There are only seven days left before the Royals start making selections in the 2020 MLB Draft. It’s almost here. I’ve been waiting for this event for quite a while. When Alex and I found out the draft was going to be held in Omaha in correspondence with the College World Series this year, we immediately booked rooms across from the stadium. Unfortunately, plans were scrubbed and the MLB Draft was moved to a virtual platform. That doesn’t mean we can’t still enjoy the Draft and everything that goes along with it!
Here’s the basics for what you need to know. The Draft will start June 10 at at 6:00 PM Central Time and be televised on ESPN and MLB Network. Picks 1 through 37 will be made on Day One and the remaining picks will be on Thursday. The Royals will make the 4th and 32nd overall selections on Wednesday.
On Thursday, starting at 4 PM Central, the second round will begin. The Royals will make picks 41, 76, 105, and 135 on the same two channels, ESPN and MLB Network.
The Royals will have $12,521,300 to spend if they stick with slot values. They can go up to 5% over that without penalty though, allowing them to spend $13,147,365 on just 6 players.
If a player is not picked, a team can offer up to $20,000 to sign that player. Teams can sign as many undrafted free agents as they want. In the past, teams were allowed to spend up to $125,000 per undrafted free agent before it went against their draft money.
Currently, we are releasing a series on 2020 Potential Draft Picks. You can look at some of those guys in the 2020 MLB Draft Profile library.
As always, we will give you immediate feedback on players that the Royals select. We will follow that up with more in depth coverage of players including expanded scouting reports, interviews, and film studies. Please make sure you follow us for all your Royals draft information.
Here is a short list of some of the latest Mock Drafts. Some of these are subscription.
Baseball America 6.0
Kiley McDaniel at ESPN 2.0
Perfect Game 2.0
Keith Law’s 3.0 on The Athletic
MLB Pipeline
Royals Farm Report 