1985 Major League Baseball draft

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The 1985 Major League Baseball draft took place in June 1985. The draft saw the Milwaukee Brewers select B. J. Surhoff first overall. Also picked in the first round were future stars Barry Bonds, Barry Larkin and Rafael Palmeiro.

1985 Major League Baseball draft
General information
Date(s)June 1985
Overview
832 total selections
First selectionB. J. Surhoff
Milwaukee Brewers
First round selections28
Hall of Famers
← 1984
1986 →

First round draft picks

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The San Francisco Giants selected Will Clark second overall. The 6x All-Star won the 1991 Gold Glove Award at first base, two Silver Slugger Awards at first base, and had his No 22 Retired by the Giants.
 
The Cincinnati Reds selected Barry Larkin fourth overall. Larkin is a 12x All-Star, 9x Silver Slugger at shortstop, 3x Gold Glove winner at shortstop, and the 1995 National League Most Valuable Player Award. The National Baseball Hall of Fame inducted Larkin as a member in 2012.
 
The Pittsburgh Pirates selected Barry Bonds sixth overall. Bonds is a 7x National League MVP, and the Single-season home run leader and all-time home run leader.
 
The Chicago Cubs selected Rafael Palmeiro 22nd overall. Palmeiro is a 4x All-Star, 3x Gold Glove winner at first base, 2x Silver Slugger (one at first base and one at DH), and a member of the 500 home run club.

The following are the first round picks in the 1985 Major League Baseball draft.[1]

= All-Star = Baseball Hall of Famer
Pick Player Team Position School
1 B.J. Surhoff Milwaukee Brewers C North Carolina
2 Will Clark San Francisco Giants 1B Mississippi State
3 Bobby Witt Texas Rangers RHP Oklahoma
4 Barry Larkin Cincinnati Reds SS Michigan
5 Kurt Brown Chicago White Sox C Glendora High School (CA)
6 Barry Bonds Pittsburgh Pirates OF Arizona State
7 Mike Campbell Seattle Mariners RHP Hawaii
8 Pete Incaviglia Montreal Expos OF Oklahoma State
9 Mike Poehl Cleveland Indians RHP Texas
10 Chris Gwynn Los Angeles Dodgers OF San Diego State
11 Walt Weiss Oakland Athletics SS North Carolina
12 Cameron Drew Houston Astros OF University of New Haven
13 Jeff Bumgarner Minnesota Twins RHP Hanford High School (WA)
14 Tommy Greene Atlanta Braves RHP Whiteville High School (NC)
15 Willie Fraser California Angels RHP Concordia College
16 Trey McCall Philadelphia Phillies C Abingdon High School (VA)
17 Brian McRae Kansas City Royals SS Manatee High School (FL)
18 Joe Magrane St. Louis Cardinals LHP Arizona
19 Mike Cook California Angels RHP South Carolina
20 Gregg Jefferies New York Mets SS Junipero Serra High School (CA)
21 Dan Gabriele Boston Red Sox RHP Western High School (MI)
22 Rafael Palmeiro Chicago Cubs OF Mississippi State
23 Joey Cora San Diego Padres SS Vanderbilt
24 Dave Masters Chicago Cubs RHP California
25 Greg David Toronto Blue Jays OF Barron Collier High School (FL)
26 Randy Nosek Detroit Tigers RHP Chillicothe High School (MO)

Supplemental First Round Selections

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Pick Player Team Position Hometown/School
27 Bill McGuire Seattle Mariners C Nebraska
28 Rick Balabon New York Yankees RHP Berwyn, Pennsylvania

[2]

Background

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Six of the first eight draft picks from the June regular phase had at least one full year of major league experience prior to the start of the 1987 season. Included in that list were B.J. Surhoff (Milwaukee), the draft's number one pick, Will Clark (San Francisco), Bobby Witt (Texas), Barry Larkin (Cincinnati), Pete Incaviglia (Montreal) and Barry Bonds (Pittsburgh).

Incaviglia was selected eighth overall by the Expos, but was unable to reach a contract and was traded to Texas. He made his major league debut on Opening Day 1986 as the Rangers' left fielder, becoming just the 15th drafted player to go directly to the majors.[3]

As of 2017, this year's draft class has accumulated the highest Baseball-Reference Wins Above Replacement total of any class in the draft's history.[4]

Other notable players

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The Montreal Expos selected Randy Johnson in the second round. Johnson is a 5x Cy Young Award winner and finished his career second in all-time strikeouts. The National Baseball Hall of Fame inducted Johnson as a member in 2015.
 
The Detroit Tigers selected John Smoltz in the 22nd round. Smoltz is a 8x All-Star, the 1996 Cy Young Award winner, and member of the 3,000 strikeout club. The National Baseball Hall of Fame inducted Smoltz as a member in 2015.

† All-Star
‡ Hall of Famer

NFL/NBA players drafted

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References

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  1. ^ "MLB First Round Draft Picks - 1985". Retrieved April 4, 2008.
  2. ^ Baseball-Reference.com Draft Database
  3. ^ "Background on the 1985 MLB Draft". Archived from the original on April 2, 2008. Retrieved April 4, 2008.
  4. ^ "Amateur Draft". www.thebaseballgauge.com. Archived from the original on November 5, 2019. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
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Preceded by 1st Overall Picks
B.J. Surhoff
Succeeded by