Depending on who you talk to, Major League Baseball’s amateur draft seems to be either a highly over-rated or highly under-rated event. Few lie in between on this.
It’s not the substance of water-cooler conversation like the NBA draft, where a team’s order of selection can mean the difference between contending immediately or waiting until next year. It’s not the NFL draft, where even casual football fans are familiar with the top players because they’re trotted out before huge television audiences every Saturday. It’s not the NHL draft, where a couple players might make an NBA-like impact, but their amateur exploits are virtually unseen here.
So here are five things you need to know about the draft, with a few links if you want to know more.
1. The draft is held in Seacaucus, N.J. Round 1 begins at 4 p.m. and the drafting won’t end until the first 75 players (through Competitive Balance Round B) are off the board. You can watch Day 1 on MLB Network, follow on MLB.com, or if you’re already on a laptop or smartphone just follow this Twitter account. MLB.com will provide live pick-by-pick coverage of Rounds 3-10 starting at 10 a.m. Tuesday. Rounds 11-40 air live on MLB.com beginning at 9 a.m. Wednesday.
2. The Dodgers have four picks today: 24th, 35th, 67th and 74th.
3. The 24th pick has produced some notable names in recent years, including Chad Billingsley (2003) and Randal Grichuk (2009). Grichuk, selected by the Angels, is notable mainly because the Angels had back-to-back picks that year and could just have easily used the 24th selection to draft the guy they chose 25th, Mike Trout. The lesson: it’s possible to grab a Mike Trout at number 24.
4. The first pick will be an “organizational decision,” according to Dodgers amateur scouting director Billy Gasparino.
5. So who will the Dodgers take? You can browse mock drafts on DodgersDigest.com, MLB.com, BaseballAmerica.com, ESPN.com, FanGraphs.com, MLBTopProspects.com, MinorLeagueBall.com, Scout.com, SI.com and BaseballProspectus.com.
