Major League Baseball reached an agreement with the Players Association to cut the 2020 Major League Baseball amateur draft to five rounds earlier this month, and now, the details of how the draft will take place are out.
The draft will be held remotely on June 10 and 11 with MLB clubs conducting their drafting via video conference, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan. The setup will be much similar like this year's NFL Draft, which was also held remotely due to the coronavirus pandemic, with MLB team presidents or general managers on camera (without audio) as they decide on their picks.
The first day of the draft, June 10, will only feature Round 1 (37 picks) and begin at 7 p.m. ET. The second and final day of the draft, June 11, will include Rounds 2-5 (123 picks) and begin at 5 p.m. ET. After the fifth round, beginning on June 14 at 9 a.m. ET, teams can sign an unlimited number of undrafted players for a up to $20,000, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports. Teams will also be able to provide money to those players for their college education.
Both MLB Network and ESPN will provide live draft coverage of the first round (selections 1-29) and Competitive Balance Round A (selections 30-37) on June 10. MLB Network and ESPN2 will televise the second round (beginning with the 38th overall selection) through the fifth round.
This year's No. 1 pick belongs to the Detroit Tigers, with their top slot value at $8,415,300. The slot values will remain the same as last year's MLB draft, but bonuses will now be deferred, Rosenthal notes. MLB clubs will pay drafted players the maximum of $100,000 in 2020, and then 50 percent of the remaining amount will come on July 1, 2021 and the other 50 percent on July 1, 2022. The signing deadline is also pushed back, from July 10 to Aug. 1, due to possible issues regarding post-draft physicals for players stemming from some of the coronavirus stay-at-home mandates.
With no games being played, there is nothing to generate revenue, and MLB wanted to make cuts to the draft to ease their anticipated cash flow problems. But, these draft changes will have long-term ramifications that will affect the sport at the MLB, college, minor-league and international levels. This year's draft was initially relocated to Omaha, Nebraska, to take place alongside the College World Series to allow for easier cross-promotion before.
Our own R.J. Anderson has provided coverage of this year's draft class, with a ranking of the top 25 position players in the class, a ranking of the top 25 pitchers and a full analysis of the top 50 prospects in the class.
