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. 5: Ray Fosse – No. 7 overall, 1965

The first ever draft for Major League Baseball took place in 1965 and the Cleveland Indians started off their draft history on a high note, selecting high school catcher Ray Fosse with the No. 7 overall pick that season.

The Marion, Illinois native reached the major leagues before the end of the 1967 season, getting a September call-up that season and making his major league debut at just 20 years of age.

Fosse wouldn’t become a mainstay in the Tribe lineup though until the 1970 season, but he broke out in a big way that year, making his first of two consecutive All-Star appearances and finishing in the top-25 in the MVP voting, hitting an impressive .307/.361/.469 with 18 home runs. He also won the first of two straight Gold Gloves.

Unfortunately for Fosse, he’s best remembered for what happened at the 1970 All-Star Game, in which he was involved in a nasty collision at that plate with Pete Rose on the final play of the game. While original X-rays were negative, it was later learned that Fosse actually fractured his shoulder and suffered a nasty separation, both of which healed incorrectly due to their missed diagnosis.

Fosse still managed to play well in 1971 but was never the same player again and further injuries limited his career. He still finished with the seventh-highest career WAR among all Tribe first-round picks (per baseball-reference).

Yet it still pains Tribe fans to think what might have been had he not gotten hurt.

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.