MLB's unprecedented July draft includes a few surprises near the top
Chelsea Janes, The Washington Post
July 11, 2021
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Mississippi State pitcher Will Bednar (24) throws during the first inning in Game 3 of the NCAA College World Series baseball finals, Wednesday, June 30, 2021, in Omaha, Neb.Rebecca S. Gratz/AP
DENVER - Every year since Major League Baseball began holding an amateur draft in 1965, that draft had been held in June. An additional winter draft came and went, but the June one stayed. The timing was tradition, and MLB has a knack for clinging tightly to what it knows.
But the coronavirus pandemic seemed to loosen the grip the sport had on the holdovers of the past, if only slightly. MLB decided to try something different this year. It moved the draft to all-star week, beginning Sunday night, and staged it as part of the highest-profile celebration the sport plans for itself every summer.