We are just days away from the 2024 Draft, and as always, there will be a lot of excited youngsters ready to make their way to The Show and teams building their foundation for future success.

With that in mind, we take a look at every team’s highest Draft pick(s) ever and how they turned out. The first pick is the one we always pay the closest attention to, and when it works out, it’s incredible. But when it doesn’t …

AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST

Blue Jays: Lloyd Moseby, 1978; Gary Harris, 1980; Augie Schmidt, 1982 (No. 2 overall)
Moseby played 10 seasons with Toronto and remains the franchise leader with 255 stolen bases. Chosen one spot behind Shawon Dunston and three spots ahead of Dwight Gooden, Schmidt had an all-time baseball name, but not much else. He never made it to the big leagues and retired by 1986. The next year, he signed on as an assistant coach at Carthage College in his hometown in Wisconsin. He has been the head coach there since 1988, just like his dad was. His nephew is Gavin Lux, by the way.

Orioles: Ben McDonald, 1989; Adley Rutschman, 2019; Jackson Holliday, 2022 (No. 1)
The first great Orioles hope, McDonald threw a shutout in his MLB debut, but struggled with injuries the rest of his career. The early returns have been much more promising with Rutschman, and big things are expected from Holliday, who quickly became baseball's No.1 prospect.

Rays: Josh Hamilton, 1999; Delmon Young, 2003; David Price, 2007; Tim Beckham, 2008 (No. 1)
Hamilton’s personal life derailed him until he was long gone from the Rays, and Young also struggled with off-the-field issues. Price was the crown jewel, pitching in a World Series during his rookie year. As for Beckham, who was drafted the year the Rays made the World Series, it looked like the five-tool prospect and seemingly obvious future star would be a linchpin of the Rays for years to come. But injuries, suspensions and long stretches of ineffectiveness kept him from ever reaching his potential.

Red Sox: Mike Garman, 1967 (No. 3)
The Red Sox are one of two teams on this list to have never chosen higher than third in the Draft. (They drafted well from the middle, though: Jim Rice was the 15th pick in 1971, Roger Clemens was the 19th pick in 1983 and Nomar Garciaparra was the 12th pick in 1994.) Garman rattled around the Majors -- he was once traded with Rick Monday for Bill Buckner -- but never outshined his MLB debut, when he beat the Yankees at Fenway Park about a week after he turned 20 years old.

Yankees: Ron Blomberg, 1967; Brien Taylor, 1991 (No. 1)
It would have been difficult for any No. 1 overall pick of the New York Yankees to live up to expectations, but Taylor -- whom one scout with 53 years of experience called "the best pitcher I ever scouted" -- is one of three No. 1 Draft picks to never reach the Major Leagues. So it didn’t go well. Blomberg is mostly known for being the first DH.

AMERICAN LEAGUE CENTRAL

Guardians: Steve Dunning, 1970; Rick Manning, 1972; Greg Swindell, 1986; Mark Lewis, 1988; Paul Shuey, 1992 (No. 2)
The No. 2 overall pick in 1992, chosen four spots ahead of, uh, Derek Jeter, Shuey never became the stopper of a closer they imagined he would be. But he was a fine setup man when he wasn’t injured. He later became a competitive bass fisherman.

These five will no longer be Cleveland's highest picks once the 2024 Draft gets underway. Thanks to winning the MLB Draft Lottery, the Guardians secured the first No. 1 selection in franchise history.

Royals: Luke Hochevar, 2006 (No. 1)
Royals fans will always rue drafting Hochevar over fellow first-rounders Evan Longoria, Tim Lincecum and Clayton Kershaw. But they did get nine years out of Hochevar, and even if none of them were all that particularly great, No. 1 Draft picks have done a lot worse than 929 1/3 lifetime big league innings. And when it truly mattered, he was fantastic: In nine bullpen appearances in the 2015 postseason, he threw 10 2/3 scoreless innings … and got a World Series ring for his troubles.

Tigers: Matt Anderson, 1997; Casey Mize, 2018; Spencer Torkelson, 2020 (No. 1)
Detroit's first No. 1 overall pick didn't work out, as Anderson mostly struggled in six seasons as a reliever with the club. The hope is that Mize and Torkelson fare far better, but neither player's Major League career has gone all that smoothly so far.

Twins: Tim Belcher, 1983; Joe Mauer, 2001; Royce Lewis, 2017 (No. 1)
Lewis has shown quite a bit of promise since being drafted, but injuries have repeatedly gotten in the way. Regardless, Mauer set an extremely high bar for this group. Despite being drafted first overall, Belcher didn't sign with the Twins. The next year, he was taken first overall in the January Draft's secondary phase by the Yankees.

White Sox: Danny Goodwin, 1971; Harold Baines, 1977 (No. 1)
Baines debuted just a few days after his 21st birthday, in 1980, and became a White Sox legend and a Hall of Famer. (Paul Molitor was chosen two spots behind him, by the way.) Goodwin holds the distinction of the only player to be taken with the No. 1 overall pick in the June Draft on two separate occasions. He didn’t sign with the White Sox out of high school, but signed with the Angels when they drafted him with the first overall pick out of Southern University in '75.

AMERICAN LEAGUE WEST

Angels: Danny Goodwin, 1975; Darin Erstad, 1995 (No. 1)
Erstad had won a national championship with the Nebraska football team (he was a punter) just a few months before the Angels took him No. 1 overall. Eight years later, he’d lead them to a World Series title.

Astros: Floyd Bannister, 1976; Phil Nevin, 1992; Carlos Correa, 2012; Mark Appel, 2013; Brady Aiken, 2014 (No. 1)
We’ll always wonder what the Astros would have looked like had they taken, say, Matt Chapman, Aaron Nola or Michael Conforto, rather than a high school pitcher (Aiken) who never signed with them. On the other hand, maybe not signing him turned out for the best: Aiken never made the Majors after going 17th overall to Cleveland the next year, and the Astros got a compensation pick, which they used to take Alex Bregman at No. 2 overall in 2015. The Astros are the only team to pick first in the Draft for three straight years, but of those three, only Correa panned out.

Athletics: Rick Monday, 1965 (No. 1)
The first No. 1 pick in baseball history, Monday, drafted by the Kansas City A’s, had a 19-year career. He's much better known for being the guy who stopped protesters from burning an American flag in 1976, and he’s still a broadcaster for the Dodgers today.

Mariners: Al Chambers, 1979; Mike Moore, 1981; Ken Griffey Jr., 1987; Alex Rodriguez, 1993 (No. 1)
Over the span of six years from 1987-93, the Mariners had the No. 1 pick twice. They chose Griffey and Alex Rodriguez. That will work.

Rangers: Jeff Burroughs, 1969; David Clyde, 1973 (No. 1)
Widely considered a test case for what not to do with phenoms, Clyde was rushed to the big leagues shortly after his 18th birthday. His then-manager, Whitey Herzog, said management made him keep Clyde in games because his hype sold tickets. He would pitch his last game at age 24 with Cleveland. Burroughs was quite a bit more successful, taking AL MVP honors for Texas in 1974.

NATIONAL LEAGUE EAST

Braves: Bob Horner, 1978; Chipper Jones, 1990 (No. 1)
In 1990, the Braves finished last in the NL West and drafted Chipper Jones. The next year, they went to the World Series and started a streak of 14 consecutive division titles.

Marlins: Adrian Gonzalez, 2000 (No. 1)
The Marlins traded Gonzalez to the Rangers before he played a game with them -- for bullpen assistance that would ultimately help them win the World Series -- and then the Rangers traded him to the Padres. They watched him become a five-time All-Star.

Mets: Steve Chilcott, 1966; Tim Foli, 1968; Darryl Strawberry, 1980; Shawn Abern, 1984; Paul Wilson, 1994 (No. 1)
The leader of “Generation K” for the Mets, along with Jason Isringhausen and Bill Pulsipher, Wilson was rushed to the Majors in 1996, with disastrous results: A 5-12 record, a 5.38 ERA and an injury that required surgery. That was it for him with the Mets, though he did end up hanging around the big leagues until 2005.

Nationals: Stephen Strasburg, 2009; Bryce Harper, 2010 (No. 1)
Harper won an NL Rookie of the Year Award and an NL MVP Award with the Nationals, and Strasburg helped D.C. win a World Series ring.

Phillies: Pat Burrell, 1998; Mickey Moniak, 2016 (No. 1)
Burrell was "Pat the Bat," and he would go on to hit 251 homers as a member of the Phillies, playing a key role on the 2008 World Series championship team. Moniak's Phillies career was much more brief, consisting of just 47 games before he was dealt to the Angels at the 2022 Trade Deadline for Noah Syndergaard.

NATIONAL LEAGUE CENTRAL

Brewers: B.J. Surhoff, 1985 (No. 1)
Surhoff played in the Olympics the year before the Brewers took him over Will Clark, Barry Larkin, Rafael Palmeiro and, uh, Barry Bonds. He had a perfectly respectable career, and he ended up spending a full 19 years in the majors -- which is four more than Clark, the guy drafted after him, hung around.

Cardinals: Braden Looper, 1996 (No. 3)
Looper made his debut with the Cardinals in 1998, but they traded him at the end of that season for Edgar Renteria. He’d rattle around as a reliever and return to St. Louis in 2006, when he’d win a World Series. Then he transformed into a starter, somehow throwing 175 innings in '07 after being a reliever his whole career. The Cardinals have not picked higher than 13th since 2000, but that will change when they make the seventh overall selection in 2024.

Cubs: Shawon Dunston, 1982 (No. 1)
Dunston never quite became the superstar many wanted him to be, but he was an excellent player with a cannon of an arm who made two All-Star teams and played in the postseason for four different teams. He had the misfortune of playing at the same time, in the same division, as Ozzie Smith. For a decade.

Pirates: Jeff King, 1986; Kris Benson, 1996; Bryan Bullington, 2002; Gerrit Cole, 2011; Henry Davis, 2021; Paul Skenes, 2023 (No. 1)
The Pirates may have given up on Cole a little bit too early, and he thrived after he left the organization. He’s certainly the best player in this group, although a year after Skenes went No.1 overall, he is already an NL All-Star.

Reds: Kurt Stillwell, 1983; Nick Senzel, 2016; Hunter Greene, 2017 (No. 2)
Stillwell played two seasons for the Reds before being traded to the Royals, for whom he earned his only All-Star selection in 1988. Senzel did not pan out in Cincinnati, but Greene became a first-time All-Star this season at age 24. Cincinnati will pick second overall for a fourth time in 2024.

NATIONAL LEAGUE WEST

D-backs: Justin Upton, 2005; Dansby Swanson, 2015 (No. 1)
The good news: Swanson went on to become a dependable everyday shortstop and World Series champion. The bad news is that he did it in Atlanta, after an ill-advised trade in December 2015 that brought pitcher Shelby Miller to Arizona.

Dodgers: Darren Dreifort, 1993 (No. 2)
This is the only time the Dodgers have drafted higher than fifth. Dreifort's contract after the 2000 season is considered one of baseball’s biggest busts, but the Dodgers’ thinking made some sense. After all, he was just starting to blossom six years after they drafted him No. 2 overall (after Alex Rodriguez). It just didn’t turn out well, as he posted a 4.64 ERA in 205 2/3 innings over the following four years, and his career was over before the end of the deal.

Giants: Will Clark, 1985; Joey Bart, 2018 (No. 2)
Clark became a tremendous hitter and five-time All-Star in San Francisco. Bart was faced with the difficult task of succeeding Buster Posey as the Giants' catcher and has struggled to fill those (understandably hard-to-fill) shoes before getting traded to the Pirates in April 2024.

Padres: Mike Ivie, 1970; Dave Roberts, 1972; Bill Almon, 1974; Andy Benes, 1988; Matt Bush, 2004 (No. 1)
One of the more unexpected baseball stories, Bush flamed out of baseball five years after being drafted as a shortstop, and spent time in prison for a drunk driving incident that followed years of behavioral issues -- including arrests for assault and other drinking incidents. When he was released, the Rangers, a team with a history of working with players with past issues, signed him and helped him return to the Majors -- as a pitcher. He was terrific after finally making his Major League debut in 2016 and has since made more than 200 career appearances.

Rockies: Greg Reynolds, 2006 (No. 2)
Any pitcher drafted by the Rockies knows he’s going to have a tough time, and Reynolds never got it together. In 33 appearances with the Rockies -- spread over three years (2008, '11 and '13) -- he had a 7.01 ERA.