Draft Continues To Evolve

By Alan Matthews
June 5, 2007

In addition to the obvious change of having the draft on television for the first time, several significant rules changes take effect with this year's draft.

For one thing, the draft will be held on a Thursday and Friday, June 7-8, instead of the traditional Tuesday and Wednesday slot.

Perhaps most notably, the baseball draft will have a universal signing date for the first time. All draft picks have until Aug. 15 to come to terms, and if they don't sign by then they go back into the draft pool.

This rule change eliminates the draft-and-follow process, in which teams would control the rights to players attending junior college until the following spring.

While a much-discussed idea to cut the draft down from 50 rounds has not been approved for this year, some clubs are expected to stop drafting earlier than usual—with little chance to follow late-round picks.

"The changes are a positive," one baseball insider said. "Teams used it as a reason to wait on kids. Fewer players will be drafted than before, but more will be signed. It will be a feeling-out process."

Free agent compensation has changed for this year (see chart on facing page), and in the future teams will get better compensation for failing to sign premium choices. A club that fails to sign a pick in the first two rounds this year will get the selection following that choice the next year.

For example, a team that didn't sign the No. 8 overall pick one year would get the No. 9 overall selection the next. In addition, a club that can't land a third-round choice will get a supplemental third-round pick the next year. Previously, only unsigned first-round picks merited compensation, and then only in the supplemental first round.