Recently MLB had announced early this month that it would cut down its 2020 draft from 40 rounds to only 5. That’s a lot of players who will miss out and being able to get one step closer to the dreams they’ve had as kids.
News, via John Heyman, that the official structure and dates of the draft have now been released. The draft will be held from June 10-11 with the signing deadline on August 1.
June 10: Round 1, comp picks (total of 37 picks) starts at 7 pm EST
June 11: Rounds 2-5 (123 picks) starts at 5 pm EST
There will be a total of only 160 players drafted in this year’s draft. However, starting on June 14 at 9 am, teams can go out and sign an unlimited number of passed over players for 20K or less.
More draft details:
Slot value of top pick, held by #Tigers, will be $8,415,300. Slot values same as last year. The difference: Bonuses will be deferred. Teams will pay drafted players maximum of $100K in 2020, with 50 percent of remainder coming on July 1, 2021 and other 50 percent on July 1, 2022.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) May 15, 2020
The shortening of the draft means fewer players for the Dodgers to select and transform into quality big leaguers. They figure to have 6 picks in the five rounds of the draft with the:
- 1st round, 29th overall
- 2nd round, 60th overall
- Competitive balance B, 66th overall (acquired from the Twins)
- 3rd round, 100th overall
- 4th round, 130th overall
- 5th round, 159th overall
The Dodgers have done well in recent drafts snagging guys like Cody Bellinger, Corey Seager, Walker Buehler, and even guys like Kody Hoese and Michael Busch in last year’s draft. There’s no doubt that LA will be able to select top players in a shortened draft.
They can even go after overlooked players to bring in the next Max Muncy or Chris Taylor. With an already deep farm system, we’ll have to wait and see who will be added to it.
