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1996 Major League Baseball draft

Baseball draft of amateur players

The 1996 Major League Baseball draft was an annual choosing of high school and college baseball players that was held on June 4 and 5, 1996. A total of 1740 players were drafted over the course of 100 rounds.

This is the only draft to last 100 rounds. The last player taken was outfielder Aron Amundson, drafted by the New York Yankees in the 100th round.

This draft is also notable because a record four first-round draft picks were not offered contracts by the teams that drafted them and subsequently became free agents. Under Major League Baseball's Collective Bargaining Agreement, the teams had been required to offer a written contract within fifteen days of the draft, but that rule had been ignored for decades prior to this draft. Agent Scott Boras challenged the White Sox on their lack of an offered contract for Bobby Seay and filed grievances on behalf of John Patterson and Matt White. Travis Lee's advisers followed suit.

01First round selections

Pick Player Team Position School
1 Kris Benson Pittsburgh Pirates P Clemson
2 Travis Lee Minnesota Twins 1B San Diego State
3 Braden Looper St. Louis Cardinals P Wichita State
4 Billy Koch Toronto Blue Jays P Clemson
5 John Patterson Montreal Expos P West Orange Stark HS (TX)
6 Seth Greisinger Detroit Tigers P Virginia
7 Matt White San Francisco Giants P Waynesboro Area HS (PA)
8 Chad Green Milwaukee Brewers OF Kentucky
9 Mark Kotsay Florida Marlins OF Cal State Fullerton
10 Eric Chavez Oakland Athletics 3B Mount Carmel HS (CA)
11 Adam Eaton Philadelphia Phillies P Snohomish HS (WA)
12 Bobby Seay Chicago White Sox P Sarasota HS (FL)
13 Rob Stratton New York Mets OF San Marcos HS (CA)
14 Dermal Brown Kansas City Royals OF Marlboro Central HS (NY)
15 Matt Halloran San Diego Padres SS Chancellor HS (VA)
16 Joe Lawrence Toronto Blue Jays SS Barbe HS (LA)
17 Todd Noel Chicago Cubs P North Vermillion HS (LA)
18 R. A. Dickey Texas Rangers P Tennessee
19 Mark Johnson Houston Astros P Hawaii
20 Eric Milton New York Yankees P Maryland
21 Jake Westbrook Colorado Rockies P Madison County HS (GA)
22 Gil Meche Seattle Mariners P Acadiana HS (LA)
23 Damian Rolls Los Angeles Dodgers 3B Schlagle HS (KS)
24 Sam Marsonek Texas Rangers P Jesuit HS (FL)
25 John Oliver Cincinnati Reds OF Lake-Lehman HS (PA)
26 Josh Garrett Boston Red Sox P South Spencer HS (IN)
27 A.J. Zapp Atlanta Braves 1B Center Grove HS (IN)
28 Danny Peoples Cleveland Indians 1B Texas
29 Paul Wilder Tampa Bay Devil Rays OF Cary HS (NC)
30 Nick Bierbrodt Arizona Diamondbacks P Millikan HS (CA)

02Supplemental first round selections

03Other notable players

NFL player drafted

Watch videos about 1996 Major League Baseball draftExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article 1996 Major League Baseball draft, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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