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In one the most uncertain MLB Drafts in league history, I’ve decided to take a stab at my first-ever MLB draft mock. It’s also the first mock draft ever published on P365!
Throughout my first couple of seasons covering baseball, the draft was always important to me but I never felt comfortable with a full first round mock until recently. The draft has been an obsession of mine for the past 2+ years, and I’m lucky to be able to live in Florida where I get the top-tier talent at all levels, including elite universities, nationally ranked JUCO teams and of course the WWBA World Championships in Jupiter, which hosts the top high school talent every year. Florida has given me the ability to finally attain live looks at so many prospects in this draft, and I’ve finally become confident enough to publish an entire first round mock draft.
The 2020 draft class is extremely strong. The top-5 appears to have distinguished themselves, but the incredibly deep starting pitching values combined with high ceiling bats make for an exciting draft regardless of its shortened length.
Throughout this mock, I break down why each pick makes sense for that organization using my own evaluations, plus what I’m hearing from certain sources. Slot values are included for all of the picks; if they look familiar, it’s because they are the same as last season instead of increasing due the COVID-19 pandemic. A little something to add to that is if the player selected first overall receives full slot value, it will tie the highest guaranteed bonus in MLB history, alongside 2019 1st overall pick Adley Rutschman.
With the 1st round only being 29 picks this year due to Houston losing its first round pick (bang bang), I wanted to include a little bonus by adding the Round A of the competitive balance picks. Come take a few minutes, and let’s figure out what picks I’ll get correct come draft time, whenever it finally rolls around.
Some notables before we get started….
- Out of the 37 players mocked in this article, 17 are starting pitchers
- This season’s SEC talent is ridiculous, including 9 players picked in the first round
- Only one shortstop selected in the first round
- Left-handed bats galore. 10 are mocked in the first round.