By Sam Dykstra | 30 minutes ago
The first two days and ten rounds of the 2023 draft are complete, but the hard work that has gone into bringing in potential future stars is far from over.
Day 3 of the draft comes Tuesday as part of the All-Star celebrations in Seattle, and some of those who attended this year’s Midsummer Classic know only too well the value later rounds can offer.
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Five of this year’s All-Stars were acquired and signed in Round 10 or later when they first entered pro sports: Jordan Romano (10th), Nathan Eovaldi (11th), Josh Hader (19th), JD Martinez (20th) and David Bednar (35th). That’s an elite starter, a dominant DH, and three unmanned arms that didn’t hear their names until very late in the process.
Wondering which up-and-coming players could be tomorrow’s All-Stars? Just one way to find out for yourself.
How to see when
Day 3 of the 2023 First-Year Player Draft officially begins Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. ET. All picks will be streamed for free on MLB.com and there will be no delay between selections. You can also watch and follow Rounds 11-20 in the Official Draft Tracker @MLBDraft on twitter.
The best players available
Cameron Johnson, LHP, IMG Academy (Florida) (#42 in MLB Pipeline Top 250)
Roch Cholowsky, SS, Hamilton (Ariz.) HS (No. 44)
Trent Caraway, 3B/SS, JSerra Catholic (California) HS (#70)
Zane Adams, LHP, Porter (Texas) HS (#73)
Will Gasparino, OF, Harvard-Westlake (California) HS (No. 75)
Tanner Witt, RHP, Texas (#76)
Caden Sorrell, OF, Marcus (Texas) HS (No. 79)
Joey Volchko, RHP, Redwood (California) HS (#80)
Liam Peterson, RHP, Calvary Christian (Fla.) HS (No. 85)
Jake Brown, LHP, Sulfur (La.) HS (#93)
Full List of Best Available Players »
Nine of the top 10 contenders remaining are from the high school ranks, and tenth is Witt, who pitched just 10 2/3 innings for Texas this spring after returning from surgery at Tommy John . The other nine have a good chance of fulfilling their college obligations after falling so far behind, but there’s a good chance they’ll be accepted and signed as well.
Clubs may spend up to $150,000 on players selected in Rounds 11-20 without counting towards their bonus pool. Any overages are charged to the pool, so there’s a chance an organization with a lot of early savings could have an opportunity late Tuesday to hire a top-notch talent.
The risk is also significantly lower if you try that on day 3. For the first 10 rounds, an unsigned player’s slot bonus still counts towards the pool, giving clubs an added incentive to sign all of their early picks. There is no such penalty in the 11th round and beyond. So expect some big swings from clubs on Tuesday, even if they don’t link before the signing deadline.
All-time talent in rounds 11-20
Rounds 11 through 20 brought some big names into the Major League Baseball Hall of Famers: Andre Dawson (11th, 1975), Ryne Sandberg (20th, 1978), and Jim Thome (13th, 1989); MVPs Jose Canseco (15th, 1982), Jeff Kent (20th, 1989), Don Mattingly (19th, 1979), Dave Parker (14th, 1970), and the recently retired Albert Pujols (13th, 1999) as well Cy Young Award winner Orel Hershiser (17th 1979) and Bret Saberhagen (19th 1982).