2023 MLB Draft Lottery to take place during Winter Meetings

Major League Baseball announced today that the 2023 Draft Lottery will take place on December 6th, 2022 during the Winter Meetings in San Diego, California. The Draft Lottery is new to the MLB as it was agreed to when the Collective Bargaining Agreement was signed to end the lockout.

It used to be that where you finished at the end of the season, determined your draft spot. That is not the case anymore as the top six draft picks will be determined by a lottery instead of simply being the reverse order of the previous year’s standings. This is a great thing for baseball and should help boost competitiveness in the league.

The A’s, Nationals, and Pirates all had the worst records in baseball and carry the best chance of winning the number one pick. Like in previous years, any ties will be broken by comparing respective clubs’ winning percentages during the previous season.

However, all teams that did not qualify for the Postseason in 2022 and have not forfeited their first-round selection will be eligible for the Lottery and have the same chance to win the right to the number one pick.

As for the draft order for the 12 teams who made the playoffs, their order will now be determined by a combination of their finish in the postseason, revenue sharing status of the club, and reverse order of winning percentage during the regular season.

There is also a “competitive draft incentive” portion of the CBA that states competitive balance rounds A and B will be determined by descending order of winning percentage—within each supplemental round. This certainly is an interesting change to how things used to go and it should make things interesting.

Make sure to tune in to witness history as the first-ever MLB Draft Lottery results are revealed exclusively on MLB Network starting at 8:30 p.m. (ET)/5:30 p.m. (PT) from San Diego.