Best compensation Draft picks

Sometimes, a Major League team's future comes straight out of its past.
When franchises lose a marquee player to free agency, they often receive a Draft pick as compensation. Now, that system of compensatory picks is determined by whether a team had extended its departing free agent a qualifying offer. Before 2013, compensatory picks were awarded based on a ranking system that classified the best free agents at each position. And under that system, a team could get two comp picks for losing a premium free agent -- the other team's first- or second-round pick, and a supplemental pick. Now, they just get a supplemental pick, and the team that signs a FA loses a top pick, but it just "disappears", as opposed to being awarded to the player's old team.
The 2018 MLB Draft begins on June 4, and the Rays, Royals, Indians, Cardinals, Rockies and Cubs will all be making compensation picks in the early rounds. That will give them the chance to replenish the talent they lost when free agents like Eric Hosmer, Carlos Santana and Jake Arrieta signed with new teams.
It just so happens that many of today's star players -- including some of the very biggest -- began their professional careers as exactly this type of Draft choice. In their honor, MLB.com has put together a team of the best active players drafted with compensation picks. One active player has been chosen for each infield position, with three outfielders, a right-handed and left-handed starting pitcher and one relief pitcher. Here are the compensation pick All-Stars.
1B: Joey Gallo, Rangers
Drafted by: Rangers, 39th overall in 2012
Compensation for:C.J. Wilson (signed with Angels)
Gallo has established himself as one of the most dangerous sluggers in the sport. He slammed 41 home runs in his first full season in the Majors in 2017, ranking third in the American League behind only Aaron Judge and Khris Davis. He has 13 more so far this season, two off the AL lead. Yes, Gallo strikes out a lot, but his prodigious power helps him make up for it -- even with a .209 batting average and 196 strikeouts in 2017, he still slugged .537.

Honorable mention:Matt Olson, A's, 47th overall in 2012 (for David DeJesus signing with Cubs)
2B: Jed Lowrie, A's
Drafted by: Red Sox, 45th overall in 2005
Compensation for: Orlando Cabrera (signed with Angels)
The Stanford product has battled injuries throughout his career, playing at least 100 games in a season just three times. However, he has been productive when healthy -- like last season, when he hit .277/.360/.448 with 14 home runs and 69 RBIs in 153 games for the A's -- and isn't slowing down, with a .936 OPS for Oakland so far in 2018.
The Red Sox actually got two picks for Cabrera signing with the Angels, and used the other selection -- which would have been the Angels' first-rounder that year -- to select Jacoby Ellsbury (No. 23 overall).
Honorable mention:Logan Forsythe, Padres, 46th overall in 2008 (for Doug Brocail signing with the Astros)
3B: Josh Donaldson, Blue Jays
Drafted by: Cubs, 48th overall in 2007
Compensation for: Juan Pierre (signed with Dodgers)
Donaldson was selected as a catcher out of Auburn and remained behind the plate through his MLB debut with the A's in 2010. Donaldson's breakout came relatively late -- as a 27-year-old third baseman in 2013 -- but he's more than made up for lost time. Mike Trout is the only position player to produce more Wins Above Replacement since that point, according to FanGraphs. Donaldson's collection of accolades includes three All-Star nods and, the biggest, his AL MVP trophy from 2015, when he crushed 41 homers and drove in 123 runs.

Honorable mention:David Wright, Mets, 38th overall in 2001 (for Mike Hampton signing with the Rockies)
SS: Trevor Story, Rockies
Drafted by: Rockies, 45th overall in 2011
Compensation for: Octavio Dotel (signed with Blue Jays)
Story made it to the Majors in 2016 and wasted no time making an impression, setting a Major League record by homering seven times in his first six games. He went on to finish with 27 big flies in 97 games that season, finishing fourth in NL Rookie of the Year voting, and his 60 home runs as a shortstop since '16 lead all players at the premium position.
Honorable mention: Daniel Robertson, A's, 34th overall in 2012 (for Josh Willingham signing with Twins)
C: Jeff Mathis, D-backs
Drafted by: Angels, 33rd overall in 2001
Compensation for: Mark Petkovsek (signed with Rangers)
There haven't been a lot of active catchers selected with compensatory Draft picks, but Mathis has played 14 seasons in the big leagues and contributed to several postseason clubs. He was great for the Angels in the 2009 playoffs, going 7-for-12 with five doubles in the ALCS against the Yankees. He helped the D-backs make the NLDS last year, too. (For those who don't remember Petkovsek, he was serviceable reliever for a the Cardinals and Angels in the late 1990s, and twice won double-digit games out of the pen.)
Honorable mention:Kevin Plawecki, Mets, 35th overall in 2012 (for José Reyes signing with Marlins)
OF: Mike Trout, Angels
Drafted by: Angels, 25th overall in 2009
Compensation for: Mark Teixeira (signed with Yankees)
Yes, Trout was drafted as a compensation pick, and this was a case where the Angels actually received what would have been the Yankees pick (as opposed to a selection in the compensation round). In hindsight, it's remarkable that he lasted as long as he did in the 2009 Draft. Just three years later, he took the baseball world by storm, winning AL Rookie of the Year in 2012 and finishing as the runner-up for MVP. Trout has been the best player in baseball pretty much ever since. At age 26, he's a two-time MVP (winning the award in 2014 and '16) and perennial All-Star. Trout already appears to be a generational superstar.
OF: Aaron Judge, Yankees
Drafted by: Yankees, 32nd overall in 2013
Compensation for: Nick Swisher (signed with Indians)
The up-and-coming Yankees powerhouse has drawn comparisons to the late-1990s dynasty for being built around homegrown talent, and such is the case with the leader of their lineup. Judge was selected out of Fresno State in 2013, and he's become one of baseball's most fearsome hitter and the face of the Baby Bombers. Judge homered in his first career MLB at-bat in 2016, and even though he went through his share of struggles that season, he won a starting spot in the Yankees lineup last year and immediately became a phenomenon. Judge crushed a rookie-record 52 home runs on his way to AL Rookie of the Year honors and a runner-up finish for MVP, and he's continued to power the Yankee offense in 2018.

OF: A.J. Pollock, D-backs
Drafted by: D-backs, 17th overall in 2009
Compensation for: Orlando Hudson (signed with Dodgers)
Pollock showed what he can do in a breakout All-Star season in 2015, when he hit .315 with 20 home runs and 39 stolen bases in 157 games for Arizona while winning the Gold Glove in center field. Unfortunately, injuries have haunted the Notre Dame product. The latest setback came in the form of an avulsion fracture in his left thumb that Pollock sustained last week, interrupting a career year and a possible NL MVP run. While he has played fewer than 400 games since 2014, Pollock owns an .851 OPS during that span while also being a strong baserunner and plus defender in center field.
Honorable mentions:
• Jacoby Ellsbury, Red Sox, 23d overall in 2005 (for Orlando Cabrera signing with Angels)
• Jackie Bradley Jr., Red Sox, 41st overall in 2011 (for Adrián Beltré signing with Rangers)
• Mitch Haniger, Brewers, 38th overall in 2012 (for Prince Fielder signing with Tigers)
SP (RHP): Adam Wainwright, Cardinals
Drafted by: Braves, 29th overall in 2000
Compensation for: Russ Springer (signed with D-backs)
For losing Springer, a reliever, the Braves got a tall high school right-hander out of Brunswick, Ga. But before Wainwright could debut with his home-state team, he was traded to the Cardinals as part of a five-player deal that sent J.D. Drew to Atlanta in December 2003. Wainwright debuted with St. Louis in '05 and has remained there ever since, getting the final out of the '06 World Series as a closer, making nearly 300 starts and finishing in the top three of the NL Cy Young Award race four times.
Honorable mentions:
• José Berríos, Twins, 32nd overall in 2012 (for Michael Cuddyer signing with Rockies)
• Lance McCullers Jr., Astros, 41st overall in 2012 (for Clint Barmes signing with Pirates)
• Michael Fulmer, Tigers, 44th overall by Mets in 2011 (for Pedro Feliciano signing with Yankees)
• Garrett Richards, Angels, 42nd overall in 2009 (for Francisco Rodríguez signing with Mets)
SP (LHP): James Paxton, Mariners
Drafted by: Blue Jays, 37th overall in 2009
Compensation for: A.J. Burnett (signed with Yankees)
This one is a bit complicated, as Burnett leaving the Blue Jays for their rivals in New York prior to the 2009 season set off a strange and ultimately frustrating chain of events for Toronto, who selected Paxton (a British Columbia native) out of the University of Kentucky with the compensation pick they recieved for Burnett. But the southpaw didn't sign, and a year later went in the fourth round to the Mariners. Failing to sign Paxton netted Toronto a supplemental pick in the 2010 Draft (38th overall), which the club used to select Noah Syndergaard. But then, before Thor reached the Majors, he was traded to the Mets as part of a package for R.A. Dickey.
Paxton, meanwhile, has gone on to become a star starting pitcher in Seattle, and the flamethrowing lefty made history on May 8 when he threw his first career no-hitter in Toronto, against the team that drafted him. Paxton became just the second Canadian-born pitcher to throw a no-hitter, and the first to do so in his native country.

Honorable mention:Gio González, Nationals, 38th overall by White Sox in 2004 (for Tom Gordon signing with Yankees)
RP: Sean Doolittle, Nationals
Drafted by: A's, 41st overall in 2007
Compensation for: Barry Zito (signed with Giants)
Doolittle was a two-way star at the University of Virginia, and he was actually drafted as a first baseman by the A's when the 2002 AL Cy Young winner went to San Francisco. But knee and wrist injuries in the Minors pushed him back to the mound. He learned how to pitch again in the summer and fall of 2011, made the big leagues with Oakland in 2012 and has since blossomed into one of the best relief pitchers in baseball. Now the Nationals' closer, Doolittle has nine saves, a 2.29 ERA and 30 strikeouts in 19 2/3 innings this season. He has a 2.36 ERA and 61 strikeouts in 49 relief outings since joining the Nats in 2017.
Honorable mention:Brad Boxberger, D-backs, 43rd overall by Reds in 2009 (for Jeremy Affeldt signing with Giants)