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Major League Baseball’s draft will be quite a bit different this year than in previous years.
It will last just five rounds. Beyond that, any undrafted player can be signed for $20,000. How this will affect baseball beyond this year remains to be seen.
You can watch all the players being drafted beginning at 6 p.m. CT. For the first time ever, the first round of the draft will be covered live on two different channels, MLB Network and ESPN. MLB Network’s coverage was scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. CT; ESPN will go on the air with coverage at draft time.
Today’s coverage will include the official first round (selections 1-29, as the Astros were stripped of their first-round pick in the sign-stealing scandal) and the Competitive Balance Round A (selections 1-37). The other four rounds will happen tomorrow.
23 of the top eligible players will be featured in the broadcasts live. Those players are:
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Also, every club will have a top executive participating live. Theo Epstein will represent the Cubs.
This thread is for discussion of Round 1, and the Cubs’ pick (16th overall) after it’s made. Here’s the order for the first round.
As we have done here at BCB in the past, I would like to ask that when the Cubs do make their pick, you give him a kind welcome into the Cubs family. Draftees and their families often read this site and we want to make them feel welcome.
There will be a similar post tomorrow for Rounds 2 through 5.