Kansas City Royals: Best fourth overall picks in MLB history
Kansas City Royals: Best Fourth Overall Picks
126. . Pitcher. Texas Rangers. Kevin Brown. 4. player
The Rangers took Kevin Brown fourth overall in the 1986 MLB Draft and he went on to have a lengthy career, spanning over 19 seasons and pitching for six different major league teams. He made his debut for the Rangers at the age of 21 and pitched for them for the next six years and made it to his first All-Star Game in 1992.
Brown made it to five more All-Star games after that (1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2003) and earned the ERA Title twice in his career. In 1996, Brown was in his first year with the Marlins and started 32 games while throwing 233 innings and finishing the season with an eye popping 1.89 ERA.
The next year, Brown helped lead the Marlins to a World Series title despite not having a great outing in the postseason. He did have a nice regular season though, twirling 237.1 innings of work, good for a 2.69 ERA.
Brown pitched in the majors for 19 seasons and is definitely one of the best to ever get picked fourth overall.
Thurman Munson. 3. player. 43. . Catcher. New York Yankees
The Yankees took Thurman Munson fourth overall in the 1968 MLB Draft and he spent 11 years with the Yankees before he tragically died during the 1979 season. Munson debuted at age 22 and had a terrific rookie season in 1970 where he slashed .302/.386/.415 in 453 at bats and he received the Rookie of the Year title for these efforts.
Munson was a seven-time All-Star, three-time Gold Glove recipient, league MVP in 1976, and won two World Series during his 11-year career with the Yankees. He was in the midst of yet another incredible season in 1979 before he died in a plane crash.
His career average was a .292 batting average and he hit 113 home runs and 701 RBI during that time. Imagine how much greater those numbers would have been had Munson not died at the young age of 32. What a tragedy.