Jon Daniels will set a franchise record Thursday when he oversees his 11th amateur draft, more than any GM in Rangers history. To put it into context, ultimate responsibility for bringing more players into the Rangers organization will lie with Daniels than anybody else.

And, right about now, we can probably finally put a grade on his first one.

Truth: Against the odds, it turned out quite well.

A draft is generally deemed a success if a team lands a pair of significant contributors. The Rangers landed three: Derek Holland, Chris Davis and Craig Gentry. A fourth (Danny Ray Herrera) became part of the trade that brought Josh Hamilton to the team in 2007. It was a productive draft in terms of contributors and trade inventory.

In the end, though, it was more learning experience than anything else.

"I think what gets reinforced every year is that no matter how prepared you are and how deep you've gone, you still need to be nimble," Daniels said. "You need to be able to move. You simply can't get caught flat-footed."

It could be argued that's what happened in some regards in the first round of the first draft.

First, there was the environment. Just 10 months earlier, with one year of assistant GM experience and no time managing a department, Daniels had been thrust into the GM's role to replace John Hart. The draft room included holdovers from a factionalized organization. The scouting director (Ron Hopkins) was originally hired by a since-fired assistant GM (Grady Fuson). The scouting department had been a mix of folks hired by Doug Melvin, fired after 2001, Hart and Fuson. The manager, Buck Showalter, had injected himself into the 2004-05 drafts (both of which were busts), and although he wasn't present, his presence was. There was a lot of staring and deferring being done.

Then there were the circumstances.

The draft was top-heavy, like 10 deep in really outstanding talent. Think this top-heavy: The first 11 picks have produced -- so far -- six Cy Young awards. The Rangers, thanks in part to an early September surge, were drafting 12th. They entered the spring hoping they might have a shot at Highland Park's Clayton Kershaw, but it became clear by May that was not happening. Along with a number of teams, they had concerns about the shoulder of Missouri's Max Scherzer.

They had zeroed in on the guy they wanted and thought was realistic. Their reconnaissance work indicated 10 of the 11 teams picking ahead of them were either going in a different direction or were scared off by Tim Lincecum's tiny build and freakish delivery.

The only team they weren't certain of: San Francisco at No. 10, but they'd heard high school outfielder Chris Parmelee had wowed the Giants in a workout.

In the meantime, the Rangers worked out third baseman Matt Antonetti of Wake Forest but spent more time on high school right-handers Kyle Drabek of Houston, the son of former Pittsburgh Pirates star Doug Drabek, and lefty Kasey Kiker of Russell County, Ala..

Even if perhaps their hearts weren't fully into it.

"I think we were all counting on -- or maybe hoping -- Lincecum would be there," assistant general manager Thad Levine said. "We may have viewed them in the context of Plans B and C."

Hopkins, who comes from the Northwest, had a long background with Washington's Lincecum. He had urged the Rangers to take him as a draft-eligible sophomore in a lower round in 2005. Figuring he wouldn't sign, the team passed. It was true: Lincecum turned down $700,000 from Cleveland, which drafted him in the 42nd round.

But here was another shot to possibly get him, and now he was coming off a killer junior season at Washington.

The Rangers also had to have a backup plan. It came down to Drabek vs. Kiker.

Both had nice arms. Both came with rumored off-the-field "makeup" issues. Drabek was a small right-hander. Kiker was also smallish, but in scouting circles, the physical stature of lefties isn't weighed as heavily as that of right-handers. Right-handers are supposed to be power guys; lefties lean towards finesse. Kiker threw plenty hard for his size.

They settled on Kiker but still expected Lincecum.

And as the draft played out, it seemed like the Rangers had excellent information. The draft at that point was still conducted via land lines and speaker phones and without the benefit of TV production. So, each team's representative would come on line and read a four-digit draft number before the player's name. The first nine picks went exactly as expected, and the Rangers pulled Lincecum's draft number to be ready to read it.

Then came the Giants.

"I think the number was 0246 or something like that," Daniels said. "When the Giants got on the phone, they read something that didn't start with a zero. There was a moment -- a very brief moment -- when I thought we had him. Then I realized, they just didn't read the zero. They didn't have to read the zero."

There was disappointed grumbling throughout the room. Arizona, as expected, picked Scherzer 11th.

The Rangers went with Kiker. He had a solid first full season at Class A Clinton but lost velocity and command amid rumors of performance-enhancing drug use by the time he reached Double-A Frisco in 2009. The Rangers released him in 2011. He made three starts in independent ball in 2012 and hasn't played since. He's one of seven first-rounders from 2006 who never appeared in the majors.

"We thought it was going in our direction and read it wrong," said Rangers scouting director Kip Fagg, who was the West Coast amateur crosschecker at the time. "We ended up with Kiker, and the rest is history."

The history of that draft is this: It produced both on-the-field talent and teaching moments.

A decade later, Kiker may be gone, but the lessons remain.

"Our clarity and our process have been streamlined exponentially," Levine said.

Said Daniels: "I'm less involved now than back then. Really stems from a near-unconditional trust in Kip and our staff and respect for their process and preparation. My involvement is more setting direction and philosophy, asking challenging questions at times, and working through strategy. But with very few exceptions I've stayed out of the player-picking business."

Even though he ultimately bears accountability for adding more of them to the organization than anybody who has come before him.

Twitter: @Evan_P_Grant

MLB amateur draft

Thursday: Rounds 1-2, 6 p.m., MLB Network

Friday: Rounds 3-10, noon, MLB.com

Saturday: Final 30 rounds, 11 a.m., MLB.com