Yellow Springs Franchise #1 Pick History (Master Post)

[RonCo]

All Right, folks…I’m going to call this a recurring feature for now, but please feel free to rule it should go in our news forum. I’m easy, and this is a bit of a weird project. It didn’t really seem to fit “news,” though.

What is this?
I’m going to go back through the Phoenix/YS9 history books and track back every #1 pick we’ve had in the draft. I’ll discuss these guys and score them each on information I can find. I’ll add whatever flair comes to mind. In the end, though, I’m hoping some of the history buffs who recognize names will add to the modules with anything that comes to you. In other words, I’m hoping to learn more about this franchise.

How is it going to work?
With the exception of the first installment, I’ll take the picks in groups of five years, though the first will run from 1974-1980, because I’m not going to do just two in one post. I’ll also skip 1973 because that seems to be the initial overall draft rather than amateurs. When I’m done with each installment, I’ll post it as a stand-alone forum post, but will also link it here with the names included. When I do the assessments, I'm not going to follow the trades to determine if traded players gathered anything worthwhile in return. For this conversation, a pick either provided value to the team directly, or did not.

Technically, once we’re caught up, we’ll keep it going with a new post each five years, and with updates made on more recent posts as time progresses.

Let’s see how it works, eh?

Here’s the Master List:

(*) Played enough for PHX/YS9 to provide value

Yellow Springs Franchise #1 Pick History (1974-1980)
1974 - Hank Baez
1975 - Mike Saotome (Bust)
1976 – Steven Cuvelier
1977 - Santiago Breton (*)
1978 - Randy McLement (*)
1979 - Charles Tosh (Bust)
1980 - Jack Elliott (Worse than a Bust)

Yellow Springs Franchise #1 Pick History (1981-1994)
1981 - ? Donald ?
1983 - Guy Corngood (*)
1986 - Terry Blass (*)

Yellow Springs Franchise #1 Pick History (1995-2000)
1995 - Gary “Crackpot” Morales (Bust)
1996 - None on Record
1997 - Pablo Trevino (Bust)
1998 - John Wilkinson (*)
1999 - Jake Ens (Bust)
2000 - Pat Clark

Yellow Springs Franchise #1 Pick History (2001-2005)
2001 - Chris Banks (* but minimal)
2002 - Daniel King
2003 - Wei-quo Chong
2004 - José 'Big Boi' Cedeño
2005 - Moses 'Prima Donna' Tallchief (* Later in career)

Yellow Springs Franchise #1 Pick History (2006-2010)
2006 - Bill Dalton (semi-bust)
2007 - Christian Raines
2008 - Manuel Guerra (*)
2009 - Jose Cruz (*)
2010 - Cole "Chase" Rollins (*)

Yellow Springs Franchise #1 Pick History (2011-2015)
2011 - Delisted (Bust)
2012 - Bob "Prowler" Burke (*)
2012 - Oliver 'Arrow' Queen (*) - Supplemental
2013 - Bill Yates
2014 - Bo Jordan (*)
2015 - Mingo Boone (*)

Yellow Springs Franchise #1 Pick History (2015-2020)
2016- Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce (*)
2017 - Jose Guzman (Bust)
2018 - Sage Kotsenburg (Bust)
2019 - José Martínez (* minimal for YS9)
2020 - Lodewijk Kluin (Bustish)

Yellow Springs Franchise #1 Pick History (2021-2025)
2021- Kelly King (* - Borderline Bust)
2022 - Lawrence Columbus "Crash" LaLoosh (* - Current Star)
2023 - Luke Jordan (*)
2024 - Lucas McNeil (*)
2025 - Ferguson Gibson (*)

Yellow Springs Franchise #1 Pick History (2026-2030)
2026- Victor Guerra (*)
2027 - Chris Long (Bust)
2028 - J. J. McQuade (*)
2029 - Earl Jackson (*)
2030 - Jesus Rojas (*) - Traded

Yellow Springs Franchise #1 Pick History (2031-2035)
2031 - Eric Fabre (*) - Traded
2032 - Curt Phillips (*) - Traded
2033 - Alejandro Rodriguez (*) - Traded
2034 - George Robertson (*)
2035 - Jose Gonzalez (Bust)

Yellow Springs Franchise #1 Pick History (2036-2040)
2036 - Angel Hernandez (*)
2037 - Raul Luna - Traded
2038 - Frank Cameron (Bust)
2039 - Rex foster (*)
2040 - Jerry Boroque (Did Not Sign, Drafted Later)

Yellow Springs Franchise #1 Pick History (2041-2045)
2041 - Bartolo Bermudez
2042 - Derrick Chaney
2043 - Alistair Hall
2044 - Francis Zavier Pfieffer
2040 - Banger Dan

[RonCo]

The big question is, what happened to all the draft history from about 1982-1994?

[recte44]

It's in CATO history.

[RonCo]

Yes, but when I go look, the first few years are good, then the last 13-15 are all squiggeldy. Am I missing something?

[RonCo]

This update brings us to the end of our feature...for a few seasons anyway. We'll plan to do an update scan every five seasons as the world moves along.