Cleveland Indians: 5 best first-round draft picks in club history

With the 2017 Major League Baseball draft about two weeks away, we take a look back at the five best first-round draft picks in Cleveland Indians history.

For just the third time since the inception of the Major League Baseball draft back in 1965, the Cleveland Indians will not have a first-round pick of any kind in the June draft this summer.

Throughout the draft’s 50-plus year history, the Indians have had both some highs and lows in the first round of the draft.

Over the next couple days, we’ll take a look at the best and worst from the Tribe’s first-round picks, starting with the five best first-round draft picks in Cleveland Indians history. Note, for this list no player drafted in the last five years will be included, so there will be no Bradley Zimmer no matter how good one may think he’ll be eventually.

Also, any player who never appeared in a big league game with the Indians will not be included. Therefore, no appearance by Kelly Gruber who spent almost his entire 12-year career with the Toronto Blue Jays after being snatched away in the Rule 5 Draft.

No. 4: Charles Nagy – No. 17 overall, 1988

A compensation pick for losing free agent Brett Butler, right-hander Charles Nagy was drafted by the Tribe in the 1988 draft as new GM Hank Peters was reshaping the franchise.

The second first-round pick from that year and only college draftee to make our top five, Nagy would become one of the staples of the big league rotation in the 1990s, helping lead the club to multiple World Series appearances.

All 297 of his big league starts came with the Indians and all but 12 1/3 of his career innings came with the club (he finished with the San Diego Padres for part of one year).

Nagy holds the distinction of having the highest career WAR for any right-handed pitcher drafted in the first round by the Indians at 25.1 (with the Tribe it was 25.2).

Overall that’s the fourth-best career mark and third-best among Tribe careers. He led the Tribe in wins six times in his career, strikeouts five times, complete games four times, and ERA four times. He ranks tenth in franchise history in wins at 129 and he was the last Tribe starter to throw ten complete games in a season, having done so back in 1992.

Injuries limited him in the second half of his career but there was no one better than Nagy early on and he was the home-grown pitcher on those later 90s teams that won all those division titles.

Some may argue this is too high and his career was never as good as fans thought, but I disagree.  He has become one of the more underrated Indians over the years. His loyalty to the franchise as a player was top-notch as well and the 90s would not have been the same without him.

No. 3: Francisco Lindor – No. 8 overall, 2011

Drafted just six years ago, Francisco Lindor has already established himself as one of the best first-round picks in Tribe history. Taken No. 8 overall out of high school, the Puerto Rico native already has a resume that would make most players envious.

He finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting in 2015 (getting robbed by Carlos Correa of the Astros). He followed that up with one of the best years ever by an Indians shortstop in 2016, helping lead the Tribe to the World Series in just his first full season with the club.

Lindor made his first All-Star appearance in 2016 as well as winning both the Gold Glove and Platinum Glove at shortstop for his defensive wizardry. He also finished in the top ten in MVP voting in the American League.

With barely 300 big league games under his belt, he already ranks eighth all-time in career WAR among Tribe first-round picks at 12.0. Among Tribe careers, that’s good for fifth-best, second among position players.

The craziest part is he is only getting better, having already hit 12 home runs this season, just three shy of his career high of 15 he hit last year. With at least four more years of control, Lindor is on pace to not just have the best Tribe career among first-round picks, but leave every else in the dust.

An argument could be made for him to already be higher on this list but for as great as he is, one can’t put him above the top two on our list…yet.

No. 2: CC Sabathia – No. 20 overall, 1999

Coming in at number two on our countdown is our highest ranked pitcher, left-hander CC Sabathia, who was drafted out of high school in California.

A huge kid, CC quickly rose through the system and actually made the Opening Day rotation in 2001, less than two years after being drafted. He’d go on to finish second in the Rookie of the Year that year, losing to “rookie” Ichiro Suzuki of the Mariners.

However, he did win the Sporting News Award for American League Rookie Pitcher of the Year, becoming the fifth and last Tribe pitcher to win the award.

His career in Cleveland lasted from 2001 until the trade deadline in 2008 when he was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers. Along the way, he won the 2007 AL Cy Young award and helped lead the Indians to Central Division crowns in both 2001 and 2007.

Sabathia also ranks in the top ten in Tribe history in both strikeouts (fifth, 1,265) and winning percentage (eighth, .599).

His 1,265 strikeouts are the second-most by an Indians left-hander, behind only Sam McDowell while the other three he trails are all in the baseball Hall of Fame (Bob Feller, Bob Lemon, Early Wynn).

Sabathia may relinquish his hold on the second spot in a couple of years to Lindor, but he remains the best first-round pitcher taken by the Indians and by a pretty decent margin.

No. 1: Manny Ramirez – No. 13 overall, 1991

Easily taking the top spot here is former Indians great, Manny Ramirez.

Drafted No. 13 overall back in 1991 as a third baseman out of George Washington High School outside of New York City, Manny quickly established himself as one of the best young hitters in the game, reaching the major leagues before the end of the 1993 season and finishing second in the American League Rookie of the Year during the strike-shortened 1994 season.

While the end of his career was mired by controversy and multiple PED suspensions, he still remains our number one pick here for his sheer dominance at the plate throughout his Tribe career.

He is the franchise leader in OPS at .998 and his name is near the top of several other offensive categories including home runs, where he’s third behind Albert Belle (a second-round pick) and Jim Thome (a 13th-round pick).

Ramirez leads in career WAR with the club among all first-round picks in Tribe history and offensively no one comes close to the right-handed hitting outfielder. We very likely will never again see an offensive player like Manny come out of a Tribe draft as few have ever put up the numbers he has.

That said, he could easily be relinquishing this crown in five years to Lindor but for now, Ramirez remains firmly entrenched as the greatest first-round pick in Cleveland Indians history.

Several other players received consideration for being included in the top five. Most notably left-handed pitcher Greg Swindell, right-hander Jeremy Guthrie, and third baseman-turned-outfielder Lonnie Chisenhall.

Swindell actually has the third highest career WAR among all Tribe first-round picks, besting even Charles Nagy for overall career (though Nagy has him beat in their Tribe careers). Swindell was the second overall pick back in 1986 and expectations were he’d be a big league ace for years. Unfortunately, that never fully materialized though he had his moments.

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Guthrie, the first player ever drafted while Mark Shapiro was general manager, currently has the 15th-highest WAR in franchise history at 17.7. Unfortunately, all of that came outside of Cleveland as his career mark with the Tribe was actually -0.1.

Guthrie never was able to crack a crowded rotation and was claimed off waivers by the Baltimore Orioles after he ran out of minor league options with the Tribe. So while he has made a career for himself, it’s impossible to put him on a “best of” list for the Indians.

Drafted No. 29 overall back in 2008, Chisenhall is a guy that most Tribe fans consider an afterthought on the current club, but his 8.5 career WAR is 10th-best in club history among first-round picks.

He still has another year of control with the club and realistically could pass Rick Manning and possibly even Ray Fosse before his Tribe career is done, let alone his big league one. He remains a very polarizing player but a very solid and underrated player nevertheless.

Next: Who deserves to have their number retired next?

So do you agree with our list for the five best first-round picks in Cleveland Indians history? Who did we leave off? Let us know in the comments below and be sure to check back for our list of the worst first-round draft picks in Tribe history.