Major League Baseball draft

The Major League Baseball draft (officially the Rule 4 draft; also known as the First Year Player Draft) is the primary mechanism of Major League Baseball (MLB) for assigning amateur baseball players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur baseball clubs to its teams. The draft order is determined based on a lottery where the teams who did not make the postseason in the past year participate in a state-lottery style process to determine the first six picks, starting in 2023. The team possessing the worst record receives the best odds of receiving the first pick. Until 2022, it was determined by the previous season's standings, with the worst team selecting first.

For the most recent draft, see 2023 Major League Baseball draft.

The first amateur draft was held in 1965. Unlike most sports drafts, the first-year player draft is held mid-season, in July since 2021. Another distinguishing feature of this draft in comparison with those of other North American major professional sports leagues is its sheer size: under the current collective bargaining agreement, the draft lasts until 20 rounds in addition to, since 2021, compensatory picks. It lasted up to 40 rounds until 2019. In contrast, the NFL Draft lasts for only seven rounds (260 selections), the NHL Entry Draft lasts for seven rounds (224 selections), the MLS SuperDraft lasts for only three rounds (87 selections), and the NBA draft lasts for only two rounds (60 selections).

On March 26, 2020, MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) reached a deal that included the option to shorten that year's draft to five rounds, and halve the 2021 draft to 20 rounds. On March 10, 2022, after the two entities came to agree on a new collective bargaining agreement, the first round order will be based firstly on a lottery participated by 18 non-postseason teams that determines the first six picks in the draft, starting with the 2023 edition, and secondly on the results of playoff teams. Subsequent rounds will be determined by the preceding season's win-loss records for the first 18 selections in each round, followed also by playoff finishes.

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