2017 Amateur Draft

The 2017 First Year Player Draft was the fifty-third Major League Baseball Amateur Draft. It began on June 12, 2017.

Royce Lewis, a high school shortstop from California, was selected first overall, by the Minnesota Twins; his selection was a bit of a surprise, as while he was considered a certain top-ten draftee, his name had not been mentioned much as a potential top selection. The most publicized player on the draft, P/SS Hunter Greene, went second overall, to the Cincinnati Reds; while they were looking at him as a pitcher, there was speculation that he would also be given a chance to be part-time DH, given the strength of his bat. The third pick was also a high school player, making it the first time since 1990 that the first three picks were high schoolers. Overall, however, college players still were more numerous among the top picks, representing 18 of first 30 selections.

The St. Louis Cardinals did not make a draft pick until #94 in the draft. This was the result of signing free agent Dexter Fowler, which forced them to surrender their first-round pick to the Chicago Cubs as compensation, and of being forced to give up their next two top picks (#46 and #75) to the Houston Astros as punishment for former scouting director Chris Correa's hacking of the Astros scouting database in 2013 and 2014.

Draft Order

First Round

Pick	Team	Player	Position	School (Type)	Hometown	Notes
1	Minnesota Twins	Royce Lewis	SS	Junipero Serra High School (HS)	Aliso Viejo, CA
2	Cincinnati Reds	Hunter Greene	P	Notre Dame High School (HS)	Stevenson Ranch, CA
3	San Diego Padres	MacKenzie Gore	P	Whiteville High School (HS)	Whiteville, NC
4	Tampa Bay Rays	Brendan McKay	P/1B	University of Louisville (Col.)	Darlington, PA
5	Atlanta Braves	Kyle Wright	P	Vanderbilt University (Col.)	Huntsville, AL
6	Oakland Athletics	Austin Beck	OF	North Davidson High School (HS)	Arcadia, NC
7	Arizona Diamondbacks	Pavin Smith	1B	University of Virginia (Col.)	Jupiter, FL
8	Philadelphia Phillies	Adam Haseley	OF	University of Virginia (Col.)	Windermere, FL
9	Milwaukee Brewers	Keston Hiura	2B/OF	University of California, Irvine (Col.)	Valencia, CA
10	Los Angeles Angels	Jordon Adell	OF	Ballard High School (HS)	Louisville, KY
11	Chicago White Sox	Jake Burger	3B	Missouri State University (Col.)	Chesterfield, MO
12	Pittsburgh Pirates	Shane Baz	P	Concordia Lutheran High School (HS)	Cypress, TX
13	Miami Marlins	Trevor Rogers	P	Carlsbad High School (HS)	Carlsbad, NM
14	Kansas City Royals	Nick Pratto	1B	Huntington Beach High School (HS)	Huntington Beach, CA
15	Houston Astros	J.B. Bukauskas	P	University of North Carolina (Col.)	Ashburn, VA
16	New York Yankees	Clarke Schmidt	P	University of South Carolina (Col.)	Acworth, GA
17	Seattle Mariners	Evan White	1B	University of Kentucky (Col.)	Gahanna, OH
18	Detroit Tigers	Alex Faedo	P	University of Florida (Col.)	Tampa, FL
19	San Francisco Giants	Heliot Ramos	OF	Leadership Christian Academy (HS)	Guaynabo, PR
20	New York Mets	David Peterson	P	University of Oregon (Col.)	Denver, CO
21	Baltimore Orioles	D.L. Hall	P	Valdosta High School (HS)	Valdosta, GA
22	Toronto Blue Jays	Logan Warmoth	SS	University of North Carolina (Col.)	Orlando, FL
23	Los Angeles Dodgers	Jeren Kendall	OF	Vanderbilt University (Col.)	Holmen, WI
24	Boston Red Sox	Tanner Houck	P	University of Missouri (Col.)	Collinsville, IL
25	Washington Nationals	Seth Romero	P	University of Houston (Col.)	West Columbia, TX
26	Texas Rangers	Bubba Thompson	OF	McGill-Toolen Catholic High School (HS)
27	Chicago Cubs	Brendon Little	P	State College of Florida (Col.)	Malvern, PA
28	Toronto Blue Jays	Nate Pearson	P	College of Central Florida (Col.)	Tampa, FL	Compensation pick for the Cleveland Indians signing Edwin Encarnacion
29	Texas Rangers	Chris Seise	SS	West Orange High School (HS)		Compensation pick for the Colorado Rockies signing Ian Desmond
30	Chicago Cubs	Alex Lange	P	Louisiana State University (Col.)	Lee's Summit, MO	Compensation pick for the St. Louis Cardinals signing Dexter Fowler

Competitive Balance Round A

Pick	Team	Player	Position	School (Type)	Hometown	Notes
31	Tampa Bay Rays	Drew Rasmussen	P	Oregon State University (Col.)	Spokane, WA	Did not sign
32	Cincinnati Reds	Jeter Downs	SS	Monsignor Edward Pace High School (HS)	Miami, FL
33	Oakland Athletics	Kevin Merrell	SS	University of South Florida (Col.)	Odessa, FL
34	Milwaukee Brewers	Tristen Lutz	OF	James Martin High School (HS)	Arlington, TX
35	Minnesota Twins	Brent Rooker	OF	Mississippi State University (Col.)	Germantown, TN
36	Miami Marlins	Brian Miller	OF	University of North Carolina (Col.)	Raleigh, NC

Notes

Kyle Wright was the first player from the 2017 draft to make his major league debut, doing so on September 4, 2018. The top three picks in the draft, Lewis, Greene and Gore, all made their debut within a few weeks of each other between April 15 and May 6, 2022; all three had seen their careers put on hold both by injuries and by the Coronavirus pandemic.

Further Reading

• Jim Callis: "Mock draft: Will Twins make Wright top pick?", mlb.com, May 26, 2017. [1]
• Jim Callis: "Draft: Pick-by-pick, first-round analysis", mlb.com, June 13, 2017. [2]
• Jim Callis, Jonathan Mayo and Mike Rosenbaum: “Looking back at top 2017 Draft picks”, ‘’mlb.com’‘, June 18, 2020. [3]
• Jim Callis, Jonathan Mayo and Sam Dykstra: "Each team's best pick from 2017 Draft", mlb.com, June 23, 2022. [4]
• Jonathan Mayo: "Candidates for first overall pick in 2017 Draft", mlb.com, April 30, 2017. [5]
• Jonathan Mayo: "Chosen ones: Lewis leads Day 1; Draft resumes today: Greene, Gore, McKay fill out top 4; plenty of top players available on Day 2", mlb.com, June 13, 2017. [6]

Related Sites

• Associated Press draft preview
• Article on the draft from USA Today