Players Drafted By The Mets In The Early 1980's But Didn't Sign

[TuscanyTile2]

Check out these names:

1981
Roger Clemens†, 12th round, 289th overall by the New York Mets, but did not sign

1982
Rafael Palmeiro†, 8th round, 189th overall by the New York Mets, but did not sign

1983
Matt Williams†, 27th round, 664th overall by the New York Mets, but did not sign

1984
John Wetteland†, 12th round, 289th overall by the New York Mets, but did not sign

1986
John Olerud†, 27th round, 682nd overall by the New York Mets, but did not sign
Scott Erickson†, 36th round, 821st overall by the New York Mets, but did not sign
Todd Jones†, 41st round, 864th overall by the New York Mets, but did not sign

 

Also of note, from other teams:

1980
Rick Aguilera, 37th round, 803rd overall St. Louis Cardinals (did not sign)

1982

Randy Johnson‡, 4th round, 89th overall by the Atlanta Braves, but did not sign
Urban Meyer, 13th round, 323rd overall by the Atlanta Braves

 

[The Crimson King]

1965

Tom Seaver, 10th round LA Dodgers, did not sign

1968

Craig Swan, 23rd round St. Louis Cardinals

1976 (Jan phase)

Mookie Wilson, 4th round LA Dodgers

just to add a few more

Baseball America used to publish a great book, the 1st 25 years of the draft (65-89)

One of the features was a "what if" for the top 10 picks based on how things turned out. Here's who the Mets would have drafted when they where in 1st 10 and who they would have lost by others in the 1st 10 plus the one they drafted instead:

IN

1965: Nolan Ryan 

1966: Reggie Jackson

1967; Buck Martinez (Jan), Bobby Grich

1968: Thurman Munson

1969: AL Hrabosky(Jan), Buddy Bell

1970: Bucky Dent

1975: Keith Moreland

1977: Charlie Lea

1978: Kirk Gibson

1979: Orel Hershiser

1980: Darryl Strawberry (only year they picked who they would have anyway)

1981: Mark Langston

1982: Alvin Davis (lost Gooden to Cubs who had first pick)

1983: Terry Steinbach

1984: Mark McGwire

OUT:

1965: Les Rohr

1966: Steve Chilcott, Mike Jorgenson 

1967: Ken Singleton (Jan), Jon Matlack

1968: Tim Foli

1969: Bruce Heinbechner (Jan), Randy Sterling

1970: Brent Strom

1975: Butch Benton

1976: Mike Scott

1977: Ron Lee, Mookie Wilson

1978: Hubie Brooks

1979: Tim Leary

1981: Terry Blocker

1982: Dwight Gooden

1983: Eddie WiIlliams, Dave Magadan, Calvin Schiraldi

1984: Shawn Abner

1985: Gregg Jefferies

[Maxman]

On 2/15/2020 at 6:26 PM, TuscanyTile2 said:

Check out these names:

1981
Roger Clemens†, 12th round, 289th overall by the New York Mets, but did not sign

1982
Rafael Palmeiro†, 8th round, 189th overall by the New York Mets, but did not sign

1983
Matt Williams†, 27th round, 664th overall by the New York Mets, but did not sign

1984
John Wetteland†, 12th round, 289th overall by the New York Mets, but did not sign

1986
John Olerud†, 27th round, 682nd overall by the New York Mets, but did not sign
Scott Erickson†, 36th round, 821st overall by the New York Mets, but did not sign
Todd Jones†, 41st round, 864th overall by the New York Mets, but did not sign

 

Also of note, from other teams:

1980
Rick Aguilera, 37th round, 803rd overall St. Louis Cardinals (did not sign)

1982

Randy Johnson‡, 4th round, 89th overall by the Atlanta Braves, but did not sign
Urban Meyer, 13th round, 323rd overall by the Atlanta Braves

 

Is this true? That is brutal.

[TuscanyTile2]

7 hours ago, Maxman said:

Is this true? That is brutal.

Assuming Wiki is correct then it's true.  e.g. below is the 1981 draft.  Scroll down to "Other notable players".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1981_Major_League_Baseball_draft