Wednesday was quite the day for former No. 1 overall Draft picks.
Bryce Harper (No. 1 pick in 2010), Jackson Holliday (2022), Spencer Torkelson (2020), Mickey Moniak (2016) and Henry Davis (2021) each hit home runs. If that sounds like it¡¯s rare, it¡¯s because it is.
This was just the sixth time since the MLB Draft began in 1965 that five or more former No. 1 picks went yard on the same day. We hadn¡¯t seen such an occurrence in roughly 16 years, when Pat Burrell, Ken Griffey Jr., Josh Hamilton, Joe Mauer and Alex Rodriguez hit home runs on Aug. 7, 2009.
Just to put that in perspective, Harper -- one of the five No. 1 picks to homer on Wednesday -- had famously graced the Sports Illustrated cover as ¡°Baseball¡¯s Chosen One¡± a few months before the last occurrence of five No. 1 Draft picks homering on the same day.
Wednesday¡¯s outbreak of home runs from top picks fell just short of the record of six, which has occurred twice -- on May 26, 1999 and April 7, 1998. Here are the past five times that we¡¯ve seen this:
6 players
May 26, 1999: Harold Baines, Shawon Dunston, Griffey, Chipper Jones, Phil Nevin, Rodriguez
April 7, 1998: Darin Erstad, Jones, Jeff King, Nevin, Rodriguez, Darryl Strawberry
5 players
Aug. 7, 2009: Burrell, Griffey, Hamilton, Mauer, Rodriguez
Sept, 7, 2007: Burrell, Griffey, Hamilton, Jones, Rodriguez
April 15, 1998: Erstad, Jones, Nevin, Strawberry, B.J. Surhoff
While it was a long wait between these rare feats, there is plenty of star power in the form of No. 1 picks who could potentially make this happen again soon.
Beyond the aforementioned five players who homered on Wednesday, the list of active No. 1 picks also includes Adley Rutschman, Royce Lewis, Dansby Swanson and Carlos Correa and will likely add 2024 No. 1 pick Travis Bazzana to the mix soon.