With a pair of exhibition games in the books, MLB’s All-Star Week festivities continue on Sunday when the inexact science that is the MLB draft takes over downtown Los Angeles.
The three-day draft begins at 4 p.m. PT with the first two rounds – 80 picks total, including Competitive Balance Rounds A and B. Those picks will be made at Xbox Plaza at L.A. Live, and every team will have a representative on hand – Steve Sax will represent the Dodgers and Bill Stoneman will represent the Angels. MLB Network will broadcast all of Sunday’s selections, while ESPN will air the first round.
The Angels won’t have to wait too long to make their first selection (No. 13), but the Dodgers won’t pick until No. 40 because of a luxury tax penalty.
For the uninitiated, the MLB draft also moves at a much quicker pace than those of the NFL and NBA. Teams get three minutes to make their first-round or compensatory picks (1-32), two minutes between Competitive Balance Round A picks (33-39), then the clock drops to one minute between selections 40-80.
Rounds 3-10 begin Monday at 11 a.m. and rounds 11-20 begin Tuesday at 11 a.m. Those rounds will be held at a downtown hotel and will be streamed on MLB.com.
Nine top draft prospects are expected to be on hand Sunday, but who will go No. 1? That decision is up to the Baltimore Orioles, who have the first pick for the second time in four years. They went 52-110 last season and were tied with the Arizona Diamondbacks for the worst record in baseball, but the Orioles won the tiebreaker, which required using 2019 records since both teams also went 25-35 in 2020. Now Baltimore will be looking for a player who can join 2019 top pick Adley Rutschman in the core of its next contender.
Many consider the best player available to be Georgia high school outfielder Druw Jones – son of former Atlanta Braves outfielder Andruw Jones, a 10-time Gold Glove winner. Several other players have MLB bloodlines, including Jackson Holliday (son of seven-time All-Star Matt), Justin Crawford (son of four-time All-Star Carl) and Cam Collier (son of Lou).
One of the most intriguing prospects on the board is Kumar Rocker. The former Vanderbilt pitcher is back in this year’s class after failing to reach an agreement as the New York Mets’ first-round pick (No. 10 overall) last summer. He was the lone first-round pick who did not sign after the Mets had concerns over the health of his right arm.
Rocker’s agent, Scott Boras, confirmed that 10 months ago Rocker had “non-pitching-related minor surgery” on his right arm, and the 6-foot-5, 245-pound Rocker emerged from months of training privately when he signed a minor league contract with the Tri-City ValleyCats of the independent Frontier League in mid-May.
Rocker, 22, made five starts for the ValleyCats before being deactivated to prepare for the draft. He had a 1.35 ERA with 32 strikeouts and four walks and gave up 11 hits in 20 innings. His fastball was clocked as high as 99 mph and was consistently in that range during his stint with Tri-City to go along with a nasty curveball and slider.
“I think I have a better understanding of pro hitters, just growing up a little bit on the mound,” Rocker said after his final appearance for Tri-City.
Three years ago, Rocker led Vanderbilt to a College World Series title as a freshman. He was a three-year standout and posted a 2.89 ERA in 42 games (39 starts). He also was named MVP of the College World Series, racking up 44 strikeouts in 28 postseason innings, including a 19-strikeout no-hitter in an NCAA Super Regional against Duke. His ERA was a microscopic 0.96 in four postseason starts.
Another flamethrowing pitcher from the SEC is viewed as more of a roll of the dice because of his inexperience. Tennessee reliever Ben Joyce threw a pitch clocked at 105.5 mph in May, but he pitched only 32⅓ innings for the Volunteers last season (53 strikeouts, 14 walks, .157 opponents’ batting average).
The issue is that injuries have repeatedly limited Joyce’s time on the mound. He did not pitch a lot in high school, then missed his first season at Walters State (Tenn.) Community College in 2019 with an elbow injury. He pitched 20⅔ innings for that JC in 2020 before transferring to Tennessee and missing all of 2021 after having Tommy John surgery.
As if organizations did not already have their hands full weighing the present ability of college and high school players against future projections, there is another new wrinkle: the ramifications of the NCAA’s Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) policy. The opportunity for college athletes to make money off their talent has become another part of the calculus for teams, who already have to take into consideration the “signability” of players.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
2022 MLB DRAFT FIRST-ROUND ORDER
1. Baltimore Orioles
2. Arizona Diamondbacks
3. Texas Rangers
4. Pittsburgh Pirates
5. Washington Nationals
6. Miami Marlins
7. Chicago Cubs
8. Minnesota Twins
9. Kansas City Royals
10. Colorado Rockies
11. New York Mets (compensation for failing to sign 2021 No. 10 overall pick Kumar Rocker)
12. Detroit Tigers
13. Angels
14. New York Mets
15. San Diego Padres
16. Cleveland Guardians
17. Philadelphia Phillies
18. Cincinnati Reds
19. Oakland Athletics
20. Atlanta Braves
21. Seattle Mariners
22. St. Louis Cardinals
23. Toronto Blue Jays
24. Boston Red Sox
25. New York Yankees
26. Chicago White Sox
27. Milwaukee Brewers
28. Houston Astros
29. Tampa Bay Rays
30. San Francisco Giants
31. Colorado Rockies (for losing Trevor Story)
32. Cincinnati Reds (for losing Nick Castellanos)
COMPETITIVE BALANCE ROUND A
33. Baltimore Orioles
34. Arizona Diamondbacks
35. Kansas City Royals
36. Pittsburgh Pirates
37. Cleveland Guardians
38. Colorado Rockies
39. San Diego Padres
40. Dodgers (The Dodgers’ first pick was pushed back from No. 30 as a luxury tax penalty.)