A Draft List Which Probably Teaches Us Nothing

I was all set to do this by hand, but Baseball Reference, the greatest invention since instant pudding and the elevator, has done the heavy lifting. Here's a list of no great significance, yet it means the world to us:

Players drafted with the number 6 pick (31 of 42 made the majors) You can view their career stats off that link.

Hey there, GREAT pickin'! 7 total
Rocco Baldelli, 2000
Derek Jeter, 1992
Gary Sheffield, 1986
Barry Bonds, 1985
Andy Van Slyke, 1979
Terry Kennedy, 1977
John Mayberry, 1967

Useful Regulars, 9 total
Zach Greinke, 2002
Derek Lilliquist, 1987
Spike Owen, 1982
Kevin McReynolds, 1981
Darnell Coles, 1980
Ken Landreaux, 1976
Johnnie Lemaster, 1973
Mike Anderson, 1969
Tom Grieve, 1966

Cups of Coffee and Part-Timers, 13 total
Seth Greisenger, 1996
McCay Christenson, 1994
Steve Soderstrom, 1993
John Burke, 1991
Marc Newfield, 1990
Monty Fariss, 1988
Erik Pappas, 1984
Butch Benton, 1975
Butch Edge, 1974
Dan Thomas, 1972
Roy Thomas, 1971
Lee Richard, 1970
Rick James, 1965

Still "prospects" (4, 2 have made the majors)
Andrew Miller, 2006
Ricardo Romero, 2005
Jeremy Sowers, 2004
Ryan Harvey, 2003

Never Made It (# = drafted by Nats), 9 total
Josh Karp, 2001 #
Josh Girdley, 1999 #
Ryan Mills, 1998
Geoff Goetz, 1997
Jaime Jones, 1995
Paul Coleman, 1989
Jackie Davidson, 1983
Tito Nanni, 1978
Robert Weaver, 1968

All-in-all, teams have had pretty good success with that pick. If you take out the lean Montreal years, only 9 of the 40 players never made the majors, and 7 of them had long and useful careers, with 2 sure Hall of Famers. All together, 16 of the 42 players can be deemed successes, with the potential for four more depending on how the last few years drafts turn out.

In short, with a strong scouting department and a little bit of luck, the #6 pick isn't a bad place to be.

UPDATE: Proving that sub-standard minds sometimes come across random but similar thoughts, NFA does the same thing, but he includes breakdowns of pitcher versus hitter and college versus high school. Check it out.