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The MLB Draft has become quite complex and at times inaccessible to the common fan. With that in mind, we’ve put together a handy list of players, draft selections and FAQs to help you better understand some of the more esoteric elements of the process, including bonus pools, slot values and more. Answers to the questions have been compiled.
This year’s draft will take place July 14-16. The first day begins at 5 PM ET on Sunday, July 14 and will include the first two rounds as well as the first two supplemental rounds. Rounds 3-10 will take place on the second day of the draft, and Rounds 11-20 will take place on the third day of the draft. Days two and three both start at 12 noon ET.
Day 1 of the MLB Draft will be televised by MLB Network and ESPN. The feed can also be streamed live on MLB.com.
Baseball America’s own Carlos Collazo will be featured on the first night of MLB Network’s draft coverage. Days 2 and 3 of the draft will be streamed on MLB.com.
While scouts don’t believe this year’s draft class is as talented as the loaded 2023 draft a year ago, there is still a solid top of players led by Georgia outfielder/third baseman Charlie Condon and Oregon State second baseman Travis Bazana. Is level.
Condon and Bazzana are viewed as the top players in the class by most scouts. The top 10 players on our draft board are as follows:
You can read the full scouting reports for these players and the other top 500 players in the class in our full rankings here.
Here is the first-round order for the draft:
This is the second year that the first round of the MLB draft has been determined by the new draft lottery. Each of the top six selections are considered lottery selections, and all 18 non-playoff teams are entered into the lottery with odds that are related to their record in the previous season (with some caveats). You can read more about how the draft lottery works here.
Playoff teams are ranked based on a combination of elimination date and revenue sharing status. Rounds after the first round are changed to the inverse of the regular season standings for non-playoff teams.
There are 20 rounds in the draft.
This is a relatively new feature of the draft and is a function of the reorganized minor league system that has fewer teams. Before the pandemic, the draft consisted of 40 rounds, and in the early years of the draft, teams could keep selecting players until they passed. In the inaugural MLB draft, the 1965 draft, there were 72 rounds and 824 players were selected.
More than 600 players will be selected in the 2024 draft, and teams will also sign undrafted free agents after the draft concludes.
Any eligible player who is not drafted is eligible to sign with any team as an undrafted free agent (UDFA). Most teams will sign at least a few UDFA players, although some teams will sign around a dozen. The Angels signed 11 UDFA players after the 2023 draft.
Players who sign as undrafted free agents may do so for up to $150,000 without the bonus value counting toward the team’s bonus pool.
Unlike the NBA and NFL drafts, which use a hard-slotting system, where a player’s signing bonus is largely determined by the overall pick with which a player was selected, MLB uses a soft-slotting system. Uses.
Each selection within the first 10 rounds is assigned a “slot value”, which is the recommended signing bonus for that selection. A team’s “bonus pool” is determined by adding up the slot values of each of their picks in the first 10 rounds. This figure then determines how much money a club has available to sign its total pool of players without incurring a penalty.
The selections for rounds 11–20 do not come with slot values, and each player selected in those rounds can sign for up to $150,000, without that money being included in the bonus pool. However, any additional dollars beyond the first $150,000 must come from the team’s total bonus pool.
The penalties for exceeding your total bonus pool are:
In the bonus pool era, many teams have been willing to pay 75% of the tax and go 5% higher over the age limit, but no team has yet crossed that line and fallen into the pick penalty limit.
As one might expect, this system has made teams creative and strategic in how they use their pools. In any given year, you’ll see teams sign players to underslot deals, overslot deals, and deals at exactly slot value. An underslot deal is a signing bonus that is lower than the slot value where a player was selected. An overslot deal is a signing bonus that exceeds the slot value where a player was selected.
Some teams like to save money with picks through underslot deals so they can spread the bonus pool money among later picks in the draft. Other teams implement top-heavy drafts that do the opposite. Realistically, most teams will sign players to both under and over slot deals.
Last year, we examined how each team spent their money in the 2023 draft to highlight the most popular draft strategies. That piece provides more details about how the slotting system actually works in practice.
When teams sign players to underslot deals it is common for them to be criticized by fans and media for being cheap. The idea is that teams will not sign players at full slot value and will simply keep the money.
However, in reality this almost never happens. The “savings” from underslot deals are usually passed on to other players in the draft. It is simply a strategic decision on how to allocate the entire bonus pool throughout the draft.
The 2021 Pirates are a great example of this. That year, the team received the first overall pick and a total bonus pool of $14.4 million. The team selected Henry Davis No. 1 overall and signed him to a $6.5 million underslot deal, $1.9 million less than the $8.4 million slot value assigned to that selection.
Rather than keep that extra money, the Pirates signed their next four players to overslot deals, including a $3 million bonus for third-rounder Bubba Chandler, $2 above the slot value set for the 72nd overall selection. Was more than million.
Davis was ranked as the No. 4 prospect in the 2021 class while Chandler was ranked as the No. 20 prospect. The strategy essentially allowed the Pirates to sign a pair of first-round talents despite only having one first-round pick.
The Pirates went a full 5% overage and spent over $15 million dollars in total signing bonus money that counted toward their draft pool. If they had not saved that money on Davis with the first pick, it was unlikely they would have been able to afford Chandler later.
Since the bonus pool era began in 2012, it has become common for teams to select college seniors and sign those players to deals that are significantly below slot value. These selections usually take place between the fifth and 10th rounds on the second day.
Many college seniors will agree to these underslot deals because it gives them their best chance at pro ball. If they do not sign such an agreement, they may cease playing in an independent league or potentially end their playing careers altogether.
Small bonuses come as no surprise to these college seniors. Players almost always understand before the fact what type of signing bonus they will receive, as locking in bonus pool savings is an important part of selection for teams, and if they do not sign a player, the team is allocated Slot loses value for choosing.
This post was published on 07/08/2024 3:56 am
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