The One Hitter – International Draft Order

Hey guys! I felt I needed to write about the new international draft proposal that was floated in the news today. For those who have not heard, there was a proposal to MLB team personnel about instituting an international draft as early as 2020.

The proposal states that there would be 20 rounds, with every team allowed to trade picks. Every pick would have a hard slot value, meaning that if a player is drafted and the hard value is 1 million, that player could only sign for a maximum of $1M. Picks in the top three rounds would be protected, so if a player is selected in one of those rounds and does not sign, the team could potentially receive compensation in the following year’s draft. After the 20th round teams can sign undrafted free agents for up to $25k. The players’ eligibility age would be 16 and the draft would be held in August.

One of the biggest twists, and the thing that made me do some thinking, is that each year the draft order would be done by division. Using an example, in 2020 the AL East would go first, then the NL East would go first in 2021, and so on.

Everything up until the draft order makes sense to me, even though I may not agree with all of it. The draft order proposal is a joke, to say the least, in my opinion.

I thought about this for a few minutes and it hit me. The solution is very simple and is something that can also be replicated with the regular draft.

Why not use a modified version of the NBA draft? All of the teams that did not make the playoffs have a fighting chance to get the 1st pick. I believe this would be a solution that would address the players’ concerns about tanking teams, by removing the guaranteed pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, while also giving the management of all non-playoff teams an equal chance, regardless of record. Since it would reduce the overwhelming rewards for full tanking it may increase the competition in the league. 

I think it’s a win-win. Would be curious to know what other people think.

-Pete Hand

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