Drafted Players Who Advanced Directly to Major League Baseball | Baseball Almanac
The Major League baseball began its free agent draft in 1965. Twenty-three ballplayers have been drafted, then advanced directly to the Major Leagues without first playing on a Minor League team.
Other players prior to the draft accomplished this same feat, but are not as unusual as these instances where the Minor Leagues were a "necessity" for all up-and-coming Major League hopefuls.
Baseball Almanac is pleased to present a list of every player in baseball history who took part in the Amateur Baseball Draft and advanced directly into the Major Leagues.
"For a guy to be successful, you have to be like a clock spring, wound but loose at the same time." - Winfield, Dave. A Yankee Century & Beyond. Frommer, Harvey. Author. Sourcebooks, Inc. 1 November 2007. Page 249.
Did you know that David Clyde was the first left-handed pitcher brought directly into the Major Leagues? Click each name above to learn who else was first from various positions they played and create even more trivia questions.
Brian Milner was the first and still the only catcher to date brought straight into the Major Leagues. Will there be another? Tell us on on our Baseball Almanac Facebook Group, on Baseball Almanac Twitter, via Baseball Almanac Messenger, or our baseball forum — Baseball Fever.
A breakdown by decade reveals that one player from the 1960s was drafted and sent directory into the Major Leagues, fourteen from the 1970s, three from the 1980s, two from the 1990s, and three during the twenty-first century — to date.
