The order for the 2023 MLB Draft is currently set.
The White Sox, who entered the inaugural MLB Draft Lottery with an 0.62% chance of getting the top pick, received the 15th overall selection. Washington, Oakland, and Pittsburgh all held the best odds at 16.50%, with the Pirates winning the first overall pick.
2023 MLB Draft – Top 18 Selections
- Pirates
- Nationals
- Tigers
- Rangers
- Twins
- Athletics
- Reds
- Royals
- Rockies
- Marlins
- Angels
- D-Backs
- Cubs
- Red Sox
- White Sox
- Giants
- Orioles
- Brewers
Since the lottery is still a new concept to Major League Baseball, here’s a general overview of how the process works:
- The order of the first six picks in the 2023 MLB Draft will be decided at the lottery, which will involve only the 18 teams that did not make the 2022 postseason.
- The remaining 12 teams who do not receive a top-six pick will make their selections in the order of their 2022 winning percentage.
As part of the latest collective bargaining agreement in March, teams are no longer guaranteed a high pick based on their poor play. Instead, the lottery includes all teams that failed to reach the postseason and didn’t forfeit their first-round pick, such as for signing a qualified free agent. The goal of this is to discourage teams from purposefully tanking in order to get the top overall pick, made popular by Houston from 2011-13.
As alluded to already, a team’s odds of winning the lottery are based on the prior year’s win percentage, with the worst given the best odds. If teams have identical win percentages, the tiebreaker goes to the previous year’s record. The remaining 12 postseason teams will fill out the rest of the first round based on when they were eliminated in October and their revenue-sharing status.
Two other professional leagues use a draft lottery, with the NBA starting theirs in 1985 and the NHL in 1995. Major League Baseball still has some work to do in the future to catch up to each and make their process more engaging for fans, which they will surely learn from after tonight.
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Featured Photo: © Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
