Philadelphia Phillies: 5 best first-round draft picks in franchise history
By Tim Boyle
4. Philadelphia Phillies best first-round draft pick: Pat Burrell.
Pat Burrell is right in my wheelhouse. I began following the game closely after the 1996 season. Not long after, I discovered something called the MLB Draft and learned the Phillies would get to pick first overall in 1998. Their choice: a third baseman named Pat Burrell.
Burrell wouldn’t play third base for the Phillies. As a rookie in the year 2000, he saw action at first base and in left field. It became quickly apparent that he was one of those guys playing professional baseball because of his bat, not his glove. I still remember insisting to my father that, as a young teenager, I could probably play a better left field than Burrell.
From 2000-2008, Burrell was a guy you could find hitting in the middle of many Phillies lineups. He was quietly one of the league’s best sluggers, twice hitting more than 30 home runs and driving in 100+. He was inconsistent, though. He went from hitting 37 home runs and driving in 116 with a .282 batting average to slashing just .209/.309/.404 the very next year.
Never a personal favorite of mine, I can acknowledge who he was as an athlete.
Burrell’s time with the Phillies wrapped up with a .257/.367/.485 slash line, 251 home runs, and 827 RBI. I remember as a youngster reading that he was one of the players the experts projected would one day reach 500 home runs. After leaving the Phillies, he only hit a handful more, ultimately finishing his career with 292.
Although he came up short, Burrell is fourth on the franchise’s all-time home run list and coincidentally fourth on this list.