Philadelphia Phillies: Dave Dombrowski’s history of nailing draft picks

Dombrowski’s draft success carried over to the Tigers.

In Detroit, Dombrowski’s draft picks really began to hit, starting with finding long-time outfielder Curtis Granderson in the third round of the 2002 MLB Draft. Granderson would go on to hit 344 home runs in 16 seasons with over 2,000 games played.

Two years later, in the 2004 MLB Draft, he made arguably his best pick by taking Justin Verlander out of Old Dominion in the first round. Verlander’s Hall of Fame career with 226 wins, eight All-Star games, two Cy Youngs, an MVP, and a World Series ring in Houston is unmatched by any other pitcher in his era.

Other players taken in that first round by opposing clubs included Matt Bush, going number one overall, and the trio of Philip Humber, Jeff Niemann, and Mark Rogers rounding out the top five.

Following up the Verlander pick in 2005 was Cameron Maybin, another long-time outfielder who was the centerpiece of the Miguel Cabrera trade.

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Dombrowski’s first five picks in 2005 made the big leagues, and he had an incredible 14 picks eventually play in a big league game. Those players include Matt Joyce, Casper Wells, Burke Badenhop, and 34th round pick Alex Avila.

Detroit re-drafted Avila in the fifth round in 2008.

The second big piece for the Cabrera trade, Andrew Miller, was drafted with the Tigers’ first-round pick in 2006.

Dombrowski’s first-round pick streak continued into 2007, with Rick Porcello going 27th overall. And while he wasn’t able to sign the 1,24 1st overall pick D.J. LeMahieu, it would’ve been one of the all-time steals.

Then 2010 was another blockbuster year for Dombrowski draft picks, with selecting Nicholas Castellanos 44th overall and Drew Smyly 68th overall.

In 2011 the Tigers drafted future big-league catchers James McCann (76th) and (Curt Casali 317th) and two years later got pitcher Corey Knebel in the first round.

In that group of players, there’s a Hall of Famer, two Cy Young winners, multiple All-Stars, and several long-time major league players.

Dombrowski took over the Red Sox organization in 2016, and it is a little too early to breakdown those Red Sox picks. Their 2016 pick Jay Groome missed the entire 2018 season due to Tommy John but was added to Boston’s 40-man roster in November 2020.

Tanner Houck, their 2017 first-round pick, made three impressive starts in 2020 with a 0.53 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 17 innings.

Not every draft pick falls back on the GM or President of Baseball Ops., but it’s reassuring for Phillies fans to know that they now have an executive who can right some of their wrongs when it comes to the MLB Draft.