Quiz time! Can you match the MLB star with the team that drafted him?
When the Draft begins on Thursday, a lot of big league dreams will be coming true. But even after a player is selected, it takes a lot of work to get to the Major Leagues -- there are still several Minor League levels to climb, and a lot can happen along the way. Just ask the 10 players below, all of whom got to The Show with a team other than the one that drafted them. They may be stars now, but can you match them with the club that originally called their name? (And if you'd like to find out just how each of them got to MLB with a different squad, be sure to read on after the quiz for the story.)
How did those winding paths reach the Majors? SPOILERS AHEAD:
- Cleveland selected Chris Archer straight out of high school in the fifth round of the 2006 Draft, but just two years later the Indians flipped him to the Cubs -- who dealt him to Tampa in 2011 in the trade that brought Matt Garza to the North Side.
- Josh Donaldson was drafted 48th overall by the Cubs in 2007, but he was traded to Oakland a year later in a deal for Rich Harden.
- Also in 2007, the Red Sox made Anthony Rizzo their sixth-round pick, before sending him to San Diego as the centerpiece of the Adrian Gonzalez trade in 2010. Rizzo broke in with the Padres the next year, but in the winter of 2012 he was dealt again -- this time to Chicago in exchange for Andrew Cashner.
- Speaking of Adrian Gonzalez, he went No. 1 overall in the 2000 Draft to the Marlins, where he'd stay until 2003 -- when the Fish, in the middle of a tight pennant race, sent him to the Rangers for closer Ugueth Urbina.
- When the Tigers selected Andrew Miller with the sixth overall pick in 2006, he was regarded as a future ace. But he was with Detroit for barely a year before being included as part of the package that landed Miguel Cabrera. Miller struggled as a starter and Florida shipped him to Boston, which decided to stick the lefty in the bullpen -- where he became the lights-out reliever we know and love today.
- The Blue Jays drafted Noah Syndergaard out of a Texas high school (note: not actually Asgaard) back in 2010. Just a couple years later, he'd be part of the return that brought reigning Cy Young Award winner R.A. Dickey to Toronto.
- Jayson Werth was a first-round pick of the Orioles -- as a catcher! -- all the way back in 1997. The Great Bearded One was sent from Baltimore to Toronto to the Dodgers over the next few years, before finally finding a home with the Phillies as a free agent in 2006.
- Adam Wainwright burst onto the Major League scene in the biggest possible way, but it was a long time coming -- he was originally a first-round pick of the Braves in 2000, and Atlanta eventually shipped him to St. Louis in a deal for J.D. Drew in 2003.
- In more than eight years in Tampa, Ben Zobrist became the quintessential Ray: Valuable, versatile, and criminally underrated. But he was originally an Astro -- Houston selected him in the sixth round of the 2004 Draft, before dealing him to the then-Devil Rays for Aubrey Huff.
- The Padres made Corey Kluber their fourth-round pick in 2007, but he would make his debut (and win his Cy Young Award) in Cleveland -- San Diego dealt him to Cleveland as part of a three-team deal that sent Jake Westbrook to St. Louis and Ryan Ludwick back to the Friars.