Kansas City Royals: Best fourth overall picks in MLB history
Kansas City Royals: Best Fourth Overall Picks
New York Mets. Jon Matlack. 6. player. 3. . Pitcher
Jon Matlack was the fourth overall pick in the 1967 MLB Draft, getting picked by the New York Mets where he spent the first seven years of his career. Matlack made his pitching debut in 1971 at the age of 21 and had an impressive rookie season in 1972, earning him the Rookie of the Year title.
Matlack threw 244 innings of work through 34 starts and finished the year with an ERA of 2.32. He also had 15 wins that year.
From 1973-1975, Matlack was on quite the dominant streak, making it to the All-Star Game all three seasons. Two of those seasons saw Matlack record an ERA under three and he even locked down an All-Star Game MVP during that time.
While Matlack didn’t finish his career in the Big Apple, he spent the final six years of his career with the Texas Rangers before calling it a career. He had an average ERA of 3.18 over a 13-season span and splitting that time between two teams.
player. 76. . Catcher. Milwaukee Brewers. Darrell Porter. 5
Kansas City Royals fans might recognize this name, as Darrell Porter found his way to Kansas City from 1977-1980. Prior to that, he was the fourth overall pick by the Milwaukee Brewers in 1970, where he spent the first six years of his career.
Porter wasn’t great with the Brewers, which is likely why they were okay with him departing. The Royals was where Porter jumpstarted his career, batting .271 throughout those four years and smashing 61 home runs with 301 RBI. Porter made the All-Star Game in three of his four seasons with the Royals.
Porter won a World Series title with the Cardinals in 1982, earning both the NLCS MVP and World Series MVP honors after batting a whopping .556 in the NLCS and .286 in the World Series. Porter had a 17-year career that he spent with four different teams and he’s without a doubt one of the best fourth overall picks.