Everything You Need To Know About The 2023 MLB Draft
We do a rundown of the history of the MLB Draft, the newly instituted draft lottery, and which players might go early in the first round.
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Pregame Pepper: 2023 Draft Prospects To Watch
. . . Check out the full list of MLB.com’s top 200 draft prospects for the 2023 MLB Draft, and learn more about the top ones to watch below.
Leading Off
2023 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft Primer
By Matthew Veasey
Major League Baseball’s First-Year Player Draft, known officially in the rules of the game as the Rule 4 Draft, is scheduled to take place from July 9-11 in Seattle. The draft is being held in the Emerald City as part of the MLB All-Star Week festivities.
Player selection will be broken down into three segments. The first two rounds will take place on Sunday, July 9, beginning at 7:00 PM ET. Both rounds will be televised by MLB Network and the first round will also be covered by ESPN.
Rounds 3-10 will take place on Monday, July 10, and will be covered at MLB.com and the MLB app. Rounds 11-20 will take place on Tuesday, July 11, and will again be covered by MLB.com and the MLB app.
The MLB Draft was first held in 1965. Up until that time, players were scouted and signed by the individual organizations and then assigned to their farm systems. In this way, wealthier teams were able to sign and stockpile talent. Also, combined with the old “reserve system” in place until free agency arrived in the 1970s, this often delayed and even completely stunted the big league opportunities for many players.
Up through 2019, the draft went on for 40 rounds. However, as part of the many changes that came to the game during the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign, the draft has since been shortened to 20 rounds. This still leaves MLB bringing in far more talent via drafting than any of the other major sports leagues.
The draft order under the old system was determined by a simple reversal of the previous year’s standings, alternating by league. However, this has now changed as well, with a complex system of postseason participation and finish, revenue sharing status, and then that winning percentage from the prior year.
For the first time in 2023, MLB instituted another new feature, a draft “lottery” to determine the exact order of the first six picks. All teams who did not reach the postseason during the previous year who also did not have to pay into the revenue sharing process are eligible for lottery participation and a shot at those first six picks. The odds are weighted in favor of the bottom three teams in reverse win percentage, who each receive a 16.8% chance at the top pick.
Pittsburgh “won” the first draft lottery, and thus the Pirates, who finished last year with the third-worst record overall and second worst in the National League, received the first pick. Oakland was the big loser, finishing with the worst record in the American League in 2022 and second-worst overall but dropping to the sixth pick in the lottery. Washington, which finished with the worst record in the NL, received the second pick.
MLB also includes “supplemental” rounds, which are built into the overall draft process based on the signing and losing of free agents in the prior offseason and as compensation should a draft pick from the prior year choose to not sign and return to school.
Players are eligible to be drafted upon meeting certain criteria. They must be a resident or have attended high school or college in the United States, Canada, or any of the U.S. territories. Foreign players are ineligible for the draft. Players also must have never previously signed a Major or Minor League contract to be eligible.
If high schoolers, they must have graduated but not attended college. Players from four-year colleges and universities are eligible for the draft three years after registering or after they turn 21, whichever comes first, while JUCO (junior or community college) players are eligible at any time after their season is completed.
The team drafting order for the first round of the 2023 MLB First-Year Player Draft is as follows:
Pittsburgh
Washington
Detroit
Texas
Minnesota
Oakland
Cincinnati
Kansas City
Colorado
Miami
Los Angeles Angels
Arizona
Chicago Cubs
Boston
Chicago White Sox
San Francisco
Baltimore
Milwaukee
Tampa Bay
Toronto
St. Louis
New York Mets
Seattle
Cleveland
Atlanta
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego
New York Yankees
Philadelphia
Houston
Industry insiders and talent evaluators for places like MLB Pipeline, Baseball America, and ESPN have been researching eligible players for months, in some cases for a couple of years. There is now a consensus as to the top five draft-eligible players, and it would be an upset if these five were not selected in some order at the very top of the draft.
Dylan Crews is a 21-year-old outfielder and offensive leader of the newly crowned NCAA Men’s College World Series champions from LSU. Crews is considered to have a combination of pure hitting ability and power that can impact offensively at the professional level. He is also believed capable of holding down center field in the big leagues with an arm to play right field if necessary.
Paul Skenes was an LSU teammate of Crews and is considered to be the top pitching prospect available in the draft in at least the last decade. His talent and impact ability are considered comparable to that of Stephen Strasburg, when the big righty was coming out of San Diego State back in 2009. Skenes is a big, powerful right-hander who consistently hits 100 mph with his fastball and compliments it with solid off-speed offerings and outstanding command of all his pitches.
Wyatt Langford is a 21-year-old outfielder from the University of Florida who has a very similar profile to Crews. A dynamic five-tool talent, Langford may have slightly less hitting ability and slightly more of a power profile than Crews. Though he is also considered capable of handling center field, it would not be surprising to see Langford on a corner. When you watch Langford play, tell me that you are not reminded of a young Mike Trout.
Walker Jenkins is a physical specimen and one of the most gifted all-around high schoolers in years. An 18-year-old from South Brunswick High School, he was the Gatorade Player of the Year in North Carolina each of the last two seasons. A University of North Carolina recruit, there is no way he reaches school with the kind of life-changing bonus money that he is about to be offered.
Max Clark has dueled Jenkins as the top high schooler available in this draft class for the last couple of years. It would surprise no one if Clark, an 18-year-old from Franklin High School in Indiana, ultimately winds up as the top player in this draft. A natural, speedy center fielder with a cannon for an arm, Clark is also a natural hitter. His power might be just behind Jenkins, with his speed just ahead.
There are many other talented players who should slot in behind these five. In fact, a few are talented enough that if some big league team feels it can cut a favorable pre-draft contract agreement with them, they might even slip past these five. But that would appear a long shot at this point.
This may be the most talented group of young players to come into MLB in the history of the draft. It will be both interesting and exciting to watch the draft unfold two weeks from now and see these players emerge into some of the game’s stars of tomorrow.
Matt Veasey is the voice behind @PhilliesBell on Twitter, the most interactive Philadelphia Phillies news and history social media account on the Internet. His email is matthew.veasey@verizon.net