtained from Milwaukee Brewers for Alex Claudio

Other Sports Selections

Feleipe Franks (31st round)

Notes

By being drafted #2 after his father, Bobby Witt, had been the #3 selection in 1985, Bobby Witt Jr. became part of the highest drafted father-son duo in history; they beat out Tom Grieve (#6 in 1966) and Ben Grieve (#2 in 1994).

Number 3 pick Andrew Vaughn became the first player from the draft to reach the major leagues when he played his first game on April 2, 2021.

Further Reading

• David Adler: "2019 Draft legacies: Witt, Halladay, Hoffman, etc.", mlb.com, May 25, 2019. [1]
• Associated Press: "Rutschman, Witt, Vaughn lead list of MLB draft prospects", USA Today, June 3, 2019. [2]
• Associated Press: "Big catch: O's grab Rutschman atop MLB draft short on arms", USA Today, June 4, 2019. [3]
• Jim Callis: "2019 Draft order set: O's, KC, White Sox go 1-2-3", mlb.com, October 1, 2018. [4]
• Jim Callis: "These are the top 50 prospects for the '19 Draft", mlb.com, December 5, 2018. [5]
• Jim Callis: "Mock draft: All 34 first-round picks", mlb.com, May 3, 2019. [6]
• Mark Feinsand: "6 key storylines from Day 1 of MLB Draft", mlb.com, June 4, 2019. [7]
• Sam Dystra, Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo: "Five years later: Here's each team's best Draft pick from 2019", mlb.com, May 22, 2024. [8]
• Jonathan Mayo: "Competitive Balance rounds set for 2019 Draft", mlb.com, November 19, 2018. [9]
• Jonathan Mayo, Jim Callis and Mike Rosenbaum: "Here's our favorite Draft pick for all 30 teams", mlb.com, June 6, 2019. [10]

Related Sites

• First round analysis by mlb.com