Major League Baseball draft

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The Major League Baseball draft (officially the Rule 4 Draft; also known as the first-year player draft or amateur draft) is the primary mechanism by which Major League Baseball (MLB) assigns amateur baseball players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur baseball clubs to its teams. The draft order is determined by a lottery system, starting in 2023, where teams that did not make the postseason in the previous year participate in a lottery process to determine the first six picks. The team with the worst record has the best odds of receiving the first pick. Prior to 2023, the draft order was based on the previous season's standings, with the worst team selecting first. The first amateur draft was held in 1965. Unlike most sports drafts, the MLB draft is held mid-season, taking place in July since 2021. Another distinguishing feature of the draft compared to those of other North American major professional sports leagues is its sheer size: currently, the draft lasts for 20 rounds (600+ selections), in addition to compensatory picks introduced in 2021; until 2019, it lasted up to 40 rounds (1,200+ selections), and until 2011, it lasted up to 50 rounds (1,500+ selections). In contrast, the NFL draft lasts seven rounds (260 selections), the NHL entry draft lasts seven rounds (224 selections), the MLS SuperDraft lasts three rounds (87 selections), the CFL draft lasts eight rounds (72 selections), and the NBA draft is only two rounds (60 selections). On March 26, 2020, MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) reached a deal that included the option to shorten that year's draft to five rounds, and halve the 2021 draft to 20 rounds. On March 10, 2022, after agreeing on a new collective bargaining agreement, it was decided that the first-round order would be...