NEWSLETTER
The 2016 MLB Draft kicks off on Thursday, and it marks the single most important event of the year for the long-term health of a baseball organization. Of course, because the MLB Draft is so different from the NFL or NBA Drafts, where you see the players immediately, it’s harder to perceive the draft as so important. But, yeah, it really is.
I thought it would be useful to offer a rundown of the logistics in advance of this year’s iteration. Tomorrow, we’ll offer some more detail on the mechanics of drafting in the current CBA era.
The Schedule
Day One of the 2016 MLB Draft is this Thursday, June 9. The Draft begins at 6pm CT (7pm ET), and the first two rounds, including competitive balance and compensatory picks, take place on Day One. It’s annually a fun night – the closest approximation to the NFL/NBA Drafts that MLB can offer, even if it isn’t quite the same. The Cubs don’t have a pick on Day One, which admittedly makes things a lot less exciting for Cubs fans. Such is the price of signing guys like Jason Heyward, John Lackey, and (re-signing) Dexter Fowler.
Day Two of the Draft is Friday, June 10, and includes Rounds Three through Ten. Each team’s bonus pool is for the first 10 rounds, so there is some synchronicity there, though it pushes some of the excitement from Day Two to Day Three of the Draft – recall, many teams use the latter rounds before the 11th round (8/9/10 range) to “save” bonus pool money for use elsewhere, making those rounds not always as intriguing as, say, rounds 11 through 15. Day Two of the Draft begins at 12pm CT (1pm ET).
Day Three of the Draft is Saturday, June 11, and finishes things up with Rounds 11 through 40. It’s rapid fire, and there’s very little fanfare (even if there is excitement for Draft nerds like us). You’ll see a lot of intriguing “overslot” types who’ve slipped get picked in this range. Day Three of the Draft begins at 11am CT (12pm ET).[adinserter block=”1″]
The Coverage
Day One of the Draft is being televised on MLB Network and streamed on MLB.com, and begins with a Draft preview show at 5pm CT (6pm ET). Although the Cubs have no pick, we’ll still pop up an open thread for the Draft for those who want to follow along and chat in the comments.
Day Two of the Draft is being streamed on MLB.com with video and commentary. We’ll have the Cubs’ picks here at BN, as well, if you don’t want to watch the stream yourself.
Day Three of the Draft will also being streamed on MLB.com (an audio-only conference call, typically).[adinserter block=”2″]
The Order
First Round (3.5 to 4.5 minutes per pick):
1 Philadelphia Phillies
2 Cincinnati Reds
3 Atlanta Braves
4 Colorado Rockies
5 Milwaukee Brewers
6 Oakland Athletics
7 Miami Marlins
8 San Diego Padres
9 Detroit Tigers
10 Chicago White Sox
11 Seattle Mariners
12 Boston Red Sox
13 Tampa Bay Rays
14 Cleveland Indians
15 Minnesota Twins
16 Los Angeles Angels
17 Houston Astros
18 New York Yankees
19 New York Mets
20 Los Angeles Dodgers
21 Toronto Blue Jays
22 Pittsburgh Pirates
23 St. Louis Cardinals
24 San Diego Padres (comp pick for losing Justin Upton)
25 San Diego Padres (Ian Kennedy)
26 Chicago White Sox (Jeff Samardzija)
27 Baltimore Orioles (Wei-Yin Chen)
28 Washington Nationals (Jordan Zimmermann)
29 Washington Nationals (Ian Desmond)
30 Texas Rangers (Yovani Gallardo)
31 New York Mets (Daniel Murphy)
32 Los Angeles Dodgers (Zack Greinke)
33 St. Louis Cardinals (John Lackey)
34 St. Louis Cardinals (Jason Heyward)[adinserter block=”3″]
Competitive Balance A
35 Cincinnati Reds
36 Los Angeles Dodgers (failed to sign pick last year)
37 Oakland Athletics
38 Colorado Rockies
39 Arizona Diamondbacks
40 Atlanta Braves (traded by Marlins)
41 Pittsburgh Pirates
Second Round (about 1 minutes per pick):
42 Philadelphia Phillies
43 Cincinnati Reds
44 Atlanta Braves
45 Colorado Rockies
46 Milwaukee Brewers
47 Oakland Athletics
48 San Diego Padres
49 Chicago White Sox
50 Seattle Mariners
51 Boston Red Sox
52 Arizona Diamondbacks
53 Tampa Bay Rays
54 Baltimore Orioles
55 Cleveland Indians
56 Minnesota Twins
57 Toronto Blue Jays (failed to sign pick last year)
58 Washington Nationals
59 San Francisco Giants
60 Los Angeles Angels
61 Houston Astros
62 New York Yankees
63 Texas Rangers
64 New York Mets
65 Los Angeles Dodgers
66 Toronto Blue Jays
67 Kansas City Royals
68 Pittsburgh Pirates
69 Baltimore Orioles (failed to sign pick last year)
70 St. Louis Cardinals
Competitive Balance B
71 San Diego Padres
72 Cleveland Indians
73 Minnesota Twins
74 Minnesota Twins (failed to sign pick last year)
75 Milwaukee Brewers
76 Baltimore Orioles
77 Tampa Bay Rays
Third Round
78 Philadelphia Phillies
79 Cincinnati Reds
80 Atlanta Braves
81 Colorado Rockies
82 Milwaukee Brewers
83 Oakland Athletics
84 Miami Marlins
85 San Diego Padres
86 Chicago White Sox
87 Seattle Mariners
88 Boston Red Sox
89 Arizona Diamondbacks
90 Tampa Bay Rays
91 Baltimore Orioles
92 Cleveland Indians
93 Minnesota Twins
94 Washington Nationals
95 San Francisco Giants
96 Los Angeles Angels
97 Houston Astros
98 New York Yankees
99 Texas Rangers
100 New York Mets
101 Los Angeles Dodgers
102 Toronto Blue Jays
103 Kansas City Royals
104 Chicago Cubs – Hey! There they are!
105 Pittsburgh Pirates
106 St. Louis Cardinals
The rounds thereafter follow the order of the third round. There is one minute per pick for rounds three through ten, and then no time limit (i.e., they pick immediately) in the rounds thereafter.
