Per an agreement between Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association, the league had the power to shorten the June amateur draft to as few as five rounds. That would total about 160 players when factoring in compensation picks, with the option to sign undrafted players for a $20,000 bonus. The union rejected a proposal to extend it to 10 rounds with limitations on bonus slots and undrafted free agent signings, so MLB is pushing ahead with the original plan.
It’s not a surprising piece of news as this version of the draft has been bandied about for over a month.