2013 MLB Draft: Miami Marlins draft order and primer

The Miami Marlins have multiple draft selections in the 2013 MLB Draft, and the team is looking to make the best of those selections. But as fans, it may be difficult to digest all of the things that are going on in the 2013 MLB Draft. Fish Stripes, naturally, has you covered in terms of 2013 MLB Draft coverage, but with the imminent arrival of the draft, Marlins fans could use a draft primer to set their expectations about tonight.

Fish Stripes has you covered. Here is what you need to know about tonight's draft.

Draft Order

The Miami Marlins have four picks in tonight's 73 total selections in the first and second rounds, including both competitive balance rounds. The Fish first pick sixth in the draft by merit of their poor 69-93 record from last season. The Fish also have the corresponding pick in the second round, the 44th pick in the draft.

The Marlins also own two competitive balance draft picks. The first is in the round directly following the first round, and the Marlins' selection is the 35th pick of the draft. This is the selection the Marlins got from the Pittsburgh Pirates as part of last season's Gaby Sanchez trade. The other selection is the last competitive balance selection, the 73rd pick in the draft. This pick was acquired in the Anibal Sanchez / Omar Infante trade, as the Marlins traded down from their draft pick (originally the 39th pick) to the 73rd selection.

Marlins Draft Picks: 6th, 35th, 44th, 73rd

The following is the order of the first round of the draft. Check out the full draft order here.

First Round

• 1. Houston Astros
• 2. Chicago Cubs
• 3. Colorado Rockies
• 4. Minnesota Twins
• 5. Cleveland Indians
• 6. Miami Marlins
• 7. Boston Red Sox
• 8. Kansas City Royals
• 9. Pittsburgh Pirates (M. Appel - unsigned)
• 10. Toronto Blue Jays
• 11. New York Mets
• 12. Seattle Mariners
• 13. San Diego Padres
• 14. Pittsburgh Pirates
• 15. Arizona Diamondbacks
• 16. Philadelphia Phillies
• 17. Chicago White Sox
• 18. Los Angeles Dodgers
• 19. St. Louis Cardinals
• 20. Detroit Tigers
• 21. Tampa Bay Rays
• 22. Baltimore Orioles
• 23. Texas Rangers
• 24. Oakland Athletics
• 25. San Francisco Giants
• 26. New York Yankees
• 27. Cincinnati Reds
• 28. St. Louis Cardinals (K. Lohse)1
• 29. Tampa Bay Rays (B.J. Upton)2
• 30. Texas Rangers (J. Hamilton)3
• 31. Atlanta Braves (M. Bourn)4
• 32. New York Yankees (N. Swisher)5
• 33. New York Yankees (R. Soriano)6

Mock Drafts

The Marlins have the sixth pick in the draft, and the consensus is that this is a five-player draft. #MJIJ'd.

But the Fish do still have a shot at getting a good prospect for the future, and if there is any oddity among the top five teams in the draft, the Marlins may end up with one of the supposedly elite prospects in this draft. With all that in mind, a variety of mock drafts have projected the Marlins' selection tonight, and here is what the majority of them say.

Jim Callis, Baseball America: Braden Shipley, RHP, Nevada
Keith Law, ESPN Insider: Austin Meadows, OF, Grayson (Ga.) HS
John Sickels, Minor League Ball: Braden Shipley, RHP, Nevada (after some interesting top-of-the-draft turmoil!)
Jonathan Mayo, MiLB.com: Braden Shipley, RHP, Nevada
Chris Crawford, MLB Draft Insider: Braden Shipley, RHP, Nevada
Kiley McDaniel, Scout.com: Braden Shipley, RHP, Nevada
Dave Perkin, Sports Illustrated: Kohl Stewart, RHP, St. Pius X (Tx.) HS
Conor Dorney, Fish Stripes: Clint Frazier, OF, Logansville (Ga.) HS

Out of those eight sources of draft coverage, five of them had the Marlins picking Braden Shipley, a starting pitcher out of the University of Nevada who has taken a hold of the title of "third-best college pitching prospect" in this draft behind Mark Appel and Jonathan Gray. Two of the other selections had the Marlins going to one of their old ways, selecting a high school outfielder, as both Keith Law and our very own Conor Dorney thought the Marlins would look to a Georgia outfielder in either Austin Meadows or Clint Frazier. Kohl Stewart was Dave Perkin's choice, who is the only player listed there who is expected to go earlier than the sixth pick in most drafts.

But, as John Sickels points out in his early morning piece, there are rumblings that the Colorado Rockies might go for high school first baseman Dominic Smith of California, opening up the Marlins to have a chance at one of the consensus top-five talents. Despite that, however, Sickels has te Marlins going wit Shipley, in whom the team apparently has "long-standing interest," over Colin Moran out of the University of North Carolina, who would be the best third baseman remaining. Moran is close to major-league ready and very polished, but provides low upside. If this happens, would the Marlins pass up on him?

Team Budget

The Miami Marlins, due to them having the four picks in the first two rounds and competitive balance rounds, have one of the largest draft budgets in the game. The Fish have been allotted $7.1 million in bonus money for the draft. The Houston Astros have the most cash available to them, as they have about $11.7 million to play with.

Thanks to Baseball America, here is the recommended slot allowances for all of the first round.

2013 ASSIGNED PICK VALUES
FIRST ROUND
Pick	Team	Assigned Value
1	Astros	$7,790,400
2	Cubs	$6,708,400
3	Rockies	$5,626,400
4	Twins	$4,544,400
5	Indians	$3,787,000
6	Marlins	$3,516,500
7	Red Sox	$3,246,000
8	Royals	$3,137,800
9	Pirates (for failure to sign Mark Appel)	$3,029,600
10	Blue Jays	$2,921,400
11	Mets	$2,840,300
12	Mariners	$2,759,100
13	Padres	$2,678,000
14	Pirates	$2,569,800
15	Diamondbacks	$2,434,500
16	Phillies	$2,299,300
17	White Sox	$2,164,000
18	Dodgers	$2,109,900
19	Cardinals	$2,055,800
20	Tigers	$2,001,700
21	Rays	$1,974,700
22	Orioles	$1,947,600
23	Rangers	$1,920,600
24	Athletics	$1,893,500
25	Giants	$1,866,500
26	Yankees	$1,839,400
27	Reds	$1,812,400
28	Cardinals (for loss of free agent Kyle Lohse)	$1,785,300
29	Rays (for loss of free agent B.J. Upton)	$1,758,300
30	Rangers (for loss of free agent Josh Hamilton)	$1,731,200
31	Braves (for loss of free agent Michael Bourn)	$1,704,200
32	Yankees (for loss of free agent Nick Swisher)	$1,677,100
33	Yankees (for loss of free agent Rafael Soriano)	$1,650,100

The Marlins have been given $3.5 million to try and sign their first draft pick. Expect this to become a talking point if the Fish go cheap on their first round pick, either to save money or, hopefully, to leverage more money in later rounds to try and snag a slipping prospect in one of their later selections, such as the 35th pick in the draft.

Draft Coverage

The draft begins at 7 PM EST and can be streamed live on MLB.com. Keep track of all the live draft coverage on MLB.com over at Draft Central-.

As for here at Fish Stripes, we have already unloaded a lot of coverage. Here is a list of articles to get ready for tonight's draft.

- Eric Weston profiled 10 players the Marlins could select, then profiled five more options.
- Eric also discussed the Marlins' strategy for the draft.
- Conor Dorney ran a mock draft of the top ten draft picks, including the Marlins' selection.

Keep an eye on all of your Marlins draft coverage right here at Fish Stripes.