1985 Major League Baseball draft

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1985 Major League Baseball draft
General information
Date(s)June 1985
Overview
832 total selections
First selectionB. J. Surhoff
Milwaukee Brewers
First round selections28
Hall of Famers
← 1984
1986 →

The 1985 Major League Baseball draft took place in June 1985. The draft saw the Milwaukee Brewers select B. J. Surhoff first overall.

First round draft picks

The San Francisco Giants selected Will Clark second overall. The 6x All-Star won the 1991 Gold Glove Award at first base, two Silver Slugger Awards at first base, and had his No 22 Retired by the Giants.
The Cincinnati Reds selected Barry Larkin fourth overall. Larkin is a 12x All-Star, 9x Silver Slugger at shortstop, 3x Gold Glove winner at shortstop, and the 1995 National League Most Valuable Player Award. The National Baseball Hall of Fame inducted Larkin as a member in 2012.
The Pittsburgh Pirates selected Barry Bonds sixth overall. Bonds is a 7x National League MVP, and the Single-season home run leader and all-time home run leader.
The Chicago Cubs selected Rafael Palmeiro 22nd overall. Palmeiro is a 4x All-Star, 3x Gold Glove winner at first base, 2x Silver Slugger (one at first base and one at DH), and a member of the 500 home run club.

The following are the first round picks in the 1985 Major League Baseball draft.[1]

= All-Star = Baseball Hall of Famer
Pick Player Team Position Hometown/School
1 B.J. Surhoff Milwaukee Brewers C University of North Carolina
2 Will Clark San Francisco Giants 1B Mississippi State University
3 Bobby Witt Texas Rangers RHP University of Oklahoma
4 Barry Larkin Cincinnati Reds SS University of Michigan
5 Kurt Brown Chicago White Sox C Glendora, California
6 Barry Bonds Pittsburgh Pirates OF Arizona State University
7 Mike Campbell Seattle Mariners RHP University of Hawaii
8 Pete Incaviglia Montreal Expos OF Oklahoma State University
9 Mike Poehl Cleveland Indians RHP University of Texas at Austin
10 Chris Gwynn Los Angeles Dodgers OF San Diego State University
11 Walt Weiss Oakland Athletics SS University of North Carolina
12 Cameron Drew Houston Astros OF University of New Haven
13 Jeff Bumgarner Minnesota Twins RHP Richland, Washington
14 Tommy Greene Atlanta Braves RHP Whiteville, North Carolina
15 Willie Fraser California Angels RHP Concordia College
16 Trey McCall Philadelphia Phillies C Abingdon, Virginia
17 Brian McRae Kansas City Royals SS Bradenton, Florida
18 Joe Magrane St. Louis Cardinals LHP University of Arizona
19 Mike Cook California Angels RHP University of South Carolina
20 Gregg Jefferies New York Mets SS Millbrae, California
21 Dan Gabriele Boston Red Sox RHP Walled Lake, Michigan
22 Rafael Palmeiro Chicago Cubs OF Mississippi State University
23 Joey Cora San Diego Padres SS Vanderbilt University
24 Dave Masters Chicago Cubs RHP University of California
25 Greg David Toronto Blue Jays OF Naples, Florida
26 Randy Nosek Detroit Tigers RHP Chillicothe, Missouri

Supplemental First Round Selections

Pick Player Team Position Hometown/School
27 Bill McGuire Seattle Mariners C University of Nebraska–Lincoln
28 Rick Balabon New York Yankees RHP Berwyn, Pennsylvania

[2]

Background

Six of the first eight draft picks from the June regular phase had at least one full year of major league experience prior to the start of the 1987 season. Included in that list were B.J. Surhoff (Milwaukee), the draft's number one pick, Will Clark (San Francisco), Bobby Witt (Texas), Barry Larkin (Cincinnati), Pete Incaviglia (Montreal) and Barry Bonds (Pittsburgh).

Incaviglia was selected eighth overall by the Expos, but was unable to reach a contract and was traded to Texas. He made his major league debut on Opening Day 1986 as the Rangers' left fielder, becoming just the 15th drafted player to go directly to the majors.[3]

As of 2017, this year's draft class has accumulated the highest Baseball-Reference Wins Above Replacement total of any class in the draft's history.[4]

Other notable players

The Montreal Expos selected Randy Johnson in the second round. Johnson is a 5x Cy Young Award winner and finished his career second in all-time strikeouts. The National Baseball Hall of Fame inducted Johnson as a member in 2015.
The Detroit Tigers selected John Smoltz in the 22nd round. Smoltz is a 8x All-Star, the 1996 Cy Young Award winner, and member of the 3,000 strikeout club. The National Baseball Hall of Fame inducted Smoltz as a member in 2015.

† All-Star
‡ Hall of Famer

NFL/NBA players drafted

References

  1. ^ "MLB First Round Draft Picks - 1985". Retrieved April 4, 2008.
  2. ^ Baseball-Reference.com Draft Database
  3. ^ "Background on the 1985 MLB Draft". Archived from the original on April 2, 2008. Retrieved April 4, 2008.
  4. ^ "Amateur Draft". www.thebaseballgauge.com. Archived from the original on November 5, 2019. Retrieved October 31, 2019.

External links

Preceded by 1st Overall Picks
B.J. Surhoff
Succeeded by