The Major League Baseball Rule 4 First Year Player Draft for 2025 has arrived at last. Once again part of All-Star week festivities, the MLB draft will kick off at 4:00 PM MDT with the Washington Nationals selecting first overall.
This draft is critical for the Colorado Rockies in several regards. Not only does a historically bad team need to restock their farm system with quality talent, but the Rockies will also be unable to draft inside the top ten in 2026 due to anti-tanking rules in the current collective bargaining agreement. That means that no matter how historically awful the dead-last Rockies—currently 22-73—finish, the highest selection they can make next year is tenth overall.
This is also potentially the last draft the Rockies will have general manager Bill Schmidt at the helm for. It’s uncommon for a team to fire their GM before the trade deadline, but the writing for Schmidt appears to be on the wall at the end of this season.
This year’s draft will take place over two days. The first three rounds—along with compensatory and competitive balance rounds—will take place today, while rounds 4-20 will take place on Monday starting at 9:30 AM MDT.
After selecting Georgia slugger Charlie Condon third overall in 2024, the Rockies will start their draft this year with the fourth overall pick and there will be plenty of talent to choose from. They have four total day one picks.
Start time: 4:00 MT
Television: MLB Network (ESPN will also air the first 43 picks)
Social: @MLBDraft and @MLBDraftTracker on Twitter
The Rockies are scheduled to make the following picks on day one:
Round 1: 4th
Round 2: 45th
Competitive Balance B: 74th
Round 3: 77th