When the Dodgers pick in the 2023 MLB Draft

The 2023 MLB Draft starts on Sunday, and the Dodgers will have much more to spend on picks this year compared to recent drafts. The annual selection of domestic amateur players lasts three days, and since it has been bundled into All-Star festivities, his year’s draft is in Seattle at Lumen Field, home of the Seahawks and Sounders.

The first day of the draft will be televised by both ESPN and MLB Network, and includes the first 70 picks, covering the first two rounds, plus both Competitive Balance rounds and some compensation picks. Monday has rounds 3-10, and Tuesday covers rounds 11-20, with both of those days broadcast online only at MLB.com.

What’s different for the Dodgers this year is that they did not forfeit their second-round pick by signing a qualifying-offer free agent, as they did in 2021 with Trevor Bauer and 2022 with Freddie Freeman. That means they have two picks on the first day of the draft instead of one, and their second-round pick, No. 60 overall, carries a recommended slot value of $1,216,700, adding a big chunk to their overall bonus pool.

With qualifying-offer recipients Trea Turner and Tyler Anderson signing elsewhere as free agents, the Dodgers also got two more compensation picks directly after the fourth round. That gives them 12 picks in the first 10 rounds, which is what comprises the team’s bonus pool.

They have 22 overall picks in the 20-round draft.

By exceeding last year’s competitive balance tax payroll by more than $40 million, the Dodgers saw their first pick drop 10 spots overall for a second straight draft. That means No. 26 became No. 36 overall, which wedges into Competitive Balance Round A.

In total, the Dodgers bonus pool is just over $7.27 million this season, a big increase over last year ($4.22 million) and in 2021 ($4.65 million). Given that teams can spend up to five percent over their bonus pool without suffering the prohibitive draft-pick penalty (only paying a 75-percent tax on the overage, something the Dodgers have done in every year of this system), the Dodgers really have a tad under $7.64 million to spend this year.

Any bonus amount over $125,000 for picks after the 10th round also count against the bonus pool.

The Dodgers have picked at 36th overall three other times in the first 58 years of the draft. In 1992 they took outfielder Matt Moore out of UCLA, who reached Triple-A but not with the Dodgers. Baylor left-handed pitcher Aaron Miller was picked 36th overall in 2009, then got moved to the outfield in 2013. He topped out at Double-A. Jordan Sheffield was drafted out of Vanderbilt in 2016, and reached the majors after the Rockies took him in the Rule 5 Draft in 2020.

Notable No. 36 picks in major league history include Hall of Famers Johnny Bench (1965, Reds) and Randy Johnson (1985, Expos), plus current Triple-A Oklahoma City pitcher Mike Montgomery (2008, Royals), who was on the mound for the final out of the 2016 World Series.