Top 10 Worst #1 Overall Picks in BBA History (#10-#6)

[Knucklehead254]

Player
Team that drafted
Draft Year
Notable Players Taken: Means only players taken in the first round of that draft. Later round booms were missed by everyone.

I tried to rank these based on numerous factors like WAR and draft class quality. These are mult opinion and if you think there’s someone that should or shouldn’t be on this list let me know!

DISCLAIMER: List was made for fun and not to bash any GMs whatsoever. Hindsight is 20/20.

#10. CF William Wood
Edmonton Jackrabbits
2033
Notable Players Taken: Angel Zalapa, Chip Puckett, James Monger

To be perfectly honest, Wood had a great start to his BBA career with Edmonton. 14 WAR in his first 5 years with a Gold Glove and a championship in 2038. It's just there have been so many good #1 picks someone had to be #10 so take it with a grain of salt. That said after 5 years with Edmonton he left the team to sign a six year deal with Nashville, where he had one more productive season. After that his stats and production dropped hard, thanks in part due to a plethora of injuries, trades and releases. He managed just a measly 3 WAR in his nine seasons after Edmonton. Whilst his hot start showed dare I say hall of fame potential, it end up being a disappointing career for William Wood, especially when a player like Angel Zalapa is STILL playing in the league and kicking ass. If Wood had been drafted in say, 2040, he more than likely wouldn't have made this list. That's the main reason he is here at #10.

#9. RF Ricardo Juarez
Twin Cities River Monsters
2030
Notable Players Taken: Luis Maldnado, Bartolo Ortiz, Jimmy Starks Jr

This name on our list was merely 16 years old when he was drafted #1 overall, but he looked like the right choice right away. He looked good in his time at the minors, making it to AAA when he was 19 in 2034, at Age 20 he was called up in September and looked... meh. To be expected but all the hype was for 2035, when he was slated to start fulltime. To keep it brief, his first three seasons a fulltime starter were ok, including a 95 RBI year his second season but hitting around .250 each year, but in 2038 he put it all together. .307/.353/.579/.932 with 29 HR and 112 RBI. Things were looking up, but the the next two seasons his average dipped back to .250 and while his home runs went up, hitting 35 and then 36, so did his strikeouts. He struck more times then I did in high school (albeit not by that much). After that he left to join San Antonio and Montreal, spending all of his time there stuck in the minor leagues. He rejoined Twin Cities in their AAA team before playing for Mumbai in 2045. That would be the end of his career. Similar to Wood he showed a ton of promise early on, but quickly fell off before he could truly hang on. This pick stings a bit more since fellow right fielder Bartolo Ortiz went two picks later and had a much better BBA career.


#8. SP Carson Stoller
Indy Grasshoppers
2032
Notable Players Taken: Stephen Taub, Virgil Shafer, Mitch Dalrymple

The last of our "disappointing" picks, Stoller suffers essentially the same fate as the first two on our list. in 2035 he was named a full time starter and showed promise. His first three seasons he finished with a combined 36-18 record, and never had an ERA above 4.50. The then 23 year old looked to be a potential ace for the now Omaha Cyclones for years to come. He had a subpar year in 2038 with a 6-7 record and an over 5 ERA but things would get even worse the next year. After a catastrophic start to the season, he would be demoted to the bullpen and finished the year 2-7 with an ERA that ballooned to over 7. He spent a few years in the minors after that, pitched his final BBA game in 2043, where he allowed 2 home runs and 4 earned runs in 4.2 innings of work. A game that perfectly summed up the fall of his great start to a career.

#7. SP Mike Adams
El Paso Chilis
2047
Notable Players Taken: Martin Hemming, Jose Barron, Erik Brooks

The only active player to be on this list, Adams 'could' still have a chance to prove his worth as #1 pick. Of course the problem with that is right now he's only playing in AAA... for the GBC team Sao Paulo Pilots. Adams was selected by the the then El Paso Chilis (Rocky Mountain Oysters), and reached the #17 best prospect rank by 2048. The hype died down the next year when he fell all the way to 82nd, and soon the now moved Oysters traded him to Omaha. He made his BBA debut in 2050 and started out okay, 9-11 with a 4.59 ERA and 93 Ks but Omaha already considered him expendable. He was traded to Rockville after just 21 starts with Omaha. A #1 pick being traded twice after only 21 games is a red flag, and he struggled the rest of his first year with a 6.24 ERA. Then he was moved to reliever, was sent down to AAA a couple times in 2052, then the whole season in 2053, before being called back up and having his best year in the BBA in 2054 with a 4.14 ERA in 48 games pitched. He struggled again in 2055 and became a free agent after Rockville declined to offer arbitration. I suppose the saving grace is that this draft class didn't produce any surefire hall of famers, but this pick was not a good one.

#6. SP Cristián Herrera
Birmingham Bandits
2020
Notable Players Taken: HAHAHA ahem, Jose Rivera, Dani Lopez,

Herrera holds the distinct honor that no other #1 pick has ever achieved. To never play in a single BBA game. "So wait, if he's the only #1 pick to never play a game in the majors, how the hell is he not the worst #1 pick ever?" I hear you asking. Well simply put, he was drafted in the 2020 BBA Draft, objectively one of the worst draft classes of All-Time. Only 6 Players in the entire draft finished above 10 WAR, with the highest being Jose Rivera having 26 WAR. While the mid first round did see a couple of decent relievers taken.. that's really it. So while yes, it's pretty bad that he never made the majors, this entire draft really had nobody worth going #1 so I think this pick deserves some slack.

[CTBrewCrew]

Interesting feature….i don’t think its ever been done . Looking forward to next set.

[BaseClogger]

Fun idea for a feature. Excited to see the top five.

[JimSlade]

Poor Mike Adams. I kept seeing glimmers of hope, then they would quickly shut down.

[Dington]

Nice feature

[jiminyhopkins]

Since the Talons have never drafted #1, we're safe here lol

[Jwalk100]

I like this!

We all have some turds on this list.

[Rubaboo]

Since the Talons have never drafted #1, we're safe here lol

Ha, can I humble brag too? I've been fortunate enough to draft #1 only once and the guy I picked made the Hall of Fame!

[bcslouck]

Nice feature. Looking forward to the top 5.

[jiminyhopkins]

Since the Talons have never drafted #1, we're safe here lol

Ha, can I humble brag too? I've been fortunate enough to draft #1 only once and the guy I picked made the Hall of Fame!

Not necessarily a humblebrag. Actually a weakness. I've never been able to bring myself to do a full teardown and rebuild. That's why the Talons have always been mediocre since 2029.

[7teen]

I don't think I have ever had the #1 pick either. Stupid coin flip gave me the #2 pick all those years after expansion.....

[Rubaboo]

Since the Talons have never drafted #1, we're safe here lol

Ha, can I humble brag too? I've been fortunate enough to draft #1 only once and the guy I picked made the Hall of Fame!

Not necessarily a humblebrag. Actually a weakness. I've never been able to bring myself to do a full teardown and rebuild. That's why the Talons have always been mediocre since 2029.

Fair enough, wasn't trying to call you out or anything. You've been around a long time, at this point you should try to keep the streak going.

The no #1 pick streak, that is, not the mediocre team streak...

[RonCo]

The no #1 pick streak, that is, not the mediocre team streak...

Oh, Hells, man. I say let them be mediocre, too!

[jiminyhopkins]

The no #1 pick streak, that is, not the mediocre team streak...

Oh, Hells, man. I say let them be mediocre, too!

It is kind of my trademark. Gives me more to complain about!

[chicoruiz]

I remember not even being that enthusiastic about Adams when I drafted him. It’s pretty sad when you can’t even get excited over the number one overall pick. That was, I think, the nadir in our string of awful draft pools.

[lordtoffee]

Love the idea. Just goes to show that drafting is as much an art as a science and that everyone makes mistakes.