Recruiting Essentials: MLB Draft
June 13, 2017
By Brandon Hall
North Carolina Director of Scouting
The MLB Draft… a wonderful time of year where dreams can be made and reality can set in. While there are players that have their dream fulfilled, many players are left to wonder what they have to do next to accomplish their goals. Players, coaches, and even scouts will scour through the draft cast, questioning decisions and wondering how a player dropped as far as he did, when the talent is obviously unmatched.
This year there will be a approximately 1,200 players taken. At the same time, major league clubs will leave their rosters at 25 with 40 players on the active roster. Of the 1,200 players selected only a small percentage will see the big leagues. The road through the minors can be daunting to say the least. That is why, for me, the call to the big leagues is one of the most special occurrences in professional sports.
Dollar Allotment
There are several layers to the draft. The first two rounds are televised on the MLB network. These are the players, that statistically have the greatest chance to get to the majors. Rounds 1 – 10 are treated and rewarded differently than the rest of the draft, based on MLB Rules and the Collective Bargaining Agreement with the Players Association. Each draft position in the top 10 rounds is assigned a dollar value.