As we begin yet another week without actual Major League Baseball, there Royce O'Neale Jersey is at last something of substance upon which to focus for baseball nuts. That would be the Draft, which starts on Wednesday. In the spirit of the draft, our rankings this week will focus on each team's best first-round pick. I cannot stre s enough that these are first-round picks only. There have been legions of stars who were drafted from lower than the first round or signed as international free agents. Not only that, but the draft didn't even start until 1965 and, in judging some of the first rounds from the early years, didn't really hit its stride for a while. This is also the toughest sport to draft for many reasons. Every single first round we'll see picks that look baffling with the benefit of hindsight, but made sense at the time. What you'll see below is a whole lot of hindsight. I'm judging how the picks turned out. This was incredibly tough to actually rank. I tried to weigh so many factors, such as the obvious (how good was the player) against how early/late the player was selected (again, among first rounders only) and how actually adept was the pick (that is, if the team pa sed on him, could they have had someone at least marginally as good or would they have gotten a career minor-leaguer instead). Did the draftee help the team win a championship was considered, but not an overriding factor, as one player can only make so much difference in baseball. Oh, and as always, the people on social media are right. Off we go. Best first-round pick 1 Roger Clemens was so good in college, the award for best collegiate pitcher is now named the Roger Clemens Award. Among the pitchers chosen before Clemens got the call at 19: Stan Hilton, Jackie Davidson, Darrel Akerfelds, Ray Hayward, Joel Davis, Rich Stoll, Wayne Dotson and top overall pick Tim Belcher -- who refused to sign with the Twins Wow. The second-best player from this first round who did sign? Dan Plesac. The best position player? Ricky Jordan. Roger Clemens was the best first-round pick of all time, even if it's because too many other teams mi sed. 2 They've had some good ones. Jered Weaver going 12th in 2004 was quality. Frank Tanana was the 13th overall pick in 1971 and put together a very good career. The easy pick, of course, is . He'd have been the best first-rounder in the history of the franchise if they took him first overall, but they actually got him 25th. Among the players picked before Trout in the 2009 first round who never even made the majors: Donavan Tate (3rd, Padres ), Matt Hobgood (5th, Orioles) Kyle Korver Jersey , Bobby Borchering (16th, Diamondbacks ), Chad James (18th, Marlins), Jiovanni Mier (21st, Astros) and Jared Mitchell (23rd, White Sox). Let's not paint the 2009 as secret geniuses, though. They had the 24th and 25th picks and technically took Randal Grichuk before Trout. 3 Bob Welch (1977), Rick Rhoden (1971) and Rick Sutcliffe (1974) all went in the 20s, but this isn't even close. In the 2006 draft, some quality players like Evan Longoria , Andrew Miller and Brandon Morrow (when healthy) were taken before Clayton Kershaw, Rayjon Tucker Jersey but so were Luke Hochevar, Greg Reynolds and Brad Lincoln. Right after Kershaw? Drew Stubbs and Billy Rowell. 4 Did you know Dale Murphy was drafted as a catcher (5th, 1974)? He's the runner up here. The Braves had the top overall pick in 1990 and they didn't mi s: Chipper Jones. There wasn't another good non-1B infielder taken the rest of the round. 5 Twice they had the first overall pick with a "can't-mi s" prospect and didn't mi s. Do we pick A-Rod (1993) or Junior (1987)? We'll go Ken Griffey Jr. Note: Mike Moore in 1981 and Al Chambers in 1979 also went first overall; I was just pointing out the "can't mi s" part . 6 The Yankees have only picked first twice and mi sed both in Ron Blomberg and Brien Taylor. They did hit on their only other two single-digit picks in a big way. Thurman Munson went fourth overall in 1968 and Derek Jeter was sixth in 1992. Both won multiple titles with the Yankees. Surrounding both of them in the first round was mostly mediocrity. I'll go Jeter, but either pick would be fine. 7 Shawn Green (16th, 1991), Chris Carpenter (15th, 1993) and a host of others were good picks (Vernon Wells, Lloyd Moseby, Shannon Stewart, Noah Syndergaard , Marcus Stroman ), but there is only one selection here. In the 1995 draft, the Jays took a lanky high school pitcher named Roy Halladay 17th overall. The next four picks and six of the next seven never made the majors. 8 The two biggest names heading into the 2001 draft were the best collegiate pitcher (Mark Prior) and hitter (Mark Teixeira). The Twins opted to take local high school catcher (who was signed to play quarterback for Florida State). Injuries ruined Prior, Dewon Brazelton at No. 3 was a bust and Gavin Floyd (fourth overall) had an admirable career but was never a star. Teixeira was very good for a long time, but Mauer was better. Past Teixeira at fifth overall, the rest of the first round was pretty barren. Excellent pick. 9 Maybe Alex Bregman (2nd, 2013), Carlos Correa (1st, 2012) or George Springer (11th, 2011) get there, but there's more competition. Lance Berkman went 16th in 1997, Billy Wagner was the 12th overall pick in Utah Jazz Hats 1993, but I'm going with the Hall of Famer Craig Biggio. The Astros got him 22nd overall in 1987. Six players picked ahead of him never made The Show. The top pick, Ken Griffey Jr., turned out fine, though. 10 Matt Chapman went 25th in the 2014 draft and he's already rocketing up the charts, but the top two here are easily Mark McGwire (10th in 1984) and Reggie Jackson (2nd in 1966). I'll go with Reggie. The player picked before him in that 1966 draft? The Mets took a high school catcher named Steven Chilcott, who never made the majors. 11 All due respect to Ryan Braun (5th, 2005), Prince Fielder (7th, 2002), Gary Sheffield (6th, 1986) and several other good first-round selections, the have a big top two. Robin Yount went third overall in 1973 behind David Clyde and Paul Molitor went third in 1977 behind Harold Baines and Bill Gullickson. Interesting note here is Yount went immediately before Dave Winfield. Molitor went before two players who didn't make the majors. Doesn't that make Molitor the better pick? Tough tiebreaker. 12 Going by WAR it's Rafael Palmeiro, who went 22nd in 1985. Kerry Wood is second. Yeah. Third? Kris Bryant and he's the pick. Sure, he went second overall, but many were clamoring for the Cubs to take pitcher Jon Gray. Instead, Joe Ingles Jersey Bryant was the pick at second overall after Mark Appel. By the end of 2016, Bryant had a Rookie of the Year, MVP and a World Series ring. 13 By WAR, the top two Giants picks were Will Clark (2nd, 1985) and Matt Williams (3rd, 1986), but right below them are Buster Posey and Madison Bu