About the Draft

Each league has an amateur draft each season. In the amateur draft, teams draft new players out of high school and college, dumping them into the low minors for development into future big leaguers. Typically, amateur draft players are between 17 and 23 years old, and depending on their age may be need a good number of years to reach their potential.

Draft Orders

Each season, when you get your season's schedule, you'll be able to view the Draft Order for that season's amateur draft. For a league's inaugural season, the draft order is based on the total team payroll at the time the season's schedule becomes available (lowest payroll picks first, highest payroll picks last). For all subsequent seasons, the draft list is based on the most wins by a team in the prior season (including playoff games). In the case of ties, the payroll is the tie-breaker (lower payrolls getting the higher pick); beyond that, it's a coin-flip.

Draft Schedule

On the 35th day of the season (usually around May 6), the list of players eligible for the amateur draft list will be available. The draft will be processed on the 105th day of the season (usually around July 15).

Draft Lists and Drafting Players

Once the list of players is available, the game will pre-order these players into a draft list for each team. Team owners can customize their draft list based on their opinions and needs. To edit your draft list, click the Amateur Draft link when viewing your team.

During each round of the draft, each team picks the highest-ranked player in their draft list who is available. Your team will draft up to three players (one in each round of the three-round draft), provided you have enough room in low minors. Since all amateur draft players automatically go to low minors, and there is a maximum of 10 players in low minors, if you already have 8 or more players in low minors, you will draft less than three players! In fact, if you have 10 players in low minors, you will skip the draft altogether! Be sure to pay attention to your roster when it's time for the draft!