Ex-pitchers Carpenter, Franklin to rep Cards at Draft

ST. LOUIS -- Chris Carpenter and Ryan Franklin, both of whom have taken front-office roles with the Cardinals' organization since their respective retirements, will represent the club next month at Major League Baseball's First-Year Player Draft.

Each club will have at least one draft representative on hand at MLB Network's Studio 42 on June 5, the first night of the three-day amateur Draft. The first 74 picks will be made that evening.

The Cardinals will have four selections on that first day. In addition to their first- and second-round picks (No. 27 and 68), the Cardinals garnered the 34th overall selection because of Carlos Beltran's departure and the 71st pick through the competitive-balance lottery.

Franklin was also the Cardinals' Draft representative last summer, when the Cardinals nabbed left-handers Marco Gonzales and Rob Kaminsky in the first round. Franklin, a 23rd-round selection by the Mariners in 1992, played his final five seasons in St. Louis. He saved 38 games and was named to the All-Star team in 2009, the best of his 11 years in the Majors.

Carpenter is in his first year of his retirement, though he made only six starts in his final two seasons. Carpenter, a three-time All-Star and Cy Young Award winner, was the 15th-overall pick in the 1993 Draft. Upon closing a 15-year playing career, Carpenter joined the Cardinals' front office to get exposure to various areas of baseball operations.

The 2014 Draft will take place on June 5-7, beginning with the Draft preview show on MLB.com and MLB Network on Thursday, June 5, at 5 p.m. CT. Live Draft coverage from MLB Network's Studio 42 begins at 6 p.m., with the top 74 picks being streamed on MLB.com and broadcast on MLB Network. MLB.com's exclusive coverage of the second and third days will begin with a live Draft show at 1:30 p.m. on June 6.

MLB.com's coverage includes Draft Central, the Top 100 Draft Prospects list and Draft Tracker, a live interactive application that includes a searchable database of Draft-eligible players. Every selection will be tweeted live from @MLBDraftTracker, and you can also keep up to date by following @MLBDraft. And get into the Draft conversation by tagging your tweets with #mlbdraft.