Rays Former No. 1 Overall Pick Receives Unwanted Honor From Former MLB Executive

A former MLB executive was surprised by how a former Tampa Bay Rays No. 1 overall pick performed in his career.

Jun 20, 2007; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Tampa Bay Devil Rays center fielder (26) Delmon Young against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Throughout the history of their franchise, the Tampa Bay Rays have had the No. 1 overall pick four times.

The first time, in 1999, they selected outfielder Josh Hamilton out of Athens Drive High School in Raleigh, North Carolina. In 2003, it was outfielder Delmon Young out of Adolfo Camarillo High School in Camarillo, California.

Back-to-back years in 2007 and 2008, they used the top pick in the draft on starting pitcher David Price out of Vanderbilt University and shortstop Tim Beckham out of Griffin High School in Griffin, Georgia.

Price was the most productive out of the four, with a 40.2 WAR in his career. Hamilton had off-field issues after the Rays selected him, but eventually realized his potential with the Texas Rangers, winning the MVP in 2010 and going to the All-Star game five straight years.

That is the kind of potential that Young possessed, the younger brother of longtime MLB veteran, Dimitri Young.

From 2004-2007, he was considered a top-three prospect in the sport, reaching the No. 1 spot in 2006 at Baseball America. It was warranted, as he produced at every level of the minor leagues before making his MLB debut on Aug. 29, 2006.

In Single-A Charleston, he had a .322/.388/.538 slash line across 578 plate appearances. In 2005, he had a .315/.354/.527 slash line with 26 home runs, 26 doubles and seven triples, knocking in 99 runs between Double-A Montgomery and Triple-A Durham.

86 more games were played at Durham in 2006 before he was called up to the Major Leagues. However, he never quite lived up to the sky-high expectations that were placed on him given his incredible skill set and being the No. 1 pick.

In the opinion of Jim Bowden of The Athletic (subscription required), Young is the best prospect that he has seen who failed to meet his potential.

“When Delmon Young was drafted, I thought he could become a middle-of-the-order impact bat. It just never materialized,” the former MLB executive wrote.

He didn’t make an All-Star game in his career, but he did produce a slash line of .283/.316/.421 across 1,118 games and 4,371 plate appearances.

Young finished 10th in the MVP voting in 2010 when he recorded career highs with 21 home runs, 46 doubles and 112 RBI.

In 2012, with the Detroit Tigers, he was named the ALCS MVP when he had a .353/.421/.765 slash line with two home runs and six RBI in a four-game sweep of the New York Yankees.