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Beginning with the 2022 First-Year Player Draft (or "MLB Rule 4 Draft"), the draft will be held over a three-day period between June 1st and July 20th.
NOTE: The draft will be held July 17-19 in 2022.
Beginning with the 2022 season and going forward, the draft will be twenty rounds.
Beginning with the 2023 draft:
1. Draft order for rounds #2 - #20 will be based upon the inverse order of winning percentages from the previous season. If the winning percentages of two or more clubs are the same, the club with the lowest winning percentage from the previous season picks first. If two or more clubs are still tied, league standings from two years back (or three years back, four years back, etc) are used to break the tie;
2. Draft order for the first six picks in the first round (only) will be determined by a weighted lottery similar to the one used the NBA. Only the 18 clubs that did not qualify for the post-season in the previous season are eligible to participate in the lottery.
NOTE: The 2023 MLB Rule 4 Draft draft lottery was held on 12/6 at the 2022 MLB Winter Meetings in San Diego. The Cubs fell back one slot and will pick 13th in the 1st round of the 2023 draft.
3. Draft order for the twelve clubs that did qualify for the post-season in the previous season will be determined by when the club was eliminated from contention in the post-season and that club's revenue-sharing and/or tax status, with the four Wild Card round losers selecting #19 - #22, the four LDS losers selecting #23 - #26, the two LCS losers selecting #27-#28, the World Series loser selecting #29, and the World Series winner selecting #30. Within the Wild Card losers, LDS losers, and LCS losers groups, draft order will be determined by whether the club received revenue sharing funds (higher pick), paid a Competitive Balance Tax (lower pick), or neither received revenue sharing funds nor paid a CBT (middle pick), with the tie-breaker the same as used in rounds #2 - #20.
Competitive Balance Rule 4 Draft picks are slotted in two groups (Competitive Balance Round "A" is slotted after the 1st Round, and Competitive Balance Round "B" is slotted between the 2nd and 3rd rounds).
NOTE: Beginning with the 2017 Rule 4 Draft, Competitive Balance draft picks will no longer be awarded by lottery. Rather, all clubs who qualify (the ten smallest market clubs and the ten lowest revenue clubs) will receive Competitive Balance draft picks in either Competitive Balance Round "A" (between the 1st & 2nd round) or in Competitive Balance Round "B" (between the 2nd & 3rd rounds), with each club alternating between the two rounds every-other year.
If an Article XX-B Qualified Player subsequently signs a Major League contract with another (different) MLB club prior to the MLB Rule 4 Draft (MLB First-Year Player Draft), the player's former club (the club that lost the Qualified Player) normally will receive a compensatory draft pick in the MLB Rule 4 Draft between the 2nd & 3rd rounds (after Competitive Balance Round "B").
EXCEPTIONS: An MLB club that receives revenue sharing funds would receive a compensatory draft pick immediately after the conclusion of the 1st round (prior to Competitive Balance Round "A") - IF - the Qualified Player signs a contract worth at least $50M (the club would receive a compensatory draft pick between the 2nd & 3rd rounds and after Competitive Balance Round "B" if the Qualified Player signs a contract worth less than $50M), and an MLB club that is a Competitive Balance Tax (CBT) payor (club's payroll from the previous season exceeded the so-called "Luxury Tax") would receive a draft pick between the 4th & 5th rounds.
NOTE: If more than one club receives the same type of compensatory pick, the draft order for the comp picks is the same as it is for all other rounds in that draft (clubs select in inverse order of league standings from the previous season, and in the case of two clubs finishing with the same record the previous season, league standings from two seasons back will be used to break the tie, and if If the clubs are still tied, league standings from three seasons back, four seasons back, etc, will be used to break the tie).
CUBS ARTICLE XX-B QUALIFIED PLAYERS POST-2022 (last updated 12-9-2022):
Willson Contreras, C
An MLB club that signs an Article XX-B player who was extended a Qualifying Offer from his previous club forfeits its 2nd highest selection in the next MLB Rule 4 Draft and $500,000 is subtracted from its assigned International Signing Bonus Pool (ISBP) in the next full International Signing Period (ISP).
EXCEPTIONS: An MLB club that receives revenue sharing funds would surrender its 3rd highest selection in the draft but nothing is subtracted from the club's ISBP in the next full ISP, and an MLB club that is a CBT payer (club's payroll from the previous season exceeded the so-called "Luxury Tax") would forfeit its 2nd & 5th selection in the draft and have $1,000,000 subtracted from its ISBP in the next ISP.
NOTE: The Competitive Balance Tax threshold will be $230M in 2022, $233M in 2023, $237M in 2024, $241M in 2025, and $244M in 2026.
POST-2022 ARTICLE XX-B QUALIFIED PLAYERS SIGNED BY CUBS (last updated 12-21-2022):
Dansby Swanson, INF
The next highest Rule 4 Draft pick (or draft picks) will be forfeited if a club signs more than one Article XX-B player who was extended a Qualifying Offer from his previous club (one draft pick forfeited for each Qualified Player signed).
NOTE: A CBT payer (club's payroll from the previous season exceeded the so-called "Luxury Tax") would forfeit its 3rd & 6th highest selections if the club signs a second Qualified Player, its 4th & 7th selections if the club signs a third Qualified Player, and its 8th & 9th highest selections, 10th & 11th highest selections, etc, for additional Qualified Players signed.
Draft picks subject to forfeiture include the club's own Rule 4 Draft picks, compensatory draft picks awarded to the club after losing an Article XX-B Qualified Player, and draft picks awarded as the result of the Rule 4 SBP Forfeited Draft Pick lottery (including draft picks that were subsequently acquired in a trade). Competitive Balance draft picks (including Competitive Balance draft picks acquired in a trade) and a compensatory draft pick awarded to a club for failing to sign a pick from a previous Rule 4 Draft are - NOT - subject to forfeiture.
NOTE: Prior to the 2018 MLB Rule 4 Draft, Competitive Balance draft picks were subject to forfeiture.
A Rule 4 Draft pick forfeited as the result of a club signing an Article XX-B player who was extended a Qualifying Offer from his previous club is not transferred to any other club (it just disappears).
Beginning with the 2018 Rule 4 Draft, any MLB club that had a payroll from the previous season that was $40M or more above the Competitive Balance Tax threshold will have its highest draft selection moved down ten slots, unless its first selection is among the top six picks in the draft, in which case it will have its second-highest draft slot moved down ten slots.
NOTE: In determining whether a club would have its highest or second-highest draft pick moved down ten slots, the six "protected" picks at the top of the 1st round would NOT include any compensation draft pick received by a club for failing to sign a 1st round draft pick from a previous draft -- these compensatory draft picks are already "protected."
If a rookie player with less than 60 days of MLB Service Time (0+060 MLB ST) coming into a season accrues a full season and wins the Rookie of the Year Award, or finishes top three in MVP or top three in Cy Young Award prior to becoming eligible for salary arbitration, the player's club will receive a bonus pick between the 1st and 2nd rounds of the draft.
NOTE: Only one bonus draft pick permitted for any one player.