2013 MLB Draft Results: First-Round Reaches That Teams Will Regret Selecting

There were a handful of head-scratchers during the early rounds of the 2013 MLB draft.

It appeared that some teams didn’t do as much background and research as others, which had some experts questioning what the drafting team was doing when they made their decision on who to select. In most instances, teams would select a player well before he was expected to go off the board.

Teams frequently make these types of mistakes in the draft. They tend to believe that the prospect is going to play a big role in the future and that they would rather be safe than sorry and take him early instead of potentially losing him later in the draft. These tend to be decisions that teams regret in the future.

So which teams made regrettable decisions in this year’s draft? Let’s take a look.

2013 MLB Draft Results

Team	Best Pick	Worst Pick	Grade
Houston Astros	Mark Appel (P, Stanford)	James Ramsay (OF, USF)	A-
Chicago Cubs	Kris Bryant (3B, San Diego)	Charcer Burks (OF, HS)	B
Colorado Rockies	Jonathan Gray (P, Oklahoma)	Konner Wade (P, Arizona)	A-
Minnesota Twins	Stuart Turner (C, Ole Miss)	Aaron Slegers (P, Indiana)	B-
Cleveland Indians	Clint Frazier (OF, HS)	Kyle Crockett (P, Virginia)	C+
Miami Marlins	Colin Moran (3B, North Carolina)	Ben Deluzio (SS, HS)	B+
Boston Red Sox	Jon Denney (C, HS)	Mike Adams (P, Univ. of Tampa)	A-
Kansas City Royals	Sean Manaea (P, Indiana State)	Hunter Dozier (SS, Stephen F. Austin)	B
Pittsburgh Pirates	Austin Meadows (OF, HS)	Cody Dickson (P, Sam Houston State)	B+
Toronto Blue Jays	Clinton Hollon (P, HS)	Patrick Murphy (P, HS)	C+
New York Mets	Dominic Smith (1B, HS)	Jared King (OF, Kansas State)	B+
Seattle Mariners	D.J. Peterson (3B, New Mexico)	Ryan Horstman (P, St. John's)	B
San Diego Padres	Hunter Renfroe (OF, Miss. State)	Jake Bauers (1B, HS)	B
Arizona Diamondbacks	Braden Shipley (P, Nevada)	Justin Williams (OF, HS)	C+
Philadelphia Phillies	Andrew Knapp (C, California)	Trey Williams (3B College of Canyons)	B
Chicago White Sox	Tim Anderson (SS, East Central CC)	Thaddius Lowry (P, HS)	B+
Los Angeles Dodgers	Tom Windle (P, Minnesota)	Jacob Rhame (P, Grayson County College)	B
St. Louis Cardinals	Marco Gonzales (P, Gonzaga)	Mike Mayers (P, Mississippi)	B+
Detroit Tigers	Jonathon Crawford (P, Florida)	Kevin Ziomek (P, Vanderbilt)	C+
Baltimore Orioles	Hunter Harvey (P, HS)	Jonah Heim (C, HS)	B+
Oakland Athletics	Dillon Overton (P, Oklahoma)	Dylan Covey (P, San Diego)	B
San Francisco Giants	Brian Ragira (1B, Stanford)	Christian Arroyo (SS, HS)	C
New York Yankees	Aaron Judge (OF, Fresno State)	Michael O'Neill (OF, Michigan)	A-
Cincinnati Reds	Phillip Ervin (OF,Samford)	Ben Lively (P, Central Florida)	B
Tampa Bay Rays	Ryne Stanek (P, Arkansas)	Kean Wong (2B, HS)	A
Texas Rangers	Alex Gonzalez (P, Oral Roberts)	Akeem Bostick (P, HS)	B-
Atlanta Braves	Jason Hursh (P, Oklahoma State)	Tanner Murphy (C, HS)	B-
Milwaukee Brewers	Devin Williams (P, HS)	Taylor Williams (P, Kent State)	A-
Los Angeles Angels	Kenyan Middleton (P, Pierce College)	Hunter Green (P, HS)	C+
Washington Nationals	Jake Johansen (P, Dallas Baptist)	Drew Ward (3B, HS)	C+

For any individual team's picks, click on the respective team's grade or check out MLB.com. Grades are courtesy of B/R Featured Columnist Steven Cook. 

Regrettable Reaches

Kansas City Royals (No. 8): Hunter Dozier, SS, Stephen F. Austin

The Kansas City Royals might have been trending on Twitter after they made the eighth overall selection in the 2013 MLB draft. It wasn’t because Kansas City made a great decision though. It was more because they took Hunter Dozier much higher than he was originally expected to go.

Dozier belonged somewhere in the middle or toward the back of the first round. A team could’ve been fine taking him somewhere in the No. 14-to-18 range, but he certainly wasn’t a top-10 pick. Regardless, the Royals still made him one, taking the shortstop and stunning every smart baseball mind out there.

It was also interesting that the Royals selected Dozier because he’s a shortstop and one of the team’s top prospects, Adalberto Mondesi, is also a shortstop. Albeit Mondesi is still playing rookie ball, but he would appear to have much more potential for the future than Dozier.

The Royals entered the draft needing a position player that could rise through the minor leagues relatively quickly. Kansas City doesn’t have a lot of talent that’s ready to get promoted to the big leagues. Dozier hit .396/.482/.755 with 17 home runs and 52 RBI for Stephen F. Austin this year, but he still doesn’t project to be in the majors anytime soon.

Toronto Blue Jays (No. 10): Phil Bickford, RHP, Oaks Christian (Calif.) HS

The one thing that the Toronto Blue Jays didn’t need entering the draft was another starting pitcher. Toronto has around half a dozen very good starting pitchers in their minor league system and really needed to draft someone that could play up the middle in the future. So what did the Jays do? They drafted a starting pitcher.

Phil Bickford was a bit of a toss-up for most experts before the draft. Some had him going in the first 15 picks, but most had him in the second 15. He was one of the top high school arms in the country, but there were still several other prospects with higher potential that would also be easier to sign.

If the Blue Jays can convince Bickford to sign a contract and forget about going to Cal State Fullerton, they’ll have six or seven starting pitchers who will all need a spot in the starting rotation at some point in the next couple of years. Where is Bickford going to fit? Toronto didn’t need another pitcher.

While it still would’ve been a bit of a reach, Toronto should’ve taken either J.P. Crawford (Lakewood HS, Calif.) or Tim Anderson (East Central CC). Both were on the board at No. 10 and Toronto needs a future shortstop. Taking a pitcher instead of a shortstop made no sense at all.

Atlanta Braves (No. 31): Jason Hursh, RHP, Oklahoma State

Even with Julio Teheran now pitching for the Braves in the majors, Atlanta still had a lot of depth on the mound in the minors. More than half of Atlanta’s top prospects are pitchers. Needless to say, the Braves were all set with pitchers entering the draft, but that didn’t stop them from taking Jason Hursh late in the first round.

Despite the fact that the Braves were drafting just a few picks from the second round, Hursh didn’t really belong in the first round and as just stated, Atlanta didn’t need a pitcher. He wasn’t the best player on the board or the best pitching prospect available. He also had Tommy John surgery just a year ago.

Not only will it be difficult to find Hursh a spot in the Atlanta starting rotation in the coming years, the Braves will have to be extremely careful with his arm. If they push him a little too hard just once, his career could be over and the Braves would’ve wasted a first-round draft pick.

If you’ve taken a look at Atlanta’s minor league system, you’ll notice that there aren’t many great position players. Evan Gattis is already in the big leagues and Christian Bethancourt could be there soon too. The Braves definitely could’ve taken a bat with the No. 31 pick instead of another arm.