We are exactly one week till the MLB Draft!
The Details
The 2022 MLB Draft is 20 rounds and will be held July 17-19 in Los Angeles, California.
How to Watch
Rounds 1-Comp B, Sunday, July 17: MLB Network at approximately 7 PM EST
Don’t miss North Side Bound’s Live Draft telecast, which will feature guests, giveaways, and more Cubs draft content than you can handle!
Rounds 3-10, Monday, July 18: MLB.com time 2 PM EST
Rounds 11-20, Tuesday, July 19: MLB.com, time 2 PM EST
Bonus Pool:
Chicago Cubs: $10,092,700
- (7) $5,708,000
- (47) $1,660,400
- (86) $735,200
- (113) $538,400
- (143) $402,100
- (173) $303,700
- (203) $237,300
- (233) $188,900
- (263) $164,500
- (293) $154,200
Overage: $504,635
Bonus pool + overage: $10,597,335
If a player is drafted in the top ten rounds and does not sign, the team loses the value of that bonus allotment. This rarely happens, but it did occur with the Cubs in 2019 when they failed to sign their 10th round selection, Wyatt Hendrie. Teams may spend up to an additional 5% of their bonus pool. so the Cubs have a total of $10,597,335 with the 5% amount of $504,635 without a significant penalty. The Cubs have overspent their designated bonus pool every single year of the current format.
Rounds 11-20
Players selected in rounds 11-20 can sign for up to $150,000 without any bonus money counting towards the overall pool. Any dollar over $150,000 counts towards the pool. The Cubs strategized that the ideal use of their pool last year was to use one $200k bullet in rounds 11-20. This maximum was increased from previous years when it used to be $125,000.
Draft and Follows
For the first time in over a decade, the draft-and-follow rule is back. Draft and following a player gives teams the ability to “follow” a player who decides to forgo signing immediately and, instead, plays for a junior college. BY following the player, the team that drafted them may sign that player after the end of their junior college season and before the following year’s draft. Bonus amounts over the $225,000 figure then count towards a team’s bonus pool. The Cubs were incredibly creative last year in their signings so expect them to use any and all strategies to bring in impact players.
Post-Draft Free Agency
Similar to last year, any player eligible for the draft who is not drafted may sign with any team for a maximum amount. In the 2022 Collective Bargaining Agreement, this maximum is now $20,000. This will often involve college seniors, like in 2020 when the Cubs signed Matt Mervis, Bradlee Beesley, Ben Leeper, and many others. However, the Cubs signed Jacob Wetzel, who was a junior college player. The bulk of the players brought into the organization will come from the 20-round draft, but don’t lose sight of the post-draft free agency period. In the last two years, the Cubs have signed Max Bain and Joe Nahas, not to mention more than a dozen interesting prospects from 2020
