{"id":747739,"date":"2026-07-10T03:22:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T03:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/747739\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T03:22:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T03:22:00","slug":"best-players-taken-at-rangers-no-16-pick-in-mlb-draft-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/747739\/","title":{"rendered":"Best players taken at Rangers’ No. 16 pick in MLB draft history"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0Rangers<\/a> will select 16th overall for the second time in team history at Saturday night’s MLB draft.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The bar for internal historical success is not especially high.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They drafted Creighton left-handed pitcher Dan Smith with the 16th overall pick in the 1990 draft, promoted him to the big leagues two years later and received less than two years of production before he retired. His -0.1 WAR, per Baseball Reference, is hardly close to the worst of any of the team’s former first-round picks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That’s the beauty of baseball’s draft. So is this: five players selected 16th overall this century have accumulated 14.0 WAR or better, per Baseball Reference, in their big league careers. Two players selected 16th overall in the last five years\u00a0\u2014 Cleveland Guardians outfielder Chase DeLauter and San Francisco Giants first baseman Bryce Eldridge\u00a0\u2014 were among the sport\u2019s top prospects before each graduated this season. There’s legitimate value to be found in the middle of the draft and the Rangers will hope to strike gold this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here’s a look at some of the best No. 16 pick outcomes in baseball history.\u00a0<\/p>\n

OF Lance Berkman:\u00a0Baseball America wrote that Berkman can \u201cflat out hit\u201d in their pre-draft report. They nailed that evaluation. The Houston Astros selected Berkman \u2014 a New Braunfels native and Rice alum \u2014 with the 16th overall pick in the 1997 draft. His 52.0 WAR and 366 home runs are both the most all-time among those selected with this pick.\u00a0<\/p>\n

C Lance Parrish:\u00a0The Detroit Tigers nabbed one of\u00a0the better catchers in baseball history when they selected Parrish out of Walnut High (Calif.) with the 16th overall pick in the 1997 draft. Parrish leads all players selected with this pick in All-Star appearances (eight) and Silver Slugger awards (six.). His 39.5 WAR ranks second and his 324 home runs rank third.\u00a0<\/p>\n

OF Shawn Green:\u00a0Green, a dynamic outfielder, was selected 16th overall out of Tustin High (Calif.) by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1991 draft. He totaled 34.7 WAR, the third-most of any player picked here, and hit 328 home runs in his 14-year big league career.\u00a0<\/p>\n

SS J.P. Crawford:\u00a0You can do a lot worse than an infielder who\u2019s played nearly a decade in the big leagues and amassed 22.4 WAR. The Philadelphia Phillies selected Crawford with the 16th pick in the 2013 draft out of Lakewood High (Calif.). He was traded to the Seattle Mariners as part of a six-player deal, and since then, he\u2019s averaged 2.6 WAR per season as an everyday shortstop.\u00a0<\/p>\n

OF Corbin Carroll:\u00a0If any player has a chance to surpass Berkman as the most valuable player selected 16th overall, it may be Corbin, who\u2019s been electric for the Arizona Diamondbacks since they drafted him out of Lakeside (Wash.) six years ago. Carroll is already a three-time All-Star, a Silver Slugger award winner and one of baseball\u2019s best modern speed threats. His 18.9 WAR is already the sixth-most among players drafted here.\u00a0<\/p>\n

RHP Lucas Giolito:\u00a0The high-end outcomes at pitcher are admittedly thin. Giolito, whom the Washington Nationals\u00a0selected out of Harvard-Westlake (Calif.) in the 2012 draft, could be the most productive arm drafted at this position. His 14.0 WAR ranks second among pitchers selected 16th overall, his 73 wins rank first and he\u2019s now been a big leaguer for a full decade. The Rangers\u00a0\u2014 who\u2019ve had well-documented struggles on the pitcher development front for most of their franchise\u2019s existence \u2014 would be pleased with this outcome.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The\u00a0Rangers will select 16th overall for the second time in team history at Saturday night’s MLB draft.\u00a0 The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":747740,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2389],"tags":[42,5,139,54,3211,3316,4,89489],"class_list":["post-747739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston-astros","tag-astros","tag-baseball","tag-houston","tag-houston-astros","tag-houstonastros","tag-listicle","tag-mlb","tag-tp-mlb-draft"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116893538297745839","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=747739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/747740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=747739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=747739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=747739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}