Cheat Sheet: A guide to Day One of the '23 MLB Draft

Welcome to Draft Day!

Our yearly labor of love reaches its peak, and we are rewarded with 20 rounds of the best 18-23 year old baseball talent in the country making the journey into professional baseball. You can’t beat it.  

This year’s class is not short on storylines. This is the first ever MLB Draft that featured a draft lottery where all non-playoff teams from 2022 had a chance for the top overall pick. Pittsburgh was one of three teams with the highest 1st overall odds, along with Washington and Oakland who ended up second and sixth, respectively.

While the overall value of the draft class is very strong, the top 4-5 players have essentially separated themselves from the pack, and now  could essentially see any of themselves hearing their name called first overall Sunday.

Potential for chaos? Always.

HOW TO WATCH

+ Rounds 1-2: Sunday, 7pm ET / 4pm PT (ESPN and MLB Network; bonus coverage throughout including instant live analysis via Twitter from Shooter Hunt, David Seifert, and myself throughout day one on some of Draft HQs favorite picks and best fits of the early rounds).

+ Rounds 3-10: Monday, 2pm ET / 11am PT (streaming only on MLB.com)

+ Rounds 11-20: Tuesday, 2pm ET / 11am PT (streaming only on MLB.com)

USEFUL LINKS

• LIVE PBR Draft HQ: Final Draft Board
• LIVE: Best Available Players
• '23 MLB Draft Order
• What will Seattle do with all its Day One picks?
• Top-50 Prep Arms
• Top-50 Prep Hitters
• Top-50 College Arms
• Top-50 College Hitters

BONUS POOLS

A massive component of the MLB Draft is bonus pools, and weighs heavily in draft strategies. Every pick is assigned a slot value and every team is allotted a certain amount to sign their picks, and those numbers continue to go up every year. Teams can spend up to 105% of their pool without facing a penalty, and be expected to see some teams do so. One major storyline will be surrounding the first overall pick’s slot value of $9,721,000, which is up over $700,000 from 2022, and also is over 56% of the Pirates total bonus pool. Thus, major decisions loom that will affect how the rest of the draft unfolds, a wrinkle unique to MLB's amateur draft which differs from other sports.

Notes:

• The Pirates have the highest total bonus pool ($16,185,700).
• The Phillies have the lowest total bonus pool ($5,185,500).
• The Mariners earned a 'Prospect Promotion Incentive' pick which will be their second Day One pick at No. 29 overall ($2,800,700).