Eighteen former Major League All-Stars, including a Hall of Famer, a Most Valuable Player, a Cy Young Award winner and two Rookies of the Year are among the baseball dignitaries scheduled to represent the 30 Clubs at Major League Baseball's 2017 Draft, it was announced today.
Hall of Famer, 13-time All-Star and 1980 American League Most Valuable Player George Brett headlines a decorated list of baseball personnel scheduled to attend the 2017 MLB Draft on Monday, June 12th at MLB Network's Studio 42 in Secaucus, New Jersey. Brett will be joined by 1976 National League Cy Young Award winner Randy Jones; 1973 NL Rookie of the Year Gary Matthews; 1983 AL Rookie of the Year Ron Kittle; 2013 NL batting champion Michael Cuddyer; and 1997 World Series-winning manager Jim Leyland, who also led Team USA to its first World Baseball Classic Championship in March.
Other former All-Stars who will represent the Clubs are (alphabetically): Felipe Alou (SF); Bob Boone (WSH); Ron Cey (LAD); Keith Foulke (BOS); Ralph Garr (ATL); Jeffrey Hammonds (BAL); Joel Hanrahan (PIT); Corey Hart (MIL); Orlando Hudson (ARI); Ruppert Jones (SEA); Lloyd Moseby (TOR); Mike Sweeney (KC); and Nick Swisher (NYY).
Amateur players who will attend MLB's 2017 Draft will be forthcoming.
The Draft will begin live on MLB Network and MLB.com on Thursday, June 12th 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 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 2017 Draft will span three days as it has since 2009. For day one on June 12th, Round 1 and Competitive Balance Round A will air exclusively on MLB Network and MLB.com. Beginning with the first pick in Round 2 and continuing through Competitive Balance Round B, the Draft will air live exclusively on MLB.com, while MLB Network will continue to provide live look-ins and coverage of the Draft on MLB Tonight. The intervals between selections during round one will last four minutes, followed by one-minute intervals between selections during Competitive Balance Round A, the second round and Competitive Balance Round B.
The Draft will resume at 1:00 p.m. (ET) on Tuesday, June 13th, when selections will be made for rounds 3-10, with one minute intervals between selections. Day three of the Draft on Wednesday, June 14th will begin at 12:00 p.m. (ET), featuring picks in rounds 11-40, with no time delay between selections.
The selection order of the Draft is determined by the reverse order of finish at the close of the previous championship season. For the third time in team history, the Minnesota Twins will have the first overall selection of the Draft. In 2001, Minnesota drafted six-time All-Star, three-time American League batting champion and 2009 AL Most Valuable Player Joe Mauer with the top overall selection. The Twins also held the first overall pick in 1983, when they selected pitcher Tim Belcher, though he did not sign.
The Toronto Blue Jays (22nd and 28th), the Texas Rangers (26th and 29th) and the Chicago Cubs (27th and 30th) each have two selections in the first round. The Houston Astros (15th, 53rd, 56th and 75th) and the Pittsburgh Pirates (12th, 42nd, 50th and 72nd) each have a Major League-best four selections within the first 75 picks during the first day of the Draft.
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, Eric Byrnes, Sean Casey, Mark DeRosa, Cliff Floyd, Al Leiter, Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez, Kelly Nash, Carlos Peña, Dan Plesac, Bill Ripken and Hall of Famer John Smoltz, as well as Jim Callis of MLB.com and John Manuel of Baseball America.
MLB.com will continue 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 13th, 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.
The MLB Network Radio channel on SiriusXM will also offer live MLB Draft coverage to listeners nationwide. SiriusXM's Grant Paulsen and former MLB general managers Jim Duquette and Jim Bowden will host Monday, June 12th starting at 6:00 p.m. (ET) and will provide live pick-by-pick analysis throughout the first round on Sirius channel 209, XM channel 89 and with your phone on the SiriusXM App.