If you have already heard the news surrounding the 2020 MLB Amateur Draft, you’ll know that this year’s version will still happen, but it will be cut back to just five rounds, shortening the annual event by a whopping 35 rounds.
Jeff Passan of ESPN was one of the first to report the news on Friday.
Most people who follow baseball basically knew the draft would be abbreviated in some shape or form, while others considered it might have been conceivably cancelled altogether. Back in late March, we put together a story surrounding those exact circumstances.
According to some reports, ownership and the players’ association were at an impasse on reaching an agreement on whether the draft would be five or 10 rounds. Ultimately, Commissioner Rob Manfred intervened, making the final ruling.
One of the caveats of the revised 2020 draft is that undrafted signings will only be able to receive a maximum initial bonus of $20,000, which was obviously a move to limit the financial strain on ownership.
As for the hundreds of others who would have been drafted this year, they will indeed have difficult decisions to make. One result could see an overwhelming number of players scrambling to enroll in some type of collegiate program. With many school administrators working remotely because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has already been a strain on the admissions processes, especially in terms of acceptance delays.
The bottom line is that there will certainly be countless bargains to be landed outside of the draft, which bodes well for Los Angeles boss Andrew Friedman and his heralded analytics department.
Because of the limitations behind the signing bonuses and number of rounds, teams like the Dodgers may potentially see success in courting players because of geography, the promise of rapid minor league advancement and other creative inducements, like the fact Los Angeles has one of the richest heritages in MLB history.
As far as the Dodgers go, the team is set up with six picks over the first five rounds. The club’s first selection will be the 29th pick of the opening round.
In addition to their regular picks, Los Angeles also has a pick in Competitive Balance Round B pick (No. 66 overall), received from the Twins in the deal that sent Kenta Maeda to Minnesota and brought Brusdar Graterol to the Dodgers.
The draft will take place on June 10. Originally, the venue was slated to be the Holland Center in Omaha, but whether this year’s affair will happen virtually or in person remains unknown.
The period for signing undrafted players will begin three days later on June 13.
Teams have until August 1 to sign players selected in the draft.
Think Blue Planning Committee 
Anyone know when the deadline is to sign the guys you’ve drafted?
And will that same date also apply to undrafted players?
In the 2019 draft the slot amount for 6th round choices averaged about $270,000. I’m going to contact AF and tell him he can go out and sign a really good prospect who would have gone in the 6th round to a $20,000 contract and the readers here at TBPC will chip in the other $250,000 to hire his brother or sister as an editor here. That’s what I call cleverly bending the rules. MLB will never catch on to what we’ve done.
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Signing deadline for drafted players is August 1.
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Does that mean undrafted players can be signed anytime up until next year’s draft?
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I don’t see why not. I don’t think there have ever been any restrictions in that regard. My guess is the junior colleges will be overloaded with talent in 2021. From what I’m hearing the NCAA has already granted this year’s senior class an extra year of collegiate eligibility.
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Not sure why any player slotted for the first the first 9/10 rounds would want to sign for $10,000 . They may as well go back to school or pack groceries and wait till next year. Biggest payday most players make after the first4/5 rounds is a signing bonus. Little chance of making the bigs. This also fits well with the large reduction of minor league teams they keep talking about. And please don’t tell me about the major leaguers drafted in the 9th round or we’ll start talking about the other 500 each year that end up, well packing groceries. 😁
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Oops. Brain drain. Meant $20’000. Same deal.
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You’re right Gordon, there will be some tough decisions to be made by some of these guys. High school seniors are already talking to Jr. colleges that they never would have thought about attending. College prospects can go back to school except if they’re seniors. I know my neighborhood supermarket is hiring. All in all, it’s going to be tough for everyone. Even if a guy might have gone #9 in this year’s draft, there will be twice as many guys to compete with next year. He’ll get more than 20K but still not as much as if things had been normal this year.
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They are talking about a 78-82 game season. Seems the big hang up is how much the players are going to get paid. 7 teams in each division into the playoffs with the two leaders getting the only bye. No room for error in a 82 game season. One bad slump and you are toast. They are not even sure how many players they are going to allow on the roster yet either. They want the teams to play in their own ball parks if feasible. We will see. Some sort of ideas should be coming down this week.
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I can see a class action law suit coming up by the undrafted players because of the twenty thousand dollar limit. These undrafted players don’t have the union to protect them, but they are also not limited by any agreement the union and MLB have in place.
At least that’s what I would do if I was a good prospect in the draft this season, and got drafted outside of the top five rounds.
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My son in law told me he heard the union is supposed to come out with a couple of proposals on what the players want to see happen, on Tuesday, to get the season going. This could be a very important part of getting the season started.
My guess is the league needs the players to agree to the conditions of play for the season, I doubt the league can just do whatever they want unilaterally.
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If the MLBPA does not agree to what the league proposes, well, there won’t be baseball. Right now there seems to be a lot of animosity about how they are going to get paid. MLB’s supposed proposal is for a 78-82 game season with 3 divisions of 10 teams, a universal DH and 14 teams making the playoffs. What is not specified is how much the players will be paid. The league wants the salary’s pro rated, half a year means Betts would get 13.5 for his 82 games. Something is supposed to come down from the league today, so we shall see.
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I think Sean Doolittle had it right yesterday when he said the first subject they discuss should be player safety. It seems as though the money part of it is being focused on when player/personnel health is more important. There is no question that teams will suffer tremendous revenue shortfalls with no fans in the stands. How much that will cost them in profits or losses I have no clue, but I’m really not going to cry if Mookie only gets 13 mil for playing half a season. I would be very sad, however, if they rushed this so quickly that he got COVID-19 and it affected the rest of his career.
There are millions of people out of work and drawing no salary and who haven’t gotten an unemployment check yet either. If the lowest paid player in MLB only got half a year’s salary, he’d still be pulling down about $250k. First get the health thing straightened out. If the can successfully deal with that, then move on to the money question.
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I totally get it. I also believe that this is not as bad as they are making it out to be. IMHO of course. I think some politico’s have gone too far. But I just want people to be healthy and active. All this sitting on your ass is not doing anyone any good. People here are taking road trips to the hills just to get away. Small gatherings are happening,. but when you go to the grocery store or Wal-Mart, there are still tons of people there, and most within 6 feet of you. Impossible to control that distance all of the time. And if you check the stats, this is the least lethal virus that has hit over the last several years. Recovery rate is higher than the death toll. But that is just my opinion which means bupkis.
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Got an email from Scoop. He is well. Just riding this out like the rest of us. I sent him a 52 Topps Mantle re-print I found. I know Mickey was his favorite player.
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By the way, there is a vaccine for the flu, and the flu still kills thousands every year. Nothing is a for sure thing.
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Yes, you can take the flu vaccine and still catch the flu, but I’m guessing that most people who catch the flu didn’t take the vaccine. I think a large percentage of the population has never had a flu shot. Also I believe studies indicate that if you do take the vaccine and get the flu, you get a milder case of it.
If what they’re now doing (or not doing) in Georgia and Florida doesn’t lead to a huge spike in cases in the next month or so, I will probably have to agree with you that it’s not as bad as they made it out to be. But the deaths from COVID have already outnumbered bad flu seasons and that’s with lots of quarantines and shut-downs which we never do for the flu. I never got anywhere near med school but it seems to me that with a virus like this the more people you get close to, the more likely you catch it. We’ll all be better off if your analysis turns out to be better than mine Bear. Here’s hoping.
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There have been 81,000 deaths in the US,. and about 290,000 world wide. The common flu, not a virulent form like the Asian or Swine flu, killed 57,000 last year. Covid-19’s death rate slightly higher, but, no where near what the Asian or Swine flu’s killed. As for the flu vaccine, I do not take it, simply because when I have, the touch of flu I have gotten has usually been pretty bad. If I do not get the shot, I do not get the flu. That simple. But that is just me. I have always been pretty much immune to it. Covid-19 is not airborne. Yes, I would think if someone who has it sneezes on you, the chances you get sick are higher. But you CANNOT keep people locked up this long. There are those who are taking advantage of this for their own agenda’s and I totally believe that.
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So be it. We agree to disagree. Ain’t the first time, won’t be the last.
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Hey I enjoy your posts much more than you know. We are of different minds and opinions. I personally hope your analysis is totally wrong. We all want this crap to be over with. And some semblance of normal to return. I do not hold out much hope for that. But I am totally through putting my life on hold for this.
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I hear you, my friend and lucky for you Canon City isn’t swarming with people so at least you can get out to places where you don’t have to worry. Did you ever get out to the lake? Trade your pickup in for a SmartCar and no one will ever ask you to help them move again. 🙂
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I am heading there this weekend. A friend of mine is going to custom paint the cover over the truck bed, and after I remove it for him this weekend, I am going up to Isabel to do a little trout fishing.
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Enjoy!
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Wow! A civil discussion about the decision to agree to disagree. What is this country coming to! Well done you two!
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Thanks for noticing Rich. I was pretty proud of us too.
It’s not all good though. I’m having the lake drained before he gets there this weekend. 🙂
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That way it will be easier for bear to catch some fish. He can just walk in and “Scoop” some up!
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I once asked Scoop where he got that nickname but I don’t remember what the answer was. I think it’s a great name for a ballplayer. I wonder if he’d be willing to share it with one of the current Dodger infielders.
How about Scoop Seager?
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I think it’s a good name for a sports reporter. 😀
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How about Scoop Schlossman?
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