Thefirst-year player draft, also known as the Rule 4 Draft, is the primary mechanism for assigning amateur baseball players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur baseball clubs toMajor League Baseball (MLB) teams. Unlike most professional sports, MLB does not permit the trading of draft picks.^[1] Since 2023, the first six selections are determined by a lottery; the previous season's standings determine the remaining selections.^[2] If two teams have identical records, the team with the worse record in the previous season will receive the higher pick.^[2] In addition, teams that lost free agents in the previous off-season may be awarded "compensatory" picks.^[2] The first draft took place in 1965; it was introduced to prevent richer teams from negotiating wealthier contracts with top-level prospects and therefore, monopolizing the player market.^[3] Originally, three drafts were held each year. The first draft took place in June and involved high-school graduates and college seniors who had just finished their seasons. The second draft took place in January for high school and college players who had graduated in December. The third draft took place in August and was for players who participated in American amateur summer leagues.^[4] The August draft was eliminated after two years, and the January draft lasted until 1986.^[5]

In 1965,Rick Monday became MLB's first draft pick after being selected by theKansas City Athletics.Eli Willits is the most recent first overall pick; he was drafted by theWashington Nationals in 2025. Overall, 23 of the 50 picks before 2015 have participated in theAll-Star Game, and four (Bob Horner,Darryl Strawberry,Bryce Harper, andCarlos Correa) have won theRookie of the Year Award. Twenty-five of the fifty picks before 2015 have been drafted from high schools, one has been drafted out of theIndependent American Association, and the others were drafted from universities. To date,Arizona State University,Vanderbilt University,Louisiana State University, andOregon State University are the only schools from which multiple number-one overall draft picks have been chosen. No first overall pick was inducted into theNational Baseball Hall of Fame until 2016, whenKen Griffey Jr. was inducted with arecord 99.3 percent of votes cast.^[6] Griffey has since been joined by three other top picks:Chipper Jones,inducted in 2018;^[7]Harold Baines,elected in December 2018 and inducted in July 2019,^[8] andJoe Mauer,inducted in 2024.^[9]

In the 60 drafts that have taken place through 2024, 23 of the 30 MLB franchises have had the first pick at least once. TheToronto Blue Jays,St. Louis Cardinals,Los Angeles Dodgers,San Francisco Giants,Cincinnati Reds,Boston Red Sox, andColorado Rockies have never had the first pick. TheMontreal Expos never had the first pick, but theNationals, their successor, have had it three times. TheOakland Athletics have never had the first pick, but theKansas City Athletics, their predecessor, had the first pick in MLB draft history. ThePittsburgh Pirates have had the first overall pick a record six times, while theNew York Mets,San Diego Padres, andHouston Astros have each had the first overall pick five times.

^a Goodwin chose to attend university instead of signing with the Chicago White Sox, and re-entered the draft once he graduated in 1975.^[10]
b Hochevar played college baseball for theUniversity of Tennessee, and was originally drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2005, but did not agree to a contract. He re-entered the draft in 2006 after spending the previous year with the independent Fort Worth Cats.

• List of first overall NBA draft picks
• List of first overall National Football League draft picks
• List of first overall NHL draft picks

General

1. "Baseball Draft:First overall picks in the June Draft".Baseball-Reference.com. October 30, 2008. RetrievedNovember 25, 2008.

Specific

• Major League Baseball first-round draft picks
• Major League Baseball draft
• First overall draft picks

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