The first round of the 2022 amateur draft has been set, with Baseball America’s Carlos Collazo breaking down the order and various tiebreakers involved. In fact, a tiebreaker was necessary to determine that the Orioles will receive the first overall pick. The O’s and Diamondbacks both finished 52-110 this season, plus each went 25-35 in 2020.
Because the Orioles had the worse record of the two clubs in 2019, however, Baltimore will now get the 1-1 selection for the third time in franchise history. (The Orioles took Ben McDonald with the top pick of the 1989 draft, and selected star catching prospect Adley Rutschman just back in 2019.) This tiebreak advantage could be seen as another benefit of the long-term rebuild the Orioles have been undertaking for years now, though Baltimore fans might see this as something of a backhanded accomplishment.
Of course, it remains to be seen if the draft process will remain the same going forward. As Collazo notes, it is possible MLB and the players union could make changes to the draft as part of negotiations for the new collective bargaining agreement. The players (and agents) will quite likely push to alter how draft pick penalties are tied to the free agent market and the luxury tax system, not to mention how the draft pool process that puts significant limitations on what clubs can spend on amateur talent contracts.
There has also been some suggestion that the league could change the usual practice of establishing the draft order strictly by team record, to keep teams (like the Orioles) from tanking in order to stock up on as much young talent as possible at the top of the draft board. As well, there has long been speculation that the league could look into allowing all draft picks to be eligible to be traded. Right now, only the picks in the two Competitive Balance Rounds can be moved as part of trades, and it isn’t out of the question that the CBR criteria is itself changed in some way.
Here is the first-round draft order as it stands just after the end of the regular season. The order of picks beyond the first round won’t be officially known until any compensatory picks and the Competitive Balance Rounds have been decided.
- Orioles (52-110)
- Diamondbacks (52-110)
- Rangers (60-102)
- Pirates (61-101)
- Nationals (65-97)
- Marlins (67-95)
- Cubs (71-91)
- Twins (73-89)
- Royals (74-88)
- Rockies (74-87)
- Mets (compensatory pick for not signing Kumar Rocker, the 10th overall pick in the 2020 draft)
- Tigers (77-85)
- Angels (77-85)
- Mets (77-85)
- Padres (79-83)
- Indians (80-82)
- Phillies (82-80)
- Reds (83-79)
- Athletics (86-76)
- Braves (88-73)
- Mariners (90-72)
- Cardinals (90-72)
- Blue Jays (91-71)
- Red Sox (92-70)
- Yankees (92-70)
- White Sox (93-69)
- Brewers (95-67)
- Astros (95-67)
- Rays (100-62)
- Dodgers (106-56)
- Giants (107-55)
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