The Baseball Draft

Hirrel,

That’s hard to answer in a short post.

How the draft works: Each Major League club has a choice in each round. The exact order can change based on free agent signings and other things. Usually it’s the worst record from the previous year that gets the first pick, second worst record picks next and so on. They also alternate American and National leagues.

This year's upcoming Draft:
First Round Order
1. Diamondbacks
2. Royals
3. Mariners
4. Nationals
5. Brewers
6. Blue Jays
7. Rockies
8. Devil Rays
9. Mets
10. Tigers
11. Pirates
12. Reds
13. Orioles
14. Indians
15. White Sox
16. Marlins
17. Yankees (a)
18. Padres
19. Rangers
20. Cubs
21. Athletics
22. Marlins (b)
23. Red Sox (c)
24. Astros
25. Twins
26. Red Sox (d)
27. Braves
28. Cardinals (e)
29. Marlins (f)
30. Cardinals
a Choice from Phillies
b Choice from Giants
c Choice from Angels
d Choice from Dodgers
e Choice from Red Sox
f Choice from Yankees

Your Question
[QUOTE] how they get ranked in the draft by the number, how are they notice to even be in the draft,some are notice out of high school, how is that.

The rankings people hear about are not numbers relating to the actual draft. They are opinions by people who follow baseball closely, in most cases.

Each MLB Club will have their own (call them rankings or listed order) of players. This is usually kept very confidential for obvious reasons. There is not much time for each club to make it’s selection, especially after the first round, so they need to be ready and organized.

Each Club has many scouts in their scouting department. They cover the entire nation, Latin America and Canada as well as other foreign countries. Each of these scouts will have many contacts throughout the territory they are responsible for. They get tons of information about talented players in their area.

The MLB Scouting Bureau also works with all the MLB Clubs, providing information. The number you might be referring to is the ID number of any player turned in for the draft. Without this number a player can not be drafted.

People like ourselves (Perfect Game) and Baseball America have their own network of baseball people who report talented players. And of course, we actually see a lot of them. But this only creates scouting interest that might cause MLB Scouts to check out a prospect who is given a good report or a high ranking.

The MLB Scouting Departments, ultimately place a value or grade on a player based on there own scouting reports. They are the ones who have the most to lose if they don't get things right.

We (Perfect Game) specialize in the High School age players. MLB Scouts are responsible for finding and evaluating talent at the college level, high school level and even free agents within their area.

It can and has happened that a very good MLB prospect slips through the cracks, but it doesn’t happen as often as it used to. There’s just too many people in the overall network these days.

Chances are if there’s a player with first round ability out there, he will be discovered. Sometimes it takes a college career to reveal or develop this talent.

Don’t know if this is what you were looking for. Hope it helped a little. There’s so much more to it that I don't have time to write about.

I actually think there is a pretty good explanation of scouting on this site.

Great explanation PG.

PG
THANKYOU, I'll print this and read it over and over untill i understand it. thanks again

PGstaff,

Good job! I am back to checking the site again with a post like that. It was starting to get like "Dear Abby" there for awhile.

PGStaff ...

Great information. One thing, tho ... I believe that beginning this year, they no longer alternate between American and National Leagues for first pick. It is the team with the worst record from the previous year, no matter the league. For instance, last year, the Padres ... a National League team ... had first pick and this year another National League team ... the Diamondbacks ... have the first pick.