The 2023 MLB draft begins Sunday at Lumen Field in Seattle, and the White Sox and Cubs each will select 20 new prospects. Both teams have mid-first-round picks and will select from a draft class heavy on college talent. Slot bonuses for those early picks are now in the millions.
Here’s what to know about the three-day draft.
When is the draft and how can I watch?
The first-year player draft will coincide with MLB All-Star week festivities in Seattle. The draft is 20 rounds, separated into three days.
Sunday
Rounds 1 and 2, 6 p.m. (ESPN and MLB Network)
Monday
Rounds 3-10, 1 p.m. (Stream: MLB.com)
Tuesday
Rounds 11-20, 1 p.m. (Stream: MLB.com)
What is new in the 2023 MLB draft?
This is the first year MLB utilized a draft lottery to determine selection order. The lottery was held during the winter meetings in December 2022.
The lottery determined the first six picks — the Pittsburgh Pirates, Washington Nationals, Detroit Tigers, Texas Rangers, Minnesota Twins and Oakland Athletics — with the remaining order based on the previous season’s record. Teams with the worst 2022 records had higher odds in the lottery.
And while the MLB draft previously added picks for compensation and competitive balance reasons, new this year is the Prospect Promotion Incentive pick, awarded to the Seattle Mariners at No. 29 for 2022 AL Rookie of the Year Julio Rodríguez. The incentive was part of the latest collective bargaining agreement and designed to discourage service time manipulation.
The Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets were bumped out of the first round as a result of spending over the luxury-tax threshold. The Dodgers similarly didn’t have a first-round pick in 2022, but after the Mets’ offseason spending spree, this is the first time they’ve been affected by having their first pick pushed back 10 spots.
Also a first: MLB estimates the total bonus pool for all 30 teams at more than $307 million. Combined total bonuses likely will top that amount when the ink settles (teams face penalties for going over), but the assigned pool values are up almost 10% from 2022. Based on the value of their draft pick slots, the White Sox are looking at a $9,072,800 bonus pool, while the Cubs’ pool is $8,962,000.
How many picks do the Cubs and White Sox have?
Each team has 20 selections. The Sox have one pick in each round. The Cubs forfeited their second-round pick with the signing of Dansby Swanson, who had a qualifying offer from the Atlanta Braves. They received a compensation pick at No. 68 for losing Willson Contreras to the St. Louis Cardinals after making him a qualifying offer.
Cubs
- Round 1: No. 13 (bonus slot value $4,848,500)
- Compensation pick: No. 68
- Round 3: No. 81
- Round 4: No. 113
- Rounds 5-20: No. 149 and every 30th pick thereafter
White Sox
- Round 1: No. 15 (bonus slot value $4,488,600)
- Round 2: No. 51
- Round 3: No. 84
- Round 4: No. 116
- Rounds 5-20: No. 152 and every 30th pick thereafter
Who are the top prospects?
Based on MLB.com draft rankings, seven of the top 10 prospects this year are college players, including LSU outfielder Dylan Crews and right-handed starter Paul Skenes, who led the Tigers last month to the NCAA Men’s College World Series title. The MCWS semifinals also featured top prospects Wyatt Langford of Florida and Rhett Lowder of Wake Forest.
Max Clark of Franklin, Ind., is among the top high school prospects and could be a top-five pick despite his commitment to Vanderbilt.
Some options who could be around by the time the Cubs select at No. 13 or the White Sox select at No. 15 are infielders Aidan Miller (Mitchell HS, Florida), Colin Houck (Parkview HS, Georgia), Jacob Gonzalez (Mississippi) and Yohandy Morales (Miami); catcher Blake Mitchell (Stinton HS, Texas); and outfielder Enrique Bradfield Jr. (Vanderbilt). MLB.com’s latest mock draft has the Cubs projected to take TCU infielder Brayden Taylor with their first pick and the White Sox picking Arizona outfielder Chase Davis.
Any local prospects who could be drafted?
There is one potential first-round selection among the six players who attended Chicago-area high schools and are ranked in MLB Pipeline’s 2023 Draft Top 200 Prospects list. Two of those six players are recent high school graduates and the other four played collegiately.
No. 22: Dillon Head, Homewood-Flossmoor
Head has a choice this summer: sign with the MLB team that drafts him, possibly in the first round, or follow his college commitment to Clemson. “Whether I go to college or to pro ball out of high school, I see myself getting there to the big leagues one day either way. I’m not too stressed about it,” Head told the Daily Southtown in March. The left-handed Head profiles as a speedy outfielder and baserunner.
No. 68: George Wolkow, Downers Grove North
Wolkow is just 17, having reclassified into the 2023 draft class, but he has size: 6-foot-7, 239 pounds. He has committed to South Carolina. He participated in the 2023 MLB draft combine in Phoenix, where the corner infielder/outfielder impressed with his home-run-hitting ability.
No. 115: Jack Mahoney, St. Viator/South Carolina
Mahoney was a multisport athlete at St. Viator and committed to play baseball at South Carolina early on. The 6-3 right-hander went 7-4 this past season for the Gamecocks, with a 4.16 ERA and 84 strikeouts in his return from 2021 Tommy John surgery.
No. 148: Jack Payton, Brother Rice/Louisville
Payton, a catcher and 2023 Buster Posey Award finalist, hit .374 with 12 home runs for Louisville in 2023. He is the younger brother of Mark Payton, who appeared in eight games for the White Sox in 2022 and currently plays professionally in Japan.
No. 156: Christian Knapczyk, Joliet Catholic/Louisville
Louisville’s leadoff hitter in 2023, Knapczyk reached base in all but four games for the Cardinals and earned third-team All-ACC honors for the third time. The Daily Southtown reported Knapczyk committed to Louisville before playing a single high school game.
No. 180: Isaiah Coupet, Homewood-Flossmoor/Ohio State
A left-handed starter, Coupet is 9-11 with a 4.61 ERA over three seasons at Ohio State. He also pitched in the Cape Cod League this summer and was invited to the MLB draft combine.
How have recent White Sox and Cubs draft picks fared?
White Sox
Two current members of the Sox were recent first-round draft selections by the team: Garrett Crochet (2020) and Andrew Vaughn (2019). Crochet made his debut in the same season he was drafted out of Tennessee, then lost the 2022 season to Tommy John surgery.
The more recent first-rounders are not moving as fast as Crochet did. Colson Montgomery, the 2021 selection, is on a rehab assignment for a back injury in Arizona. And 2022 hometown pick Noah Schultz out of Oswego East has pitched only a handful of professional innings at Single-A Kannapolis.
Right-hander Jonathan Cannon, the 2022 third-round pick currently at High-A Winston-Salem, is on the roster for the 2023 Futures Game during the All-Star break.
Cubs
Of MLB.com’s top 100 Prospects, only one is a Cubs-drafted player: 2022 first-round selection Cade Horton. The right-hander already has made one move this season, from Low-A Myrtle Beach to High-A South Bend. The top pick from 2021, Jordan Wicks, is also on the move after a promotion to Triple-A Iowa on June 27. He’s 1-0 with a 5.79 ERA in his first two Triple-A starts.
Most of the Cubs draft selections from the past three years are where they should be on the farm, with the exception of those hampered by injuries. Nazier Mulé, a 2022 fourth-round pick, underwent Tommy John surgery this spring.
Hometown signee Ed Howard, the Cubs’ first-round pick in the truncated 2020 draft, missed most of the 2022 season with a hip injury. He is at High-A South Bend and hit his first home run in 14 months on June 27.
Cubs and White Sox draft history
The Sox have had the No. 1 pick twice. In 1971 they selected Danny Goodwin from Peoria Central High School, but he declined to sign and opted to play collegiately at Southern. Goodwin was again drafted with the No. 1 pick in 1975, this time by the California Angels, and he went on to play seven seasons in the majors.
The most recent No. 1 pick by the Sox was in 1977, when they took future Hall of Famer Harold Baines out of St. Michaels High School in Maryland.
The Cubs have had only one No. 1 pick, which they used on high schooler Shawon Dunston in 1982. Dunston went on to play 18 seasons, including 12 with the Cubs, and was twice an All-Star shortstop.
The first MLB amateur draft was held in 1965. That year the Cubs selected right-hander Rick James from an Alabama high school with their first pick, No. 6, and paid him a $40,000 bonus. James made his debut two years later and saw action in only three major-league games.
The Sox’s first draft selection was Notre Dame catcher Ken Plesha at No. 17, whom they paid a $20,000 bonus. A St. Mel High School graduate, Plesha played three seasons in the minor leagues but never made it above Class A.
Sources: MLB.com, MiLB.com, Baseball Reference, Associated Press, NCAA.com, gamecocksonline.com, gocards.com, ohiostatebuckeyes.com
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