Major League Baseball will hold day one of the 2016 MLB Draft on Thursday, June 9th at MLB Network's Studio 42 in Secaucus, New Jersey. This year's Draft will begin live on MLB Network and MLB.com at 7:00 p.m. (ET). Prior to the start of the Draft, MLB Network will air a Draft preview show, also simulcast on MLB.com, at 6:00 p.m. (ET).
The selection order of the Draft is determined by the reverse order of finish at the close of the previous championship season. The Philadelphia Phillies will have the first overall selection of the 2016 Draft, marking the second time in Club history that they hold the top selection. The Phillies also held the first overall pick in 1998, when they selected outfielder Pat Burrell.
The San Diego Padres (8th, 24th and 25th) and the St. Louis Cardinals (23rd, 33rd, 34th) each have three selections in the first round, while the Chicago White Sox (10th and 26th), New York Mets (19th and 31st), Los Angeles Dodgers (20th and 32nd) and Washington Nationals (28th and 29th) each have two selections in the opening round. The Padres have a Major League-high five selections within the first 77 picks during the first day of the Draft.
The Draft will once again feature Competitive Balance Lottery Rounds, which were agreed upon as a part of the 2012-2016 Basic Agreement between MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association. The Competitive Balance Lottery Rounds give Clubs with the lowest revenues and in the smallest markets the opportunity to obtain additional draft picks through a lottery, which was held last July. The 10 Clubs with the lowest revenues and the 10 Clubs in the smallest markets were entered into a lottery for the six selections immediately following the first round of the Draft (picks 35-41). The eligible Clubs that did not receive one of the six selections after the first round, and all other payee Clubs under the Revenue Sharing Plan, were entered into a second lottery for the six picks immediately following the second round of the Draft (picks 71-77). Please note that both Competitive Balance Lottery Rounds feature seven picks this year due to drafted players not signing a contract with the drafting Club in 2015 (Los Angeles Dodgers - 36th overall, Competitive Balance Lottery Round A; Minnesota Twins - 74th overall, Competitive Balance Lottery Round B).
The Draft will have 40 rounds, and a Club may pass on its selection in any round and not forfeit its right to participate in other rounds. The 2016 Draft will span three days as it has since 2009. For day one on June 9th, MLB Network and MLB.com will provide live pick-by-pick coverage during the first round, Competitive Balance Lottery Round A, the second round and Competitive Balance Lottery Round B.
The intervals between selections during round one will last four minutes, followed by one-minute intervals between selections during Competitive Balance Lottery Round A, the second round and Competitive Balance Lottery Round B. The Draft will resume at 1:00 p.m. (ET) on Friday, June 10th, when selections will be made for rounds 3-10, with one minute intervals between selections. Day three of the Draft on Saturday, June 11th will begin at 12:00 p.m. (ET), featuring picks in rounds 11-40, with no time delay between selections.
Beginning with the Draft preview show at 6:00 p.m. ET, MLB Network's live coverage will feature news, analysis, interviews with Club front office personnel and representatives, footage from Club draft rooms, and features and interviews with prospects and newly drafted players. MLB Network's Greg Amsinger, Peter Gammons, Dan O'Dowd, Harold Reynolds and MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo will anchor the live coverage with contributions from MLB Network's Scott Braun, Sean Casey, Mark DeRosa, Al Leiter, Pedro Martinez, Kevin Millar, Carlos Peña, Dan Plesac, Bill Ripken, Sam Ryan, John Smoltz and Matt Yallof, as well as Jim Callis of MLB.com and John Manuel of Baseball America.
MLB.com will begin its exclusive live programming of the Draft's final two days with a live draft show from its New York studios at 12:30 p.m. (ET) on June 10th, followed by a live pick-by-pick stream and draft and scouting expert commentary from Mayo and Callis. It also will provide Draft Tracker, a live interactive application that includes a searchable database of more than 1,500 draft-eligible players with statistics, scouting reports and video highlights. On Twitter, the official Draft Twitter account, @MLBDraft, will provide up-to-the-moment updates and commentary using the official Draft hashtag, #MLBDraft, while @MLBDraftTracker will tweet all picks as they are made.
Each of the 30 Major League Clubs will be represented at the Draft by one of its former players and/or a member of its front office. Last year's representatives included 2016 Hall of Fame electee Ken Griffey Jr.; Hall of Famers Andre Dawson, Tommy Lasorda, Mike Schmidt, John Smoltz and Tony Perez; and former All-Stars Johnny Damon, Dwight Gooden, Lee Smith and Alan Trammell, amongst others. The Club representatives who will attend the 2016 Draft will be announced in the weeks ahead. In addition to the Club representatives, four players chosen in the first round of the Draft last year were in attendance.