MLB Draft 101

June 9, 12:55 PMColorado Rockies ExaminerTravis Lay

Previous Next

2 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Colorado Rockies Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

For hundreds of kds this was the sight behind home plate for much of their season

For those that love drafts the baseball draft can be rather confusing, boring and maybe even worthless. In football and basketball players who are taken with the top picks usually have impacts on their new found homes the very next year.

I have to admit I don’t watch much NBA basketball but football tickles my fancy. I quickly browsed the 2008 first round and pretty much all of them played in 2008. Guys like Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco, Jake Long, Jonathan Stewart and Ryan Clady had huge impacts on their respective clubs in their first year at the top level.

In baseball the players drafted in the first round might not ever even make it to the majors. At best the players drafted today will be in the majors around mid-season in 2010 and most that do make it to the major leagues will not arrive until 2011 or later. In 2007’s draft all players selected in the first round (64) had a combined one inning of play in 2008.

With that being said, I looked at the 2005 MLB draft and there are a few names I recognize and even some that have turned into stars. Justin Upton was taken #1 and I mentioned him as the best young player in the NL West last week. Ryan Braun and Ryan Zimmerman were drafted in the top 10 and they are both very good young players – Braun will likely make the All Star team this year. Troy Tulowitzki was drafted in 2005 and so were players like Alex Gordon, Jeff Clement, Jay Bruce and Chris Volstad, all of these guys have played in the majors and some are regular players. However there are also guys like Brandon Snyder, Cesar Carrillo, Mark Pawelek, Brian Bugsevich and Matthew Albidrez-Garza who have not made the majors and some that are not even considered prospects any longer.

While the MLB draft doesn’t give the immediate gratification that people want in this time of email, high speed internet and Twitter it can be interesting to follow. Here are the basics of how the MLB draft works.

Day 1 is today, June 11th. The draft will be televised on the MLB Network starting at 6pm eastern. The first round consists of 32 picks and Compensation Round A. If a team has a “Class A” player on their roster and that player is signed via free agency to another team, the original team gets a compensation pick and the new team’s first round pick. A player is given Class A status when they finish in the top 20% at their position for the previous two years as determined by the Elias Sports Bureau. When Brian Fuentes signed with Anaheim (Angels Examiner) this past off season, the Rockies got a Compensation pick and Anaheim’s first round pick.  Compensation Round A is sandwiched between Rounds One and Two.

There are some other hoops that need to be jumped through, but the major exception is that a team cannot lose a top 15 pick. If Anaheim had a top 15 pick then Colorado would not have received that pick but rather Anaheim’s first pick in the second round.

In the first round this year the Rockies get picks 11 (their pick) and 32 (pick from Anaheim). Then in the Compensation Round A they get pick 34 for Fuentes departing. You will see teams draft back-to-back in the first round. Arizona has picks 16 and 17. They got pick 17 when the Dodgers (Dodgers Examiner) signed Orlando Hudson. Draft order is decided based on the record from the previous year. Since Anaheim had the best record in the majors last year they have the last pick in the first round.

Today MLB will get through 111 picks. This includes Rounds One, Two and Three and Compensation rounds A and B. Each clubs gets four minutes between first round picks and one minute after the first round. Needless to say this moves a lot faster than the NFL draft which has 10 minutes between picks in the first round.

There are up to 50 rounds in the baseball draft. Each organization has four or more minor league clubs affiliated with them so there is always a need for a lot of players to stock their minor leagues. Each club might not draft in every round either. If the Rockies take players all the way through the 40th round and forfeits or passes on their 41st, they cannot make another pick. It is not uncommon for a team to stop drafting before the final round.

Who will the Rockies select? There are a few mock drafts out there.

On ESPN Keith Law (Insider access required) has the Rockies taking Matt Hobgood who is a right-handed pitcher out of Norco High School in Norco California with the 11th pick overall. At the end of the first round Law thinks the Rockies will take Tim Wheeler who is a center fielder out of Sacramento State.

On MLB.com they have the Rockies taking Mike Leake a left-handed pitcher from Arizona State with their first pick in the draft. Then with the last pick in the first round they believe the Rockies will take Slade Heathcott who plays outfield for Texarkana High School in Texas.

On thing to note about the MLB draft, they always try to take the best player available. For example, the St. Louis Cardinals (Cardinals Examiner) are set for the future at first base with Albert Pujols, but with their pick (whether it is round one or round 30) they might take a first baseman if he is the best player available. You never know when the player will be major league ready and if this player advances through the minor leagues quickly he might either be moved to a new position like left field or traded to another club for a player the Cardinals need in return. Another rule in baseball is that you can’t have enough pitching, always draft top pitchers, you always need more arms.

After the first round is over I will give an update as to who the Rockies took and a little more information on those players. For more information on the baseball draft please visit the following Examiner’s pages:

• The Oakland A’s Examiner reviews who the A’s might take with their first pick.
• College Baseball Examiner has lots of good info on some of the players in the draft.
• Fantasy Baseball Examiner has his thoughts on the impact the players will make on their new clubs.
• My article on Stephen Strasburg draft tid-bits and Rockies draft history.