The best No. 2 Draft picks of all time

July 6th, 2023

The No. 1 overall pick in the Draft gets the fanfare, and there have been plenty of great ones, from Ken Griffey Jr. to Bryce Harper. But what about the players who get picked second?

These are the best players drafted No. 2 overall.

Up-and-comers who were picked second like Bobby Witt Jr. and Hunter Greene might join this list soon enough. The same goes for recent No. 2 picks who are now top prospects like Druw Jones, Jack Leiter and Heston Kjerstad. Or maybe this year's No. 2 Draft pick will be the next great star.

Here are the top 10 players taken No. 2 overall in the MLB Draft.

1) Reggie Jackson -- A's, 1966
No. 1 pick in 1966: Steve Chilcott, Mets

There's only one Hall of Famer (for now) to come out of the No. 2 slot in the Draft: Mr. October.

A 20-year-old Jackson was taken by the Kansas City A's in 1966, just the second MLB Draft ever. He'd go on to win an MVP Award and three World Series with the 1970s A's dynasty, which began after the franchise moved to Oakland. And he cemented his postseason legacy with the Yankees, winning two more championships in the late '70s, capped by his legendary three-home run game in the 1977 World Series clincher. After hitting 563 home runs (plus 18 more in the playoffs) and winning five championships in a 21-year career, Jackson was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1993.

2) Justin Verlander -- Tigers, 2004
No. 1 pick in 2004: Matt Bush, Padres

Verlander is headed toward the Hall of Fame himself. He's easily the best pitcher ever drafted No. 2 overall, and when all is said and done, he might be the best player, period.

The Tigers snapped up Verlander out of Old Dominion in 2004, and he was great from the start -- in his first full season in 2006, he won the American League Rookie of the Year Award and led Detroit to a World Series appearance. That was just the beginning. Verlander is now a three-time Cy Young Award winner, an MVP, a Triple Crown winner, a nine-time All-Star, a two-time World Series champion and a member of the 3,000 strikeout club.

3) Will Clark -- Giants, 1985
No. 1 pick in 1985: B.J. Surhoff, Brewers

The first round of the 1985 Draft produced some premier players: Clark went to the Giants at No. 2, Barry Larkin to the Reds at No. 4, Barry Bonds to the Pirates at No. 6 and Rafael Palmeiro to the Cubs at No. 22. After being drafted, Clark starred at first base for San Francisco for the better part of a decade. He homered off Nolan Ryan in his very first MLB at-bat, made five straight All-Star teams, won a Gold Glove and two Silver Slugger Awards and finished in the top five in NL MVP voting four times. Clark retired with a .303 career batting average, 2,176 hits and 284 home runs over 15 big league seasons.

4) Josh Beckett -- Marlins, 1999
No. 1 pick in 1999: Josh Hamilton, Rays

Beckett was plenty good in the regular season, but his legacy is that he's one of the great postseason pitchers of all time. He was at the heart of the Marlins' quick rebuild into second-time World Series champions in 2003 -- Beckett was named the MVP of the Fall Classic after pitching a five-hit shutout against the Yankees in the Marlins' clinching Game 6 win. Beckett won another World Series in 2007 with the Red Sox (also finishing as the AL Cy Young runner-up that year), and in his career he went 7-3 with a 3.07 ERA and 99 strikeouts in 14 postseason games.

5) Joe Carter -- Cubs, 1981
No. 1 pick in 1981: Mike Moore, Mariners

Carter is another postseason legend to come out of the No. 2 spot ... but it was for the Blue Jays, not the team that drafted Carter. It actually took Carter three blockbuster trades to get to Toronto. First, he was dealt to the Guardians in 1984 in the trade that netted the Cubs Rick Sutcliffe. He was traded again to the Padres in 1989 in the deal that got Cleveland Sandy Alomar. And finally he was traded a third time from San Diego to the Blue Jays in 1990, along with Roberto Alomar, for Tony Fernandez and Fred McGriff.

In Toronto, Carter became a five-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger who helped the Jays win back-to-back World Series in 1992 and '93. His World Series-winning walk-off home run in Game 6 in 1993 is one of the most memorable Fall Classic moments of all time. Carter finished his career with 396 home runs and 1,445 RBIs.

6) Kris Bryant -- Cubs, 2013
No. 1 pick in 2013: Mark Appel, Astros

Bryant had crushed the ball all year as a college junior at San Diego, leading the nation with 31 homers. But the Astros took Appel with the first pick in the Draft, leaving Bryant for the Cubs at No. 2. He quickly emerged as one of the faces of the franchise, winning the 2015 NL Rookie of the Year Award and the 2016 NL MVP Award.

But his biggest contribution was leading the Cubs to the 2016 World Series championship that shattered the franchise's 108-year drought. Bryant hit two home runs in the Fall Classic, and, fittingly, the final out in Game 7 went from Bryant at third base to Anthony Rizzo at first.

7) Alex Bregman -- Astros, 2015
No. 1 pick in 2015: Dansby Swanson, Braves

Bregman was a key part of the core of homegrown stars who blossomed together in Houston and brought the Astros their first World Series title in 2017 -- there was Bregman, George Springer, Carlos Correa and Jose Altuve. The Astros landed Bregman with a Draft pick they received as compensation for being unable to sign No. 1 overall pick Brady Aiken the year before, and Bregman turned into everything Houston could have hoped for and more.

Bregman broke out as one of the AL's best players in 2018, hitting 31 homers and 51 doubles and finishing fifth in MVP voting, and he was even better in 2019, batting .296 with 41 homers and 112 RBIs and finishing as the MVP runner-up. He's a two-time All-Star, a Silver Slugger and a two-time World Series champion.

8) Alex Gordon -- Royals, 2005
No. 1 pick in 2005: Justin Upton, D-backs

Gordon was a career Royal, spending all 14 years of his Major League career in Kansas City and 16 total years with the franchise going back to when the Royals drafted him in 2005. He came a long way from his struggles in his early years in Kansas City -- for a long while, Gordon was thought of as a bust. But starting with his breakout season in 2011, Gordon made three All-Star teams, won eight Gold Gloves in left field and in 2015 helped lead the Royals to their first World Series championship since 1985.

9) Mark Mulder -- A's, 1998
No. 1 pick in 1998: Pat Burrell, Phillies

Mulder helped anchor the fearsome A's starting rotations of the early 2000s along with Tim Hudson and Barry Zito -- a trio of homegrown aces, with Zito being drafted ninth overall by Oakland in 1999 and Hudson taken in the sixth round in 1997. Mulder was a two-time All-Star with the A's, and the left-hander finished as the AL Cy Young runner-up in 2001 after going 21-8 with a 3.45 ERA in 229 1/3 innings. Mulder also had a 2.34 ERA in seven career postseason starts.

10) J.R. Richard -- Astros, 1969 
No. 1 pick in 1969: Jeff Burroughs, Rangers 

Richard was one of the most dominant pitchers in the National League at his peak. He posted back-to-back 300-strikeout seasons for Houston in 1978 and '79, leading the Majors in K's both years, and won the 1979 MLB ERA title at 2.71. Richard was named an All-Star in 1980 and was the NL's All-Star Game starting pitcher. Sadly, that was one of the final games Richard would pitch, as he suffered a stroke during pregame warmups on July 30 that cut his career short. Houston inducted him into the Astros Hall of Fame as part of the inaugural class of 2019.

How electric was Richard? When asked who was the toughest pitcher to get a hit off of, two-time MVP Dale Murphy once commented: "Anybody that played in the late '70s or early '80s will probably give you the same answer: J.R. Richard."

Honorable mention: J.D. Drew -- Phillies, 1997

Drew was drafted No. 2 overall by the Phillies out of Florida State -- but he didn't sign. The Phillies didn't want to meet Drew and agent Scott Boras' contract demands, and Drew ended up going to play for the independent league St. Paul Saints. Drew re-entered the Draft in 1998 and was taken fifth overall by the Cardinals. He went on to play a 14-year career that included one All-Star nod and a World Series win with the Red Sox in 2007.