1978 Amateur Draft

The 1978 Amateur Draft was the first to use compensation picks to reward teams who had lost top players to free agency. Four teams surrendered their first-round pick to another team after signing a top free agent. Ironically, the New York Yankees, who were known for their profligate ways in signing free agents, were the main beneficiaries of the rule, getting an extra two picks in the process.

1978 First Round Picks

Pick	Team	Player	Position	School (Type)	Hometown	Notes
1	Atlanta Braves	Bob Horner	3B	Arizona State University (Col.)	Junction City, KS
2	Toronto Blue Jays	Lloyd Moseby	1B	Oakland High School (HS)	Oakland, CA
3	New York Mets	Hubie Brooks	SS	Arizona State University (Col.)	Los Angeles, CA
4	Oakland Athletics	Mike Morgan	RHP	Valley High School (HS)	Las Vegas, NV
5	San Diego Padres	Andy Hawkins	RHP	Midway High School (HS)	Waco, TX
6	Seattle Mariners	Tito Nanni	OF	Chestnut Hill Academy High School (HS)	Philadelphia, PA
7	San Francisco Giants	Bob Cummings	C	Brother Rice High School (HS)	Chicago, IL
8	Milwaukee Brewers	Nick Hernandez	C	Hialeah High School (HS)	Hialeah, FL
9	Montreal Expos	Glen Franklin	SS	Chipola Junior College (Col.)	[[]]
10	Cleveland Indians	Phil Lansford	SS	Wilcox High School (HS)	Santa Clara, CA
11	Houston Astros	Rod Boxberger	RHP	University of Southern California (Col.)	[[]]
12	Detroit Tigers	Kirk Gibson	OF	Michigan State University (Col.)	Pontiac, MI
13	Chicago Cubs	Bill Hayes	C	Indiana State University (Col.)	Cheverly, MD
14	California Angels	Tom Brunansky	OF	West Covina High School (HS)	West Covina, CA
15	St. Louis Cardinals	Bob Hicks	1B	Tate High School (HS)	Pensacola, FL
16	Minnesota Twins	Lenny Faedo	SS	Jefferson High School (HS)	Tampa, FL
17	Cincinnati Reds	Nick Esasky	SS	Miami Carol City High School (HS)	Carol City, FL
18	New York Yankees	Rex Hudler	SS	Bullard High School (HS)	Fresno, CA	Compensation from the Chicago White Sox for Ron Blomberg
19	Pittsburgh Pirates	Brad Garnett	1B	DeSoto High School (HS)	DeSoto, TX
20	Oakland Athletics	Tim Conroy	LHP	Gateway High School (HS)	Monroeville, PA	Compensation from Texas Rangers for Mike Jorgensen
21	Pittsburgh Pirates	Gerry Aubin	OF	Dougherty High School (HS)	Albany, GA	Compensation from Los Angeles Dodgers for Terry Forster
22	Baltimore Orioles	Robert Boyce	3B	Deer Park High School (HS)	Cincinnati, OH
23	Philadelphia Phillies	Rip Rollins	1B-RHP	Allegheny High School (HS)	Sparta, NC
24	New York Yankees	Matt Winters	OF	Williamsville High School (HS)	Williamsville, NY	Compensation from Boston Red Sox for Mike Torrez
25	Kansas City Royals	Buddy Biancalana	SS	Redwood High School (HS)	Greenbrae, CA
26	New York Yankees	Brian Ryder	RHP	Shrewsbury High School (HS)	Shrewsbury, MA

January 1978 amateur draft

Pick	Team	Player	Position	School (Type)	Hometown	Notes
1	Toronto Blue Jays	Mike Lebo	C	University of South Carolina (Coll.)	Middletown, PA
2	Atlanta Braves	Joe Housey	RHP	Miami-Dade College (Coll.)	Hollywood, FL	Did not sign
3	Oakland Athletics	David Grier	RHP	Valencia Community College	Saverna Park, MD	Did not sign
4	New York Mets	Gerald Miller	1B	Des Moines Area Community College (Col.)	Milwaukee, WI	Did not sign
5	Seattle Mariners	Jim Maler	1B	Miami-Dade College (Col)	Miami, FL

Other Notable Selections

Mel Hall, Cal Ripken (2nd round); Steve Bedrosian, Mike Witt (3rd round); Rob Deer (4th round); Dave Stieb (5th round); Mike Boddicker, Mike Marshall (6th round); Charlie Leibrandt, Steve Sax (9th round); Gerald Perry (11th round); Gary Redus (15th round); Kent Hrbek (17th round); Eric Show (18th round); Ryne Sandberg (20th round); Vance Law (39th round); Jesse Orosco (2nd round, January); Doug Jones (3rd round, January); Tony Phillips (secondary phase, January)

Notes

First overall pick Bob Horner, #4 pick Mike Morgan and #20 pick Tim Conroy went straight to the majors with the teams that drafted them, bypassing the minor leagues. Morgan mde his debut on June 11th, Horner followed him on June 18th and Conroy on June 23rd. Following an outstanding college career, Horner was ready to make the jump and went on to be the 1978 National League Rookie of the Year in spite of missing the first two and a half months of the season, but things did not go so well for Morgan or Conroy. Their presence in the big leagues was due to Oakland owner Charlie O. Finley looking to draw publicity for his struggling club, and the high schoolers, while obviously highly talented, were clearly not ready to pitch at such a high level. Morgan managed to stay in the bigs for the remainder of the season in spite of some mediocre numbers, then struggled for a number of seasons and spent significant time in the minors before finally establishing himself as a solid major leaguer at the end of the 1980s. For his part, Conroy was sent down to the minors after a couple of poor starts, not to return to Oakland until the end of the 1982 season.

In a bizarre development, catcher Brian Milner, who was a 7th round selection out of high school by the Toronto Blue Jays also made his debut in the majors, on the same day as Conroy. In his case, it seems that the Blue Jays had invited him to work out with the major league team after signing him, prior to assigning him to a minor league affiliate. However, when an injury opened up a spot on the major league roster, he was asked to fill in. After just 2 games (in which he managed to go 4 for 9), he was sent all the way down to the Pioneer League - an appropriate level given his age and experience - and he never made it back to the Show.

It was not a particularly strong draft year in spite of the above. 12 of the 26 first-round picks, including every pick from #6 to #11, failed to play even a single game in the majors and a couple others were mere cup of coffee players.