List of first overall Major League Baseball draft picks
The First-Year Player Draft, also known as the Rule 4 Draft, is Major League Baseball's primary mechanism for assigning amateur baseball players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur baseball clubs to its teams. Unlike most professional sports, MLB does not permit the trading of draft picks, so the draft order is solely determined by the previous season's standings; the team that possesses the worst record receives the first pick. If two teams have identical records, the team with the worse record in the previous season will receive the higher pick. In addition, teams that lost free agents in the previous off-season may be awarded "compensatory" picks. The first draft took place in 1965; it was introduced to prevent richer teams from negotiating wealthier contracts with top-level prospects and therefore, monopolizing the player market. Originally, three drafts were held each year. The first draft took place in June and involved high-school graduates and college seniors who had just finished their seasons. The second draft took place in January for high school and college players who had graduated in December. The third draft took place in August and was for players who participated in American amateur summer leagues. The August draft was eliminated after two years, and the January draft lasted until 1986.
In 1965, Rick Monday became MLB's first draft pick after being selected by the Kansas City Athletics. Spencer Torkelson is the most recent first overall pick; he was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in 2020. Overall, 23 of the 50 picks before 2015 have participated in the All-Star Game, and four have won the Rookie of the Year Award. Twenty-five of the fifty picks before 2015 have been drafted from high schools, one has been drafted out of the Independent American Association, and the others were drafted from universities. To date, Arizona State University and Vanderbilt University are the only schools from which multiple number-one overall draft picks have been chosen. No first overall pick was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame until 2016, when Ken Griffey Jr. was inducted with a record 99.3% of votes cast. Griffey has since been joined by two other top picks, with Chipper Jones inducted in 2018 and Harold Baines elected in December 2018 and inducted in July 2019.
In the 54 drafts that have taken place through 2018, 22 of the 30 MLB franchises have had the first pick at least once. The Toronto Blue Jays, St. Louis Cardinals, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds, Boston Red Sox, and Colorado Rockies have never had the first pick. The Montreal Expos never had the first pick, but the Nationals have had it twice. The Oakland Athletics have never had the first pick, but the Kansas City Athletics had the first pick in MLB Draft history. The New York Mets, San Diego Padres, and Houston Astros have each had the first pick five times, and the Seattle Mariners, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Tampa Bay Rays have each had the first pick four times.
Key
Draft
| Year | Player | Team | Position | Club/School |
| 1965 | * | Kansas City Athletics | Outfielder | Arizona State University |
| 1966 | New York Mets | Catcher | Antelope Valley High School | |
| 1967 | New York Yankees | First baseman | Druid Hills High School | |
| 1968 | New York Mets | Shortstop | Notre Dame High School | |
| 1969 | * | Washington Senators | Outfielder | Woodrow Wilson Classical High School |
| 1970 | San Diego Padres | Catcher | Walker High School | |
| 1971 | ° | Chicago White Sox | Catcher | Peoria High School |
| 1972 | San Diego Padres | Third baseman | University of Oregon | |
| 1973 | Texas Rangers | Left-handed pitcher | Westchester High School | |
| 1974 | San Diego Padres | Shortstop | Brown University | |
| 1975 | California Angels | Catcher | Southern University | |
| 1976 | * | Houston Astros | Left-handed pitcher | Arizona State University |
| 1977 | * | Chicago White Sox | Outfielder | St. Michaels Middle/High School |
| 1978 | Atlanta Braves | Third baseman | Arizona State University | |
| 1979 | Seattle Mariners | Outfielder | John Harris High School | |
| 1980 | New York Mets | Outfielder | Crenshaw High School | |
| 1981 | * | Seattle Mariners | Right-handed pitcher | Oral Roberts University |
| 1982 | * | Chicago Cubs | Shortstop | Thomas Jefferson High School |
| 1983 | ° | Minnesota Twins | Right-handed pitcher | Mount Vernon Nazarene University |
| 1984 | New York Mets | Outfielder | Mechanicsburg Area Senior High School | |
| 1985 | * | Milwaukee Brewers | Catcher | University of North Carolina |
| 1986 | Pittsburgh Pirates | Third baseman | University of Arkansas | |
| 1987 | * | Seattle Mariners | Outfielder | Moeller High School |
| 1988 | * | San Diego Padres | Right-handed pitcher | University of Evansville |
| 1989 | Baltimore Orioles | Right-handed pitcher | Louisiana State University | |
| 1990 | * | Atlanta Braves | Shortstop | Bolles High School |
| 1991 | New York Yankees | Left-handed pitcher | East Carteret High School | |
| 1992 | * | Houston Astros | Third baseman | California State University, Fullerton |
| 1993 | * | Seattle Mariners | Shortstop | Westminster Christian High School |
| 1994 | New York Mets | Right-handed pitcher | Florida State University | |
| 1995 | * | California Angels | Outfielder | University of Nebraska–Lincoln |
| 1996 | Pittsburgh Pirates | Right-handed pitcher | Clemson University | |
| 1997 | Detroit Tigers | Right-handed pitcher | Rice University | |
| 1998 | Philadelphia Phillies | Outfielder | University of Miami | |
| 1999 | * | Tampa Bay Devil Rays | Outfielder | Athens Drive High School |
| 2000 | * | Florida Marlins | First baseman | Eastlake High School |
| 2001 | * | Minnesota Twins | Catcher | Cretin-Derham Hall High School |
| 2002 | Pittsburgh Pirates | Right-handed pitcher | Ball State University | |
| 2003 | Tampa Bay Devil Rays | Outfielder | Adolfo Camarillo High School | |
| 2004 | ' | San Diego Padres | Shortstop | Mission Bay Senior High School |
| 2005 | '* | Arizona Diamondbacks | Shortstop | Great Bridge High School |
| 2006 | Kansas City Royals | Right-handed pitcher | Fort Worth Cats | |
| 2007 | '* | Tampa Bay Rays | Left-handed pitcher | Vanderbilt University |
| 2008 | ' | Tampa Bay Rays | Shortstop | Griffin High School |
| 2009 | '* | Washington Nationals | Right-handed pitcher | San Diego State University |
| 2010 | ' | Washington Nationals | Outfielder/Catcher | College of Southern Nevada |
| 2011 | '* | Pittsburgh Pirates | Right-handed pitcher | University of California, Los Angeles |
| 2012 | ' | Houston Astros | Shortstop | Puerto Rico Baseball Academy and High School |
| 2013 | Houston Astros | Right-handed pitcher | Stanford University | |
| 2014 | '° | Houston Astros | Left-handed pitcher | Cathedral Catholic High School |
| 2015 | ' | Arizona Diamondbacks | Shortstop | Vanderbilt University |
| 2016 | ' | Philadelphia Phillies | Outfielder | La Costa Canyon High School |
| 2017 | ' | Minnesota Twins | Shortstop | JSerra Catholic High School |
| 2018 | ' | Detroit Tigers | Right-handed pitcher | Auburn University |
| 2019 | ' | Baltimore Orioles | Catcher | Oregon State University |
| 2020 | Detroit Tigers | Third baseman | Arizona State University |
By franchise
Footnotes
Goodwin chose to attend university instead of signing with the Chicago White Sox, and re-entered the draft once he graduated in 1975.Hochevar played college baseball for the University of Tennessee, and was originally drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2005, but did not agree to a contract. He re-entered the draft in 2006 after spending the previous year with the independent Fort Worth Cats.