Indians must wait until pick No. 64

Psst. The Major League Baseball Draft, a blip on the radar screen of fan interest compared to the attraction given the NFL and NBA drafts, begins 7 p.m. June 12.

The draft covers three days and lasts 40 rounds. The first round and Competitive Balance A, a total of 36 picks, will be televised on MLB Network. The remainder of the draft can be followed on MLB.com.

Game 5 of the NBA Finals between the Cavaliers and Warriors in Oakland should be moving along in the fourth quarter by the time the Indians are on the clock with their first pick – pick 64 overall. The reason they are picking so late is they lost their first pick when they signed Edwin Encarnacion in free agency over the winter. The Blue Jays get the 28th pick from the Indians as compensation for losing Encarnacion.

Don’t despair about the Indians having to wait so long to make a selection. Tribe second baseman Jason Kipnis was the 63rd pick in 2009, and that’s worked out well.

It is, of course, it’s impossible project with accuracy who the Indians will select with the 64th pick, but Jim Callis of MLB.com predicts the Indians will take right-handed pitcher James Marinan, 6-foot5, 220 pounds, from Park Vista Community High School in Boynton Beach, Florida. Marinan also plays first base. He has a commitment to play baseball for the University of Miami.

According to BaseballAmerica.com, players who should still be on the board when the Tribe is picking include a trio of third basemen – Greg Deichman of LSU, Drew Ellis of Louisville and Ryan Vilade, a high school player from Stillwater, Okla.

Baseball America ranks first baseman Gavin Sheets of Wake Forest 65th overall and left-handed pitcher Jacob Heatherly of Cullman High School in Alabama 63rd. Baseball America ranks Marinan 58th overall.

Brad Grant, the Indians’ senior director of amateur scouting, estimated 10 percent of players drafted make it to the major leagues. A look at the Indians’ lineup in their game with the Chicago White Sox illustrates what an inexact science the MLB draft is.

Shortstop Francisco Lindor, in his second full season with the Indians, was picked eighth overall in 2011. Third baseman Jose Ramirez was signed as a non-drafted free agent in 2009 when he was 17 years old.

The draft order is determined by inverse order of finish the previous season. The Indians’ next pick after 64 is 71st overall as a competitive balance pick at the end of the second round. Competitive balance picks are determined by a formula to award small-market and low-revenue teams with an extra pick at the end of either the first or second round.

The Indians have a total of 40 picks.

Rounds three through 10 of the draft will be conducted on June 13 beginning at 1 p.m. The draft will conclude beginning at noon on June 14 with the final 30 rounds.