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Top Nine Best Yankees Top Draft Picks

By Lou DiPietro

The MLB Rule 4 Player Draft has been in existence since 1965, and with the Yankees' selection of RHP Ty Hensley, 48 men can now say they were the Yankees' first choice. Last year's top pick, Dante Bichette, Jr., is currently playing for the Single-A Charleston RiverDogs, and the 46 men who came before him range from legendary to forgotten.

The 10 men below, however, are the ones who have made the biggest impact on the Yankeessomehow.

SCOTT MCGREGOR (No. 14 overall, 1972)

McGregor never played for the Yankees, but was part of a 10-player trade in 1976 that brought Doyle Alexander among others to the Bronx. Scotty went on to win 138 games for the O's, the last coming the same year Detroit acquired Alexander from Atlanta for some dude named Smoltz.
CARL EVERETT (No. 10 overall, 1990)

Like McGregor, Everett never played a game for the Yankees. After two years in the system, he was plucked by the Marlins in the 1992 Expansion Draft and went on to a 14-year career that included spoiling a near-Perfect Game by Mike Mussina in 2001. Bitter much, Carl?
ERIC MILTON (No. 20, '96) & BRIAN BUCHANAN (No. 24, '94)

Neither ever played for the Yankees, but in 1998, they were packaged with Cristian Guzman and traded to Minnesota for Chuck Knoblauch, who won three World Championships (and several garbage showers at the Metrodome) in four years in New York.
RON BLOMBERG (No. 1 overall, 1967)

The Bombers' first top overall pick is also noted as the first designated hitter to take a turn at-bat. He hit .302 in parts of seven seasons with the Yankees, and later became a scout for the team as well.
TIM BIRTSAS (No. 36 overall, 1982)

Birtsas himself won all of 14 Major League games, but in December 1984, the Yankees packaged him with four others (including Jose Rijo) to acquire Rickey Henderson from Oakland. Even if it took five guys, we'd say fetching a future Hall of Famer is making an impact, no?
PHIL HUGHES (No. 23 overall, 2004)

Although "Hughesy" has been much-maligned for his starting struggles over the last couple seasons, he was lights-out as part of the bridge to Mariano Rivera in 2009 and earns a spot on this list just for that.
JOHN ELWAY (No. 52 overall, 1981)

Elway played two seasons in the Minors while playing football for Stanford, but left for the NFL full-time after being selected in the 1983 NFL Draft. Not much of an impact on the Yankees, maybe, but he's got two more Super Bowl rings than you do, smart guy.
THURMAN MUNSON (No. 4 overall, 1968)

Thurman was the 1970 AL Rookie of the Year, the 1976 AL MVP, a seven-time All-Star, and the heart and soul of the team that reached three straight World Series from 1976-78.
DEREK JETER (No. 6 overall, 1992)

Duh.