Date(s) June 3–4, 2003 | ||
First selection Delmon Young
Tampa Bay Devil Rays | ||
The 2003 First-Year Player Draft, Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft, was held on June 3 and 4. It was conducted via conference call with representatives from each of the league's 30 teams.
Contents
Source: MLB.com 2003 Draft Tracker
NFL players drafted
Background
The Tampa Bay Devil Rays selected Camarillo High School outfielder Delmon Young with the first overall pick.
Young (6-3, 205 pounds) batted .541 (33-for-61) with seven home runs, 28 RBI in 22 games as a senior this spring for Camarillo. He was named Baseball America's High School Player of the Year in 2002 and was one of only three juniors selected as first team 2002 All-Americans. He became the first junior to be named California State Player of the Year since Eric Chavez in 1995.
At the World Junior Championships in Sherbrooke, Quebec, he helped lead Team USA to a bronze medal while batting .513 with a tournament-record eight home runs and 19 RBI in 38 at-bats.
Young is the younger brother of retired MLB player Dmitri Young, who was an expansion draft pick of the Rays, but never played in the organization. They became the first set of brothers to be taken within the first five selections of the draft. Dmitri was the 4th player selected by the Cardinals in the 1991 draft.
Pitchers Ryan Wagner (Cincinnati), Chad Cordero (Montreal), David Aardsma (San Francisco) and infielder Rickie Weeks (Milwaukee) all reached the Major League level in less than a year.
Chad Cordero was the first 2003 draftee to be selected to an All-Star Game, selected in 2005. Abe Alvarez, drafted in the 2nd round, was the first 2003 draftee to win a World Series championship, although he was not on the 2004 Boston Red Sox postseason roster. Anthony Reyes, drafted in the 15th round, was the first to be on a winning World Series roster.
The Atlanta Braves selected Rick Sporcic SS Highlands HS (PA) Round 50 Draft #1480 with the final pick of the 2003 MLB Draft. 2x Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the forty-eighth round(1,408 pick)