The Atlanta Braves have managed to survive the first half in relatively decent shape despite losing both Ronald Acuna Jr. and Spencer Strider to season-ending injuries and multiple players on their roster underperforming thus far. Now, they have what could be on the doorstep of a pivotal point for the future for the franchise as the 2024 MLB Draft has officially arrived.
Given that the Braves pick towards the bottom of each round, predicting exactly who could be in play for them as feasible draft targets in the first round has been exceedingly difficult (and their plans after that are almost impossible). The expert mock drafts have tried their best, but even they have been oscillating between various as more information (and misinformation) has become available.
What we DO know is that the draft gets started on Sunday and it should be fascinating to see the Braves' strategy play out. For those that don't know how to watch the draft or what is going on when it comes to the MLB Draft, we have you covered.
2024 MLB Draft: How to watch the MLB Draft (TV and Streaming), Draft Schedule
Since 2021, the MLB Draft has been folded into the beginning of the All-Star break as sort of a kick-off for the festivities. The idea behind that change versus having the draft in June is that there are more potentially available eyeballs to watch the draft and more players can potentially attend the draft itself without the College World Series in the way. The end result has received mixed reviews, but the draft is certainly more of a spectacle these days.
With day one of the 2024 MLB Draft slated to get started on Sunday, July 14 at 7 PM EST, here is the complete schedule of the draft itself.
2024 MLB Draft Schedule
Date | Rounds | Time |
|---|---|---|
Sunday, July 14 | 1-2 (including supplemental picks) | 7 PM EST (6 PM EST for pre-draft coverage) |
Monday, July 15 | 3-10 | 2 PM EST |
Tuesday, July 16 | 11-20 | 2 PM EST |
This has been pretty much the schedule format that the draft has had in place since the draft went to 20 rounds instead of 40. Rounds one and two get all the analysis and press coverage, then day two is a bit more fast-paced with some time for discussion between picks, and then day three is rapid-fire pick time where if you blink, you could miss a couple picks and it is mostly just audio with little analysis.
There does seem to be a little bit of confusion as to when pre-draft coverage is ACTUALLY starting on the network side with varying sources saying either 5 PM EST or 6 PM EST. You can just try to check each source at 5 PM if you are really needing your draft fix, but it is a mortal lock that you will find pre-draft coverage at 6 PM on all sources. As for how to watch the 2024 MLB Draft, there are plenty of options available.
How to watch the 2024 MLB Draft
- TV: Rounds 1-2 on ESPN, MLB Network, MLB.TV, Rounds 3-20 only on MLB.TV
- Streaming: MLB.TV, MLB.com, MLB App
With the draft getting moved to the All-Star break, MLB was also able to expand coverage of the event to include two major sports networks in ESPN and MLB Network who each have tremendous draft analysts and experts providing insight. While we recommend for your own sanity not paying attention to Harold Reynolds too much, you can't really go wrong with either of the cable options for day one.
As for those that prefer the online streaming options, MLB.com's streams are usually high quality and feature the same content that is found on MLB Network. Online is also the ONLY way to watch coverage of days two and three of the draft as those days are not covered on cable, but the MLB coverage on their site is still quite good for the true draft diehards out there.
Braves 2024 MLB Draft Position and Bonus Pool
The part that is all Braves fans REALLY care about is where do the Braves pick and how much money can they spend. As a playoff team, the Braves were not a lottery team and their draft position was set once qualified free agents had signed and Atlanta ended up with the #24 overall pick in the first round. The Braves do not have any comp round picks and for the rest of the draft, they generally pick towards the bottom of each round with minor changes here and there because of pick fluctuations ahead of them.
MLB's draft bonus pool system employs a slot system where each pick in the first 10 rounds is assigned a slot value. You add up each team's pick slots and that is their total bonus pool for the draft which, in the Braves' case, means that Atlanta has a total of $7,765,000 to play with. As long as all of their first picks in the first 10 rounds sign, they can divide that money however they want to amongst those picks as well as use it to give larger than $150,000 bonuses to guys they pick in rounds 11-20. It is very likely the Braves will go 5% over their bonus pool as well as the penalties are minimal for doing so, but no more than that because teams lose draft picks beyond that threshold.
2024 MLB Draft: Complete First Round Draft Order
1. Cleveland Guardians
2. Cincinnati Reds
3. Colorado Rockies
4. Oakland Athletics
5. Chicago White Sox
6. Kansas City Royals
7. St. Louis Cardinals
8. Los Angeles Angels
9. Pittsburgh Pirates
10. Washington Nationals
11. Detroit Tigers
12. Boston Red Sox
13. San Francisco Giants
14. Chicago Cubs
15. Seattle Mariners
16. Miami Marlins
17. Milwaukee Brewers
18. Tampa Bay Rays
19. New York Mets
20. Toronto Blue Jays
21. Minnesota Twins
22. Baltimore Orioles
23. Los Angeles Dodgers
24. Atlanta Braves
25. San Diego Padres
26. New York Yankees
27. Philadelphia Phillies
28. Houston Astros
29. Arizona Diamondbacks
30. Texas Rangers
As we can see, the order of picks in the first round presents a couple challenges for the Braves this year. One, picking towards the bottom isn't ideal as the best talent is already off the board. More importantly, they have a couple teams ahead of them in the Orioles and Dodgers that value the same sorts of players the Braves prefer as well. Getting the guys they want to float past those teams will be tricky and could contribute to a fair bit of misdirection and gamesmanship when it comes to pre-draft rumors to try and get the guy they want to drop to them.