Open the college gates; the new legion of future stars is here!
After a successful season, it’s time to draft new talent. There are strategy, persuasion, tactic, and intense negotiations to pick the best fruit from the tree.
The MLB draft is nothing short of a national event where millions of viewers are rooting for the young players to get selected. Here’s a complete breakdown of how these drafts work.
How Do You Get Drafted in MLB?
One’s college/university statistics and overall performance are ranked, and a list is drafted for the overall picks. All the teams in MLB then analyze this meticulous list to select suitable players. All the players have to be previously unsigned by any other team.
The entire MLB format is divided into two drafts–
#1 First-Year Player Draft
This is considered the main event for absolute rookie players. The first-year players are drafted on the eligibility criteria that the amateur player must have never been signed with any minor or major league.
Also known as the Rule 4 draft, the players falling under the following category can be signed under this draft–
- The players are eligible immediately after they have graduated from high school, even if they have not enrolled in college.
- Whichever occurs first– either after their junior baseball season or if they are turning 21 after attending a four-year college.
- Any time after attending a two-year or community college.
#2 The Rule 5 Draft
This is for more sophomore career players who are signed by minor or major league teams. These players are drafted for the major league 40-man roster.
Here is the eligibility rule for players falling under this draft:
- If they signed before age 18– They should have played at least five seasons.
- If they signed after they turned 18– They must have played at least four seasons.
Here are the rules for teams who are drafting these players:
- After a team picks up a player, they must pay their home team $100000.
- The new team must keep the picked player on their 26-man roster for the rest of the season.
- Or the newly-drafted players must be placed on waivers.
- The draft goes on until all the teams have finished picking their players.
The general order for the teams is to pick starts first with the team with the worst record in the previous season, followed by the descending order to the team with the best record.
Lottery System
MLB has incorporated a similar strategy as that of the NHL and NBA, introducing the first draft with the Lottery system in 2023. The First-year-draft will witness a random chance for the teams who are selected in the lottery for the first six picks.
Do MLB Draft Picks Get Paid?
Any player selected within the first ten rounds of the MLB draft will be given a signing amount. The number 1 player is the most expensive pick, followed by the consecutive rankers.
Here are the 20 teams whose corresponding signing amount is for their first picks. The signing amount decreases after this number.
- Pirates – $9,721,000
- Nationals – $8,998,500
- Tigers – $8,341,700
- Rangers – $7,698,000
- Twins – $7,139,700
- Athletics – $6,634,000
- Reds – $6,275,200
- Royals – $5,980,100
- Rockies – $5,716,900
- Marlins – $5,475,300
- Angels – $5,253,000
- D-backs – $5,043,800
- Cubs – $4,848,500
- Red Sox – $4,663,100
- White Socks – $4,488,600
- Giants – $4,326,600
- Orioles – $4,169,700
- Brewers – $4,021,400
- Rays – $3,880,100
- Blue Jays – $3,746,000
Do Drafted Players Go Straight to the MLB?
Although the amateur drafted players must be seasoned while playing in the minor league, the MLB started its first “free-agent” drafting that allowed the players to play directly for the major league.
Since that exception rule, only 23 players so far have been drafted to play directly in the major league team. In the last decade, only one player was drafted– Mike Leake from Arizona State University, drafted by Cincinnati Reds in 2010.
And recently, after ten years, another player Garrett Crochet from the University of Tennessee was directly drafted to play in the major league by Chicago White Sox in 2020.
How Many Rounds Is the MLB Draft?
The first draft player, usually held between June 1 and July 20, has over 600 players to be drafted. This year will record 614 selections, running for around 20 rounds of the draft. This is almost half of the total rounds in 2019, with 40 rounds of drafting to select, negotiate, and swap contracts.
The Rule 5 Draft is held in December, and the number of rounds continues until all teams select their desired number of players.
Here are some of the latest updates on the newly-selected first-draft-players–
What are your thoughts on this year’s picks? Do you agree with the lottery system to pick the players first? Let us know in the comments section below.
Source: DraftKing network, Baseball Almanac
