Red Sox land No. 14 pick in 2023 MLB Draft Lottery

The Red Sox will pick 14th in the first round of next year’s amateur draft, as was revealed during the first-ever MLB Draft Lottery at the Winter Meetings in San Diego on Wednesday evening.

After finishing with the 14th-worst record in baseball (78-74) this season, the Sox would have been in line to receive the 14th overall pick in the 2023 draft under the old collective bargaining agreement. Earlier this spring, however, Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association ratified a new collective bargaining agreement.

As part of that new collective bargaining agreement, a draft lottery was instituted to combat tanking and determine the first six picks in each year’s draft moving forward. Because they failed to reach the postseason this year, the Red Sox — and the 17 other non-playoff teams — qualified to be part of the lottery process.

Since they finished with the 14th-worst record, the Sox had the 14th-best odds (0.8 percent) to obtain the top pick next summer. They also had a 0.9 percent chance to land the second pick, a 1.0 percent chance to land the third pick, a 1.2 percent chance to land the fourth pick, a 1.4 percent chance to land the fifth pick, and a 1.7 percent chance to land the sixth pick, according to Tankathon.com.

The results of the lottery were announced at 8:30 p.m. eastern time on MLB Network. The Nationals, Athletics, and Pirates all had an equal chance (16.5 percent) of landing the No. 1 pick after finishing with the three worst records this season. Pittsburgh ultimately won the lottery and came away with the top overall selection as a result. Here is the order of the first round in its entirety:

1. Pirates
2. Nationals
3. Tigers
4. Rangers
5. Twins
6. A’s
7. Reds
8. Royals
9. Rockies
10. Marlins
11. Angels
12. D-backs
13. Cubs
14. Red Sox
15. White Sox
16. Giants
17. Orioles
18. Brewers
19. Rays
20. Blue Jays
21. Cardinals
22. Mariners
23. Guardians
24. Braves
25. Padres
26. Yankees
27. Phillies
28. Astros

The Pirates will be picking first for the second time in three years next July. The Red Sox, on the other hand, will be picking 14th for just the third time in franchise history.

In 1984, Boston took catcher John Marzano out of Temple University. Two years later, it took outfielder Greg McCurty out of Brockton High School. McCurty did not sign and instead played college baseball at the University of Michigan.

(Picture of Mikey Romero: Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)

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Red Sox have 0.8 percent chance to land No. 1 pick in 2023 MLB Draft

The Red Sox did not finish with the worst record in baseball this season, yet they will have a chance to pick first in next year’s amateur draft.

On Monday, Major League Baseball announced that the first-ever draft lottery will take place during next month’s Winter Meetings in San Diego. Thanks to the newly-implemented collective bargaining agreement, the first six picks of the 2023 draft will now be determined via lottery as opposed to the reverse order of the previous year’s standings.

Coming off a 78-84 2022 campaign that saw them fall short of the postseason, the Red Sox would be in line to receive the 14th overall pick in the 2023 draft under the old collective bargaining agreement. They now have the 14th-best odds to obtain the No. 1 pick next July.

Boston will be in the mix with the 17 other non-playoff teams for the top overall selection. The teams with the three worst records in 2022 — the 55-107 Nationals, the 60-102 Athletics, and 62-100 Pirates — have the best chance (16.5) to win the top pick in the lottery.

From there, the Reds (13.2 percent) have the fourth-best, the Royals (10.0 percent) have the fifth-best, the Tigers (7.5 percent) have the sixth-best, the Rangers (5.5 percent) have the seventh-best, the Rockies (3.9 percent) have the eighth-best, the Marlins (2.7 percent) have the ninth-best, the Angels (1.8 percent) have the 10th-best, the Diamondbacks (1.4 percent) have the 11th-best, the Cubs (1.1 percent) have the 12th-best, the Twins (0.9 percent) have the 13th-best, the Red Sox (0.8 percent), have the 14th-best, the White Sox (0.6 percent) have the 15th-best, the Giants (0.5 percent) have the 16th-best, the Orioles (0.4 percent) have the 17th-best, and the Brewers (0.2 percent) possess the 18th-best odds.

In addition to having a 0.8 percent chance to land the top pick, the Red Sox have a 0.9 percent chance to pick second, a 1.0 percent chance to pick third, a 1.2 percent chance to pick fourth, a 1.4 percent chance to pick fifth, and a 1.7 percent chance to pick sixth, according to Tankathon.com.

If Boston’s No. 1 selection falls out of the top six in the lottery, it would pick 14th overall. Tankathon.com relays that the Sox have a 78.9 percent chance to pick 14th, a 13.6 percent chance to pick 15th, and a 0.6 percent chance to pick 16th.

While it is extremely unlikely the Red Sox come away with the top overall pick (something that has never happened in franchise history) on December 6, they have been able to use the first round of past drafts to strengthen their improving farm system.

Under chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom and vice president of player development and amateur scouting Toboni, Boston has taken infielders Mikey Romero, Marcelo Mayer, and Nick Yorke with its first pick in each of the last three drafts. All three Californians currently sit within the top 12 of Baseball America’s Red Sox prospects rankings.

(Picture of Mikey Romero: Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)