Major League Baseball has decided to shorten its amateur draft to five rounds, ESPN's Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel reported Friday.
The decision comes after weeks of discussion between MLB and the MLBPA during the league’s coronavirus shutdown. The union had previously agreed to the possibility of a draft as short as five rounds, but was pushing for a 10-round draft during talks. MLB’s draft usually consists of 40 rounds, but the owners wanted to trim that number in order to limit spending during the coronavirus shutdown.
In total, 160 players drafted with compensation rounds still included.