This time, Franklin will make calls for Cards

ST. LOUIS -- For five years, Ryan Franklin was on the receiving end of phone calls as a reliever in the Cardinals' bullpen. But for one night, Franklin will be the one on the horn delivering news.

Franklin will be in the MLB Network Draft room on the first night of the First-Year Player Draft, and will phone in the Cardinals' first-round picks to Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig. Franklin will also announce St. Louis' three selections in the sandwich round, which occurs between the first and second rounds.

The annual First-Year Player Draft takes place this year from June 4-6, beginning with the first round and Comp Round A on June 4, at 6 p.m. CT. The first night of the event will be broadcast live on MLB Network and streamed live on MLB.com. Rounds 2-40 will also be streamed live on MLB.com on June 5-6.

MLB.com's coverage, sponsored by CenturyLink, will include Draft Central, the Top 100 Draft Prospects list, Draft Tracker, a live interactive application that includes a searchable database of every Draft-eligible player, and Draft Caster. You can also keep up to date by following @MLBDraft on Twitter. And get into the Draft conversation by tagging your tweets with #mlbdraft.

The Cardinals have five picks on the first night of the Draft, including the 19th and 23rd overall selections.

Franklin finished his 12-year Major League career with five seasons in St. Louis, retiring as a Cardinal in 2011. He also spent time with the Mariners, Phillies and Reds. Franklin posted a career record of 62-76 and a 4.14 ERA and had his best year in 2009 as the Cardinals' closer. An All-Star selection that year, Franklin recorded 38 saves and 44 strikeouts.

Franklin has remained with the organization and now holds a front office position.