2020 MLB Draft Tracker

Each year, I create an MLB Draft Tracker and share it here. The tracker includes who is taken, what they sign for, slot value, and the over/under of the signing. This is something that’s updated daily and will be continually tweaked.

Here’s the gist of the MLB Draft. Every pick has a slot value; teams don’t have to follow it, but they have a total that they can spend without penalty. Team can exceed their pool amounts with certain penalties. Overages between 0 and 5% will be taxed 75% on the overage; many teams will spend up to 5% over their pool. Overages between 5 and 10% will be taxed 100% on the overage and the team will lose the following year’s first round pick; this hasn’t happened yet. Overages over 10% will be taxed 100% on the overage and the team will lose the following 2 year’s first round picks; again, this has happened.

Normally the draft is 40 rounds; due to Covid-19 cancelling the college and high school seasons, this year’s draft is limited to 5 rounds. Since the draft is smaller, there will be more non-drafted free agents signed after the draft if the players want to forgo college; these players are limited to $20k bonuses.

Page 1 (Draft) lists the individual picks. Page 2 (Pool Info) has more of the overall team tracking (how many have signed, bonuses vs pool amounts).

The pick breakdown is as follows:
Picks 1-29 are regular picks.
Picks 30-37 are Competitive Balance picks; pick 37 belonged to the St. Louis Cardinals and was traded in the Matthew Liberatore/Jose Martinez deal.
Picks 38-60 are regular picks.
Picks 61-66 are Competitive Balance picks; pick 63 belonged to the Tampa Bay Rays and was traded in the previously mentioned deal with the Cardinals; pick 64 belonged to the Milwaukee Brewers and was traded in the Omar Narvaez deal.
Picks 67-72 are compensation picks for teams that lost free agents with qualifying offers.
Picks 73 through the end are regular picks.