MLB Draft Tracker

To be held in Secaucus, N.J.
Round 1 and the Compensation-A Round is on Monday, June 6, starting at 7 p.m. ET; Rounds 2-30 on Tuesday, June 7; and Rounds 31-50 on Wednesday, June 8. Tuesday and Wednesday selections begin at noon.

Currently, teams can earn compensatory picks in the draft based on departing free agents. Free Agents are ranked by the Elias Sports Bureau based on their previous two years of playing, and against players of similar positions. Players are categorized as either Class A or Class B, or they fall into the category of all other players. Below is a description of each free agent class and the compensation the free agent's former team received when the player signs with a different team.

A Class A free agent is ranked in the top 20 percent of players at his position. A team that signs a Type A player gives its top draft pick to the club that the player is leaving; that club also receives a supplemental pick in the "sandwich" round between the first and second rounds.

A Class B free agent is ranked below the top 20 percent but in the top 40 percent of players at his position. A team that loses a Type B player receives a supplemental pick, but the signing team does not lose a pick.

All other players carry no compensation at all. There had previously been a third class of "Type C" players, but that was eliminated in the most recent CBA.

For the 2012 draft, the current "Type A" and "Type B" designations remain in place, but the CBA included special provisions that modified the statuses of 11 players who were Type A free agents under the old CBA. Six of these will be "Modified Type A"—meaning that the signing team does not forfeit a draft pick, but the player's former team will receive a compensatory pick in the same position it would have earned under regular Type A rules. The remaining five will be "Modified Type B", with compensation identical to that for other Type B free agents.