Major League Baseball held their first ever Competitive Balance Lottery this afternoon. Pretty much, they take the teams with the smallest payrolls and smallest markets and put them in a pool. They then pick six teams to get an extra draft pick immediately following the first round. Then, the teams who didn’t get picked in that round, get put in a pool for six more picks following the second round.
Fortunately for the Pirates, this is pretty much the only new rule in the MLB draft that they actually benefit from, as it gives them a very good shot at receiving a free extra pick.
This afternoon, it was selected that the Pirates would get the second of the six picks following the first round of the draft. As Tim Williams points out, that would currently be the #33 overall pick in the draft. The team already has the #9 pick next season and will also get their regular first round pick, determined by where they finish in the final standings.
This is great in a couple of ways. First, it gives the Pirates another early round draft pick, so they will have three picks on the first day of the draft next year. It also greatly improves their draft pool to spend money from. With three early round picks, they will be able to spend a lot more money next year than they were permitted to spend this season.
