NEW YORK – Baseball’s amateur draft is about to enter the next phase of its ongoing development — same as all those young prospects picked every year.
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 version was ticketed for a move to Omaha, Nebraska, to coincide with the College World Series there.
The idea was to stage a bigger television event with more elite players on hand, like Arizona State first baseman Spencer Torkelson and Vanderbilt infielder Austin Martin.Of course, the COVID-19 outbreak scuttled the CWS and sent draft headquarters back to mostly empty MLB Network studios this week in Secaucus, New Jersey.
Major League Baseball owners and players agreed to slash from 40 rounds to five, beginning Wednesday night with the first 37.