MLB Draft 2014 coverage, schedule, TV info & more

The Houston Astros failed to sign first overall pick Brady Aiken before today’s signing deadline, according to a report from Jim Callis of MLB.com. The team also did not sign fifth-rounder Jacob Nix or 21st-rounder Mac Marshall, according to multiple reports.

Callis notes that the Astros will receive the second overall pick in next year’s draft, meaning that they offered Aiken a bonus that was equal to 40 percent of his slot value and he rejected it. The Collective Bargaining Agreement says that a team can offer a draft pick 40 percent of their slot value if they fail their physical exam, as Aiken did when the Astros reportedly found issues with his elbow.

A quick look at this wonderful list complied by MLB.com shows that this just continued a trend from Thursday, and one which will likely pop up again on Saturday as the sons of Manny Ramirez and Mariano Rivera are still looking to be drafted. Along with relatives of former players, college players proved popular on the second day of picks, with many of the high-reward high schoolers having left the board on Day 1.

In fact, those who managed to make it all the way through school ended up being extremely popular on Friday, as 69 of the college players selected on Day 2 were seniors. Several front office executives see this as a function of the relatively new rules governing the bonus pool that GM’s can offer extra money to draftees from. Signing relatively cheap seniors can allow for the money allotted to their draft slots to be used on other later, younger draft picks which may require more money to sign than they are “allowed” to spend on the player at that draft position without money from the bonus pool.

Stay with us all night long as we update who-went-where, who-took-which, and the presumed proto-stars that wait as long as Johnny Manziel did or get snubbed altogether. For more on the draft see the rest of our coverage, including how to watch it, here.

The first two rounds of the Major League Baseball Rule 4 Draft was held on Thursday, my editors thought it would be a good idea to grade all of the picks in the first round, and because I’ve spent months reviewing the history of the draft, I thought I could help. Let’s see how the teams with first-round picks did.

Unbelievable. According to my research, more than half of all baseball players drafted first overall don’t even manage 10 wins above replacement. Even the best-case scenarios are filled with good-not-great careers, like Darin Erstad, Mike Moore, and Tim Belcher. So what did the Astros do? Draft a baseball player. They’ll eventually give him millions.

Gatewood was seen as a future top five pick after the conclusion of his junior year thanks to his prodigious power displays. However, his stock slowly eroded over the course of his senior year as his approach worsened and his mechanics followed suit. He’s rebounded a bit -- enough to become a top-50 pick in the draft -- but the mechanics are still going to require some fixing.

There’s 30-plus home run power in Gatewood’s bat, but he’s a raw product who will require a lot of patience and development before he gets there. Professional observers have questioned whether Gatewood has the makeup to reach that ceiling, as he doesn’t like to think of himself as a flawed player. That kind of confidence can be a good thing, of course, but he needs to make sure to put in the work to improve himself, not just assume he’s the best guy on the field. At 18 years old, there’s plenty of time for maturity to come, however, and the Brewers made a nice gamble on a talent that could have gone significantly higher.

Either that, or he’s petrified at the thought of pitching at Coors Field. One of the two.

The 6’3, 235-pound left-hander didn’t display the type of sharp command this year that he did during his freshman and sophomore campaigns, says MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo. Rodon set a school record with 184 strikeouts in 2013. His strikeout rate dipped by almost two per nine innings as a senior, but he still whiffed more than a batter per inning.

Aiken was ranked the top prospect in the draft by Baseball America, by Keith Law of ESPN, and by MLB.com.

“The UCLA recruit was known more for his athleticism and his feel for pitching than for any single pitch, but increased velocity to go along with that pitchability has been the buzz of the spring,” wrote Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com. “He has the chance to develop three above-average or better offerings.”

The race to be the No. 1 pick this year is still wide open, though most experts feel California prep pitcher Brady Aiken, North Carolina State pitcher Carlos Rodon and high school catcher Alex Jackson are the most likely to hear their names called first by Bud Selig.

MLB Network will cover the first two rounds beginning at 7 p.m. ET Thursday. The rest of the draft can be streamed live via MLB.com.

The first two rounds (and 74 picks overall) take place on Thursday. Rounds 3-10 will come on Friday. Saturday will be a long and busy day as rounds 11-40 are completed, wrapping up the draft.

Here is the complete draft order for the first round, including the compensation picks for free agents.

The MLB First-Year Player Draft was affected by several changes in the last Collective Bargaining Agreement, which was reached in 2011. One of the biggest was the implementation of the Competitive Balance Lottery, which awards extra draft picks within the top 100 overall selections to teams in the bottom 10 of the league in revenue and market size, in addition to any other team that received revenue sharing in the previous year.

The Rockies, Orioles, Indians, Marlins, Royals and Brewers were awarded picks in Round A, which takes place between the first and second rounds. The Padres, Diamondbacks, Cardinals, Rays, Pirates and Mariners were given Round B selections, which will happen between the second and third rounds. The A’s and Reds missed out entirely, largely due to their slim chances of grabbing a pick as a result of their first-place finishes in 2012.