The Major League Baseball draft doesn’t receive as much fan fare as the amateur draft for the NFL and NBA. However, the MLB Amateur Draft introduces the baseball world to the next wave of stars. That’s just as evident with the 2013 MLB Draft a decade later.
Aaron Judge is the best player from the 2013 MLB Draft class, but the New York Yankees outfielder wasn’t even taken in the top 30 picks. Below, we’ll take you through the Round 1 2013 MLB Draft results, redraft the top picks and offer insight into where many of these players are now.
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Let’s first dive into our 2013 MLB Draft redraft for the top 30 picks. Below that, you can find a FAQ for the 2013 MLB Draft class about where some of the players are now.
Coming out of Fresno State, Aaron Judge was viewed as a top-50 talent in the 2013 MLB Draft but he didn’t seem to offer elite upside. In three seasons at Fresno State, Judge slashed .345/.451/.529 with a .980 OPS, hitting 18 home runs in 594 at-bats. While there’s no telling how Judge’s development would’ve been impacted by coming up in the Houston Astros organization, they do have an excellent track record in recent years. He wouldn’t have made his full-season MLB debut until 2017, so the Astros likely still draft Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker (2015). As for Houston’s original pick, Mark Appel, we’ll have more on him much later.
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The Chicago Cubs will happily take Kris Bryant in a do-over of the 2013 MLB Draft. At his peak, Bryant was one of the best players in baseball with four All-Star selections, an NL MVP (2016) and NL Rookie of the Year (2015). From 2015-’19, Bryant posted a .901 OPS with 138 home runs in 706 games. We’ve never seen him come close to matching that peak since, but the highs and a World Series ring easily merit replicating history for Chicago.
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Considering the other top-10 picks in the original 2013 MLB Draft, the Colorado Rockies did well with Jon Gray. However, Cody Bellinger is the superior option a decade later. Coming out of Chandler, Arizona, Bellinger became a two-time All-Star selection and NL MVP winner with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He’s never regained the form of the player who hit 111 home runs with a .928 OPS in his first 450 MLB games, but Bellinger remains an above-average everyday player today.
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The Minnesota Twins could go with a variety of options here, including Gray, Jeff McNeil and J.P. Crawford. A down 2023 season from Tim Anderson doesn’t look great right now, but let’s not forget he has the third-highest bWAR (16.9) from the 2013 MLB Draft class and his trophy case includes a Silver Slugger Award (2010), an AL batting title (2019) and a silver from the World Baseball Classic.
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The Cleveland Guardians would waste little time selecting Jeff McNeil in a redraft of the 2013 MLB Draft. McNeil boasts a .300/.364/.440 slash line in his first 2,145 career at-bats in the majors. He’s played quality defense in the middle infield, made the All-Star Game twice and was the MLB batting champion in 2022. All of that fits the Guardians’ model perfectly. Plus, McNeil goes more than 350 picks higher than he was originally taken.
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J.P. Crawford doesn’t have the flashiest major-league career, with no All-Star selections and a sub-.250 batting average. However, he’s a Gold Glove Award winner who played phenomenal defense at shortstop for six seasons and getting an everyday player out of the 2013 MLB Draft class has to be viewed as a win.
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The first pitcher in our 2013 MLB Draft redraft comes off the board. Jon Gray (4.40 career ERA) is slightly impacted by his poor numbers from Coors Field. In his last two seasons with the Texas Rangers, Gray has 209 strikeouts in 220 innings with a 3.68 ERA and 1.13 WHIP. He might not be an ace, but this class was already thin on pitching and Gray is by far the best of the bunch.
The path to success in the majors isn’t linear. Ryan McMahon’s first four seasons in the majors (.237/.318/.423, 82 OPS+) made him a below-average player and not worthy of going this high in the redraft. However, McMahon now has a .252/.332/.442 slash with a 101 OPS+ in his last three seasons with the Colorado Rockies. He seems to be improving and that pared with his tools merits a top-10 selection in a thin draft class.
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The Pittsburgh Pirates wanted a corner outfielder with some power in the original 2013 MLB Draft, they still get one a decade later. Hunter Renfroe has never hit for average, but he’s averaged 24 home runs and 60 RBI per season since 2018 and he’s capable of 30-homer seasons even at this stage of his career.
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Sean Manaea, Mike Yastrzemski and Tyler O’Neill all generate some consideration here. However, the opportunity to land an All-Star closer carries more weight for us. Tommy John surgery prevented Williams from becoming the starter the Milwaukee Brewers hoped for. However, they love a reliever with two All-Star selections and a 1.86 ERA with a .152 batting average allowed, 58 holds and 37 saves in 174 innings since the 2020 season.
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There’s a temptation here to take Manaea, but Tyler Mahle seems to be on a better trajectory for his future. Before undergoing Tommy John surgery, Mahle had a 3.16 ERA with a 1.05 WHIP in 2023 for the Minnesota Twins. He’s also responsible for a 3.90 ERA, 1.2 WHIP and 10.2 K/9 over his last 374 innings. The numbers could’ve been even better if he didn’t make so many starts at Great American Ballpark.
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Originally drafted in the 14th round of the 2013 MLB Draft by the Baltimore Orioles, it took a lot of time for Mike Yastrzemsk to find his place in the majors. He didn’t reach MLB until 2019, with the San Francisco Giants turning him into a reclamation project. We likely won’t ever see a repeat of that 2020 season when he made All-MLB Second Team – .968 OPS, .297 BA – but a .743 OPS with 155 RBI over the last three seasons demonstrates that Yastrzemski is still an effective player.
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Sean Manaea threw a no-hitter in 2018 and posted a combined 3.86 ERA with a 1.2 WHIP and a 50-41 record from 2016-’21 (727 innings). Unfortunately, it’s been all downhill since then. A 5.1 ERA and 1.32 WHIP in the last two years proves Manaea had a short shelf life, but the early year of his MLB career still makes him one of the best players from the 2013 draft class.
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This might still seem a little early for Jonah Heim, but we’re buying into the last two seasons of production with the Texas Rangers. From 2022-’23, Heim ranks fifth among catchers in FanGraphs’ Wins Above Replacement (6.0). He also has the fourth-most Total Runs Saved (15) over that span. If he can even maintain a .750-plus OPS (.816 at All-Star Break) in the years to come, Heim might become a top-10 player from this class.
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One might think a two-time Gold Glove Award winner (2020-’21) would go much higher in the redrafting of the 2013 MLB Draft class. It would make even more sense if you saw the hitter who posted a .912 OPS with 34 home runs in 2021. Unfortunately, outside of that 2021 campaign, O’Neill has a .218 batting average in his last four seasons. O’Neill’s strikeout issues are getting worse and with his defense also slipping, his value is now non-existent.
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While Michael Lorenzen hasn’t had much success in the majors as a starter, posting a 4.48 ERA across 313.2 innings. However, he’s been far more effective out of the bullpen (3.74 ERA, .238 BAA). The 6-foot-3 righty remains a valuable late-inning reliever to this day and you have to take on the safe bets at this point in the redraft.
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Danny Jansen didn’t reach the ceiling many thought he once had as a top prospect. However, the 6-foot-2 catcher has carved out a role in the majors and he’ll be around for a long time. Serving as a part-time catcher, Jansen boasts a career .731 OPS and he’s dependable behind the plate. Health won’t seem to let him become an every-day player, but you’ll gladly take the production he brings as a part-time contributor.
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Here’s where we have to start rolling the dice in the 2013 MLB Draft. It’s very possible the 2022 season (2.4 ERA, 0.92 WHIP was a complete outlier for Nestor Cortes. After all, he had a 6.72 ERA and 1.71 WHIP in his first 79 innings in the majors (2018-’20) and the early results in 2023 (5.16 ERA in 59.1 innings) were concerning. However, that 2.61 ERA and 6.6 H/9 in 251.1 innings from 2021-’22 is too tempting to pass on, especially for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The St. Louis Cardinals remake their pick from the 2013 MLB Draft, albeit with less excitement a decade later. Marco Gonzalez has delivered an unspectacular career, delivering some highs (3.99 ERA in 34 starts in 2019) with plenty of lows. He’s a back-end starter who eats innings, that works out just fine for St. Louis.
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Recurring injuries in the second half of his career have taken a toll on Mitch Garver, reducing the hitter he used to be. Let’s not forget the 2019 Silver Slugger Award winner and the backstop who produced a .845 OPS with 53 home runs and 51 doubles in 892 at-bats (2018-’21). Even now, Garver still gets on base (.340 OBP) and hits for power (117 OPS+).
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Mark Appel is no longer in professional baseball. He received a $6.35 million signing bonus from the Astros as the top pick in the 2013 MLB Draft. However, he struggled after being drafted. Appel posted a 5.12 ERA in 253 innings seasons in the minors with Houston.
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He was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies in December 2015, dealt with injuries, then retired from baseball at the age of 26 in 2016. Appel later unretired in 2021, making his MLB debut in 2022. After posting a 1.74 ERA in 10.1 innings, Appel didn’t make the team in spring training of 2023 and was released.
Clint Frazier currently plays baseball for the Chicago White Sox. Frazier, the fifth pick in the 2013 MLB Draft, has played for three MLB teams (Yankees, Cubs, White Sox) during his MLB career. He’s currently a reserve outfielder for the White Sox.
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Mark Appel was the first pick in the 2013 MLB Draft. However, he’s out of baseball one decade later and only threw 10 innings in the majors.
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Aaron Judge, Kris Bryant, Tim Anderson, Devin Williams, Jon Gray and Cody Bellinger are the best players from the 2013 MLB Draft today.