MLB adjusts as pandemic affects draft preparation

The Detroit Tigers can feel certain about one thing: They have the No. 1 pick in the draft.

What that Major League Baseball draft will look like, when and where it will take place and how the selections will be made still isn’t clear.

“It’s going to present different challenges, probably,” said Scott Pleis, Detroit’s director of amateur scouting. “It’s just going to be different. It’s not going to affect the outcome, it’ll just be a different way of coming to that outcome.”

The NFL experienced that last week because of the coronavirus pandemic, conducting a remote draft with video screens, Zoom chats and other tech innovations that made the event popular with fans.

Normally, the college season would be in full swing now, giving major league teams a chance to monitor top prospects in the weeks leading up to the draft. But with college and high school games shelved because of the virus outbreak, front offices can only do so much in what is clearly an abnormal year.

Every team faces similar obstacles. “The challenges have been that they stopped playing baseball about six weeks into the spring season,” Washington general manager Mike Rizzo said. “So that’s been the biggest hurdle that we had to face”

Last month’s deal between MLB and the players’ union paved the way for changes to the draft, which was to be held June 10-12 in Omaha, Nebraska, in conjunction with the

College World Series.

Under the agreement, obtained by The Associated Press, MLB has the right to delay the dates of the 2020 and 2021 drafts to as late as July 20, and MLB may reduce rounds from 40 to five in 2020 and to 20 in 2021.

Signing bonuses may be deferred, and signing bonuses for undrafted players subject to the draft will be capped at $20,000.

This year, the market of undrafted players could be crucial.

“We’re going to prepare for, really almost like we prepared for 40 rounds,” Pleis said. “We’re going to go through them all, we’re going to rank them like we’ve always ranked them.”

College programs could reap the benefits of both a shortened draft and the cap on signing bonuses for undrafted players. There may be less incentive for prospects to leave school early.

The uncertainty about the minor league season this year — and even the college season next year — could also make for tricky decisions.

Will there be a place to play whether a prospect decides to go or stay?

“I think there’s a host of information that you’d want to know, and then that’s really where I think the clubs can differentiate themselves,” Texas GM Jon Daniels said.

“I think that’s what we’re going to be focused on, demonstrating to players, demonstrating to parents, demonstrating to coaches, and people that care about these players, that we’re going to go above and beyond in taking care of our people and developing our players on and off the field,” he said.