Twins Gain, A’s Lose $2.3 Million In Slot Value Thanks To MLB Draft Lottery
Image credit: Oakland Loss (Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/East Bay Times via Getty Images)
Before the Draft Lottery existed, the most interesting aspects of bonus pools being announced was finding out how much values had increased year over year, and seeing which teams had the most and least money to work with in their pools.
Now there is another element at play. Which teams added or lost the most amount of pool money given the draft lottery results? We had a general idea of the winners (Twins) and losers (A’s and Reds) as soon as the draft lottery was complete.
With the release of the 2023 slot values, we can now put exact dollar amounts on those movements to truly capture how important the new luck of the lottery is.
Below is a chart with all 18 lottery teams in current draft order, with the number of spots they gained or lost via the draft lottery, as well as money gained and lost as a result.
| Team | Post-Lottery Order |
Pre-Lottery Order |
Pick Difference |
Slot Value | $ Difference |
| Pirates | 1 | 3 | 2 | $9,721,000 | $1,379,300 |
| Nationals | 2 | 1 | -1 | $8,998,500 | -$722,500 |
| Tigers | 3 | 6 | 3 | $8,341,700 | $1,707,700 |
| Rangers | 4 | 7 | 3 | $7,698,000 | $1,422,800 |
| Twins | 5 | 13 | 8 | $7,139,700 | $2,291,200 |
| Athletics | 6 | 2 | -4 | $6,634,000 | -$2,364,500 |
| Reds | 7 | 4 | -3 | $6,275,200 | -$1,422,800 |
| Royals | 8 | 5 | -3 | $5,980,100 | -$1,159,600 |
| Rockies | 9 | 8 | -1 | $5,716,900 | -$263,200 |
| Marlins | 10 | 9 | -1 | $5,475,300 | -$241,600 |
| Angels | 11 | 10 | -1 | $5,253,000 | -$222,300 |
| D-backs | 12 | 11 | -1 | $5,043,800 | -$209,200 |
| Cubs | 13 | 12 | -1 | $4,848,500 | -$195,300 |
| Red Sox | 14 | 14 | 0 | $4,663,100 | $0 |
| White Sox | 15 | 15 | 0 | $4,488,600 | $0 |
| Giants | 16 | 16 | 0 | $4,326,600 | $0 |
| Orioles | 17 | 17 | 0 | $4,169,700 | $0 |
| Brewers | 18 | 18 | 0 | $4,021,400 | $0 |
The Twins are the big winners here. Under the old system the team would have picked at No. 13 in the first round, but it moved up to the No. 5 overall pick and went from a first-round slot value of $4.8 million to a first-round slot value of $7.1 million. The additional $2.3 million the team added is roughly equivalent to the slot value of the No. 37 pick in the draft.
Players who signed for bonuses near that amount in the 2022 draft include righthander JR Ritchie (Braves, supplemental first), righthander Landon Sims (D-backs, supplemental first), shortstop Mikey Romero (Red Sox, first round) and lefthander/first baseman Reggie Crawford (Giants, first round).
The Tigers, Rangers and Pirates all added between $1 and $2 million in slot value thanks to slight bumps up the draft order.
The A’s were far and away the biggest loser of the draft lottery, going from the No. 2 pick under the old system to the No. 6 pick. The team fell from nearly $9 million in slot value for its first pick to $6.6 million—a $2,364,500 loss in bonus pool money.
While the Twins essentially gained a supplemental pick thanks to the draft lottery, the A’s essentially lost one, in addition to whatever talent difference there winds up being between the No. 2 and No. 6 overall pick on draft day. Our current No. 2 player in the 2023 class is Florida outfielder Wyatt Langford and the No. 6 player in the class is North Carolina prep outfielder Walker Jenkins.
The Reds and Royals each lost more than $1 million in slot value after falling three spots apiece. It’s also notable that the Nationals, despite going from pick No. 1 to pick No. 2, lost more than $700,000 in slot value with the move.
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