Let’s look back at the players picked 38th overall in baseball’s amateur draft.
The Mets have made the 38th overall pick four times in franchise history. In 1971, the 38th overall pick came in the second round and the Mets selected second baseman James “Jim” Kidder. In 1973, the 38th overall pick came in the second round and the Mets selected right-handed pitcher Jackson Todd. In 1981, the 38th overall pick came in the second round and the Mets selected outfielder John Christensen. In 2001, the 38th overall pick came in the supplemental first round and the Mets selected a third baseman from David Wright.
James “Jim” Kidder (1971)
Kidder attended John Jay High School in San Antonio, Texas prior to being drafted by the Mets. After being drafted, he spent the rest of the 1971 season with the Marion Mets, the organization’s Rookie-level Appalachian League affiliate. Primarily playing second base but occasionally getting some time in at shortstop, third base, and the outfield, Kidder steadily rose up the Mets’ minor league ladder. In 1972, he played for the Batavia Trojans, the Mets’ Short-A New York-Penn League affiliate. In 1973, he played for the Pompano Beach Mets, the organization’s Low-A Florida State League affiliate. In 1974, he played for the Peninsula Pennants, a co-op Low-A Carolina League team that the Mets supplied players for, in addition to the Atlanta Braves, Texas Rangers, Minnesota Twins, and Chicago Cubs. In 1975, he played for the Jackson Mets, the organization’s Double-A Texas League affiliate. In 1976, he split the season with the Jackson Mets, but also played with the Tidewater Tides, the Mets’ Triple-A International League affiliate.
In 1977, he left the organization and joined the Pittsburgh Pirates. He played for their Double-A farm team, the Shreveport Captains, for two years in 1977 and 1978 and then retired from baseball at the age of 24. All in all, over the eight season he played in affiliated ball, from Rookie-level all the way to Triple-A, he was a cumulative .254/.324/332 hitter in 581 games. His best season overall was in 1977, when he hit .292/.407/.393 for the Captains in 81 games with 7 doubles, 6 home runs, 5 stolen bases in 9 attempts, and 48 walks to 50 strikeouts. His best season with the Mets came in 1975, when he hit .264/.324/.342 for the Jackson Mets in 88 games with 15 doubles, 3 triples, 2 home runs, and 30 walks to 36 strikeouts.
Jackson Todd (1973)
Before being drafted by the Mets, Jackson Todd was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the 11th round of the 1970 MLB Draft, the 266th player selected overall. The Will Rogers High School graduate elected to attend the University of Oklahoma instead of going professional and turned the Cubs down. Todd developed into a reliable workhorse for the Sooners, and his 13 complete games remain a university record to this day. In 1973, eligible to be drafted again, he was selected by the Mets and signed with the organization.
Todd was immediately sent to the Double-A level and spent the next three years there, playing for the Memphis Blues in 1973, the Victoria Toros in 1974, and the Jackson Mets in 1975. His 1975 was particularly memorable, as he was diagnosed with stage three lymphatic cancer prior to the start of the season. He underwent chemotherapy, beat cancer, and was still somehow able to return to the mound and pitch 54.0 solid innings of baseball. In 1976, he was promoted to the Tidewater Tides, the Mets’ Triple-A International League affiliate. He pitched well in Triple-A, and not long after the 1977 season began, the right-hander received a call to the major leagues. The right-hander threw 71.2 innings in total for the 1977 Mets, appearing in 19 games and making 10 starts, and posted a 4.77 ERA, allowing 78 hits, walking 20, and striking out 39.
During Spring Training 1978, Todd was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for minor league infielder Ed Cuevo. The right-hander was assigned to the Phillies’ Triple-A affiliate, the Oklahoma City 89ers, and while failing to crack the Major League roster certainly must have been disappointing, the 89ers played just an hour-and-a-half from his hometown Tulsa, and friends and family regularly made the trip to see him pitch when he took the mound. He remained in Triple-A for the entire season and then was released near the start of the 1979 season. He did not stay unemployed for long, as he was signed by the Toronto Blue Jays not long afterwards. The right-hander spent the next four years in the Blue Jays organization, from 1979 to 1982, shuttling up and down from Triple-A Syracuse to Toronto and back.
In 1983, the 31-year-old signed with the Houston Astros, spending the entire season with the Tuscon Toros, their Triple-A affiliate. He took the 1984 season off and then returned to baseball in 1985, splitting the season between the Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles’ minor league teams. The 1985 season would mark Todd’s last season as a player.
After hanging his cleats up, he became a pitching coach. He spent time in three different organizations, the Milwaukee Brewers, Texas Rangers, San Diego Padres, and coached for the Triple-A Denver Zephyrs (Milwaukee), the Single-A Gastonia Rangers (Texas), and the Double-A Memphis Chicks (San Diego). In 1996, he returned to his alma mater and served as the University of Oklahoma pitching coach until 1999, when he resigned and retired.
John Christensen (1981)
Prior to being selected by the Mets, outfielder John Christensen was drafted by the California Angels in the 16 round of the 1978 MLB Draft out of Troy High School in Fullerton, California. He rejected their offer and attended California State University, Fullerton. The move was the right one, as he hit a cumulative .348/.461/.615 with 42 home runs over three years with the Titans, his on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and career home run total still among the top ten in program history today. In 1981, the Mets received a pick from the Atlanta Braves as compensation for free agent Claudell Washington signing with them, and with the pick, the Mets selected the outfielder.
Christensen, an accomplished college hitter, moved through the Mets’ minor league system quickly, making it to Triple-A after breezing through Lynchburg, Shelby, and Jackson in 1982 and 1983. After batting .313 at Triple-A Tidewater in 1984, he debuted with the Mets as a September call-up, and hit .273/.308/.455 with a pair of doubles.
The outfielder made the 1985 team as a bench player but struggled not just to get playing time on a talented team, but to perform in the limited games manager Davey Johnson penciled him into. By mid-July, he was hitting just .190/.315/.333 and was demoted down to Triple-A Tidewater. He struggled in the minors upon the demotion, and in mid-September when he was called back up to the Mets, showed no improvements against major league pitching.
After the season ended, Christensen was involved in a massive trade between the two eventual 1986 pennant winners. Christensen, along with Calvin Schiraldi, Wes Gardner and La Schelle Tarver, was sent to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for Bobby Ojeda, Tom McCarthy, John Mitchell and Chris Bayer. He was assigned to the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox for the entire 1986 season and did not see any major league time with Boston. He would end up never getting a call up to the Red Sox as he was traded to the Seattle Mariners as one of the two players to be named later that Boston sent to Seattle in exchange for Dave Henderson.
John Christensen spent the rest of his professional career shuttling up and down between the upper levels of the minors and the majors, playing for the Mariners and the Minnesota Twins. In 1989, at the age of 28, he played his last game.
David Wright (2001)
Where do I even begin?
To quote my partner Brian Salvatore, “For an entire generation of Mets fans, David Wright is the Mets.” How can I sum up the career of David Wright, THE Mr. Met, THE Captain? As Kory put it, “Wright is the kind of player only a certain handful of sports franchises are lucky enough to get… Wright truly is one-of-a-kind, and that is something fans must never forget.”
If a picture is worth a thousand words, moving picture is worth so much more.