Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred speaks during the first...

Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred speaks during the first round of the Major League Baseball draft, Monday, June 3, 2019, in Secaucus, N.J.  Credit: AP/Julio Cortez

Major League Baseball will have to go remote for next month’s amateur draft, a source confirmed Friday, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get to see commissioner Rob Manfred’s finished basement.

Manfred’s NFL counterpart, Roger Goodell, hosted the April draft from his Westchester man cave, occasionally in a sweater with a Zoom conference of fans cheering behind him on a big-screen monitor. As for Manfred, he might opt for a skeleton crew at the MLB Network studio in Secaucus, N.J. — the draft’s usual site — to announce the picks, but the teams and top players will not be in attendance.

As with the NFL, clubs and prospects will be shown remotely. This year, the MLB draft has been shortened to only five rounds — down from the previous 40 — in a cost-cutting move that could save teams close to $30 million. The first round, which will consist of 37 picks (including compensatory), is scheduled for June 10 at 7 p.m. Eastern time. The other four rounds will follow on June 11.

The first-round slot values will be the same this year, according to The Athletic, with the No. 1 overall selection, owned by the Tigers, coming in at $8.4 million. The bulk of those bonus payments will be deferred, however. After the five rounds, undrafted players are free to sign with any team, but only up to a maximum of $20,000.  

In the absence of live sporting events, the NFL draft had record TV ratings, averaging 15.6-million viewers over the three-day event, with a peak of 19.6 million. Last year, the draft’s peak was 11.4-million viewers.

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