The first two days and 10 rounds of the 2023 Draft have been completed, but the hard work done to get potential future stars is far from finished.
Day 3 of the Draft arrives Tuesday as part of the All-Star festivities in Seattle, and a few of the participants in this year’s Midsummer Classic know all too well about the value that can be found in later rounds.
Five of this year’s All-Stars were taken and signed in the 10th round or later when they first entered pro ball: Jordan Romano (10th), Nathan Eovaldi (11th), Josh Hader (19th), J.D. Martinez (20th) and David Bednar (35th). That’s an elite starter, a dominant DH and three lights-out arms who didn’t hear their names called until very late in the process.
Wondering which late-rounders could be the All-Stars of tomorrow? Only one way to find out for yourself.
Day 3 of the 2023 First-Year Player Draft officially begins Tuesday at 2 p.m. ET. All picks will be streamed for free on MLB.com, and there will be no delay between selections. You can also follow along with Rounds 11-20 on the official Draft Tracker and by following @MLBDraft on Twitter.
Cameron Johnson, LHP, IMG Academy (Fla.) (No. 42 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 250)
Roch Cholowsky, SS, Hamilton (Ariz.) HS (No. 44)
Trent Caraway, 3B/SS, JSerra Catholic (Calif.) HS (No. 70)
Zane Adams, LHP, Porter (Texas) HS (No. 73)
Will Gasparino, OF, Harvard-Westlake (Calif.) HS (No. 75)
Tanner Witt, RHP, Texas (No. 76)
Caden Sorrell, OF, Marcus (Texas) HS (No. 79)
Joey Volchko, RHP, Redwood (Calif.) HS (No. 80)
Liam Peterson, RHP, Calvary Christian (Fla.) HS (No. 85)
Jake Brown, LHP, Sulphur (La.) HS (No. 93)
Nine of the top 10 prospects remaining come from the high-school ranks, and the 10th is Witt, who only pitched 10 2/3 innings for Texas this spring as he returned from Tommy John surgery. The other nine are highly likely to honor their college commitments after dropping this far, but it isn’t outside the realm of possibility that they could be taken and signed either.
Clubs are allowed to spend up to $150,000 on players selected in Rounds 11-20 without it counting toward their bonus pool. Any overages go against the pool, so there’s a chance that an organization with lots of early savings could have the space to add a premium talent late on Tuesday.
There’s also significantly less risk in trying that on Day 3. In the first 10 rounds, an unsigned player’s slot bonus still counts toward the pool, giving clubs an extra incentive to ink all of their early picks. There is no such penalty in the 11th round and beyond, so expect some big swings from clubs Tuesday even if they don’t connect before the signing deadline.
All-time talent in Rounds 11-20
Rounds 11-20 have brought some big-time names to Major League Baseball in Hall of Famers Andre Dawson (11th, 1975), Ryne Sandberg (20th, 1978) and Jim Thome (13th, 1989); MVPs Jose Canseco (15th, 1982), Jeff Kent (20th, 1989), Don Mattingly (19th, 1979), Dave Parker (14th, 1970) and the recently retired Albert Pujols (13th, 1999), and Cy Young Award winners Orel Hershiser (17th, 1979) and Bret Saberhagen (19th, 1982).