There is a certain rhythm to how Major League Baseball’s annual amateur draft usually unwinds through the course of three days, 40 rounds, and more than 1,000 names — revving from the pulse-quickening first picks to the roster-filling lightning rounds on Day 3. Cardinals assistant general manager Randy Flores likes to say the draft has “three different personalities.”
There is the “tremendous buildup for one or two high-stakes picks,” he said. On Day 2, teams shift into “their process” selections and veer toward strategically saving bonus money to spend later. On the draft’s final day, with the pace of picks accelerating, the panning for sleepers and lost gems creates a feel that is a faster “mixture,” Flores said, “that depends on what happened in days 1 and 2.