How To Bet On The 2024 MLB Draft

There are several ways to wager on the MLB Draft at our favorite MLB betting sites. This guide will provide an overview of how to bet on the results of one of the biggest baseball events of the year.

We recommend unit betting to determine how much to wager and reading mock drafts to see where players might get drafted.

No. 1 Pick

One of the most popular MLB Draft betting markets is wagering on which player will be taken with the first overall pick. The issue is that sometimes a heavy favorite emerges and receives large minus odds from sportsbooks, making it difficult to profit.

For example, Harper was widely considered the best prospect in the 2010 MLB Draft. While online sports betting wasn’t legal at the time, his odds would have been significantly juiced.

Pick Number

While the No. 1 pick is the most commonly offered betting market, it’s also possible to wager on other picks in the draft. For example, FanDuel offered a betting market for the second overall pick of the 2024 MLB Draft as well.

For each pick number, players will have odds based on their likelihood of getting drafted there.

Draft Position

It’s also possible to wager on where a player will be taken in the draft. These betting markets are formatted as an Over/Under wager where you guess whether a player will be drafted before or after a specific pick number.

Here’s an example:

Player A Draft Position

• Over 8.5 (-110)
• Under 8.5 (-110)

If you think he’ll be drafted in the first eight picks, you would take the Under. If you expect him to go with the ninth pick or later, you’d take the Over.

The most common way to bet on the MLB Draft is wagering on who will be chosen with the first pick. This is an example of an MLB futures bet, similar to wagering on which team will win the World Series. You bet on a player against the field.

In most cases, the favorite to get drafted first will have minus odds, meaning bettors must risk more money than they stand to win. However, sometimes all players have plus-money odds. That means every player is an underdog against the field, even though some players have shorter odds than others.

2024 MLB Draft Odds For No. 1 Pick

Odds are from DraftKings Sportsbook and subject to change leading up to the draft. As you can see, the top two players have similar odds.

• Travis Bazzana: -160
• JJ Wetherholt: +165
• Charlie Condon: +600
• Jac Caglianone: +1500
• Chase Burns: +2500
• Hagen Smith:+5000
• Konnor Griffin: +7500
• Nick Kurtz: +9000
• Bryce Rainer: +9000
• Braden Montgomery: +10000

Since 2023, the MLB Draft has used a lottery system to help determine draft order, similar to the format used in the NBA Draft to discourage tanking.

The first six overall picks are decided via the lottery system, while picks 7-18 are ordered by reverse winning percentage of the remaining non-playoff teams. For the 12 teams that made the postseason the previous year, their first-round picks are based on a combination of postseason finish, revenue-sharing status and a reverse order of winning percentage.

Unlike other sports, MLB prohibits trades of draft picks. Once the draft order is decided, it stays that way.

The Cleveland Guardians won the draft lottery for 2024 and hold the first pick in this year’s draft.

Here’s the first-round order for the 2024 MLB Draft:

1. Cleveland Guardians
2. Cincinnati Reds
3. Colorado Rockies
4. Oakland A’s
5. Chicago White Sox
6. Kansas City Royals
7. St. Louis Cardinals
8. Los Angeles Angels
9. Pittsburgh Pirates
10. Washington Nationals
11. Detroit Tigers
12. Boston Red Sox
13. San Francisco Giants
14. Chicago Cubs
15. Seattle Mariners
16. Miami Marlins
17. Milwaukee Brewers
18. Tampa Bay Rays
19. New York Mets
20. Toronto Blue Jays
21. Minnesota Twins
22. Baltimore Orioles
23. Los Angeles Dodgers
24. Atlanta Braves
25. San Diego Padres
26. New York Yankees
27. Philadelphia Phillies
28. Houston Astros
29. Arizona Diamondbacks
30. Texas Rangers

The 2024 MLB Draft will take place from July 14-16 in Arlington, Texas, which is also hosting this year’s All-Star Game festivities. The Draft overlaps with the Home Run Derby (July 15) and All-Star Game (July 16).

Day 1 of the draft on Sunday, July 14, kicks off at 7 p.m. ET. The first day includes the first two rounds of the draft along with competitive balance, compensation and prospect promotion incentive picks.

Day 2 covers Rounds 3-10 and starts at 2 p.m. ET on Monday, July 15. The draft concludes with Day 3 on Tuesday, July 16, with Rounds 11-20 starting at 2 p.m. ET.

There are several ways to follow the 2024 MLB Draft, although only the first day will be available to watch on TV.

Day 1 of the draft will air on MLB Network and ESPN starting at 7 p.m. ET. It will also be available to watch on MLB.com, MLB.TV and in the MLB App.

Days 2 and 3 will both be available to watch on MLB.com, MLB.TV and in the MLB App starting at 2 p.m. ET.

The MLB Draft dates back to 1965, with several Hall of Famers going first overall.

Below is a list of the top picks in the 21st century:

• 2024: TBD, Cleveland Guardians
• 2023: Paul Skenes, Pittsburgh Pirates
• 2022: Jackson Holliday, Baltimore Orioles
• 2021: Henry Davis, Pittsburgh Pirates
• 2020: Spencer Torkelson, Detroit Tigers
• 2019: Adley Rutschman, Baltimore Orioles
• 2018: Casey Mize, Detroit Tigers
• 2017: Royce Lewis, Minnesota Twins
• 2016: Mickey Moniak, Philadelphia Phillies
• 2015: Dansby Swanson, Arizona Diamondbacks
• 2014: Brady Aiken, Houston Astros
• 2013: Mark Appel, Houston Astros
• 2012: Carlos Correa, Houston Astros
• 2011: Gerrit Cole, Pittsburgh Pirates
• 2010: Bryce Harper, Washington Nationals
• 2009: Stephen Strasburg, Washington Nationals
• 2008: Tim Beckham, Tampa Bay Rays
• 2007: David Price, Tampa Bay Rays
• 2006: Luke Hochevar, Kansas City Royals
• 2005: Justin Upton, Arizona Diamondbacks
• 2004: Matt Bush, San Diego Padres
• 2003: Delmon Young, Tampa Bay Rays
• 2002: Bryan Bullington, Pittsburgh Pirates
• 2001: Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins
• 2000: Adrian Gonzalez, Miami Marlins

Yes, you can bet on the MLB Draft. Online sportsbooks offer various betting markets around the event, including which player will get drafted first overall.

Most sportsbooks feature MLB Draft markets, so make sure to compare odds before submitting your wagers to make sure you get the best possible price.

In terms of popularity, the MLB Draft is not as popular as the NBA Draft and NFL Draft.

There are a few reasons for that. One is that MLB isn’t as popular as the NBA and NFL in general. Another is that college football and basketball are far more popular than college baseball. The College World Series is great, but it’s no March Madness.

The MLB Draft also requires more patience. Draftees do not go straight to the pros like they do in the NBA and NFL. Many MLB prospects get exposed in the minors and never pan out.

The MLB Draft is also the longest, lasting for three days and 20 rounds. By comparison, the NFL (seven rounds) and NBA (two rounds) are much shorter. The MLB Draft takes place in-season, while the NBA, NFL and NHL have their drafts in the offseason.

One similarity is that the MLB and NBA both use lottery systems to discourage tanking, whereas the NFL does not.

Draft strategies are also different across leagues. In the NBA and MLB, most teams simply take the best available player regardless of position. In the NFL, however, teams often target players at specific positions of need because rosters are so much larger.

With so many more players, rounds and positions in the NFL Draft, sportsbooks offer more extensive betting markets for it. You can wager on markets like which position a team will draft first, how many players will be drafted at a certain position in the first round and which position will be taken with the final pick in the draft. Sportsbooks do not offer those types of markets for the MLB and NBA drafts.

Yes, seven of the 30 MLB franchises have never had the first overall draft pick before:

• Toronto Blue Jays
• St. Louis Cardinals
• Los Angeles Dodgers
• San Francisco Giants
• Cincinnati Reds
• Boston Red Sox
• Colorado Rockies

This list isn’t too surprising, as the Red Sox, Giants, Dodgers and Cardinals are all perennial contenders. The Blue Jays and Rockies are expansion franchises, so they haven’t had as many opportunities to draft first.

The Reds are the oldest team in baseball, so it’s somewhat surprising that they’ve never drafted first. However, they’ve been pretty good since the draft was implemented, losing 100-plus games only twice during that span.

Yes. While nearly all players who get drafted spend time in the minor leagues first (even projected superstars), some have skipped the minors and gone straight to the majors.

However, it has become increasingly rare, especially since the MLB Draft was instituted. Only nine players have gone directly to the majors since 1980, including just three since 2000.

Furthermore, most of the recent examples are pitchers. Five of the last six players who skipped the minors were pitchers.

Some famous examples include John Olerud, Jim Abbott, Bob Horner and Hall of Famer Dave Winfield. The most recent example was pitcher Garrett Crochet, who went straight from the University of Tennessee to the Chicago White Sox in 2020 without appearing in a minor-league game (the minor-league season was canceled that year due to Covid).

Yes, many baseball players have turned down their draft picks over the years. If a player is signed out of high school, he may opt to attend college instead if he gets taken in a later round. Similarly, college players who haven’t graduated may decline their draft pick and return for another year of college.

Accordingly, draftees have more leverage in MLB compared to the NBA or NFL, especially since they know they’re not going straight to the pros regardless of where or when they sign. Minor league players don’t make much money, so the incentive to sign isn’t as strong as in the NBA or NFL, where players immediately start making pro money.

The most famous example of a player refusing his draft pick was Matt Harrington, who was drafted five straight years and did not sign with any of the teams that drafted him.

Through the 2023 season, seven MLB players have been drafted first overall and won an MVP award in their careers.

• Jeff Burroughs
• Ken Griffey Jr.
• Chipper Jones
• Alex Rodriguez
• Josh Hamilton
• Joe Mauer
• Bryce Harper

Similarly, only two No. 1 picks have won a Cy Young award:

• David Price
• Gerrit Cole

Getting drafted first overall is not always a precursor to MLB success, and the majority of MVPs and Cy Young winners were not drafted first overall. In some cases, however, players live up to their draft hype and dominate the league.

Most legal sports betting states allow wagering on the MLB Draft. However, some regulated sports betting states don’t allow wagering on an event like the MLB Draft, as they do not consider it a sporting event.

Here are the states that allow online bets on the 2024 MLB Draft. *Denotes a state with some restrictions.

• Arizona*
• Arkansas
• Colorado
• Florida
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Iowa*
• Kansas
• Louisiana
• Maine
• Maryland
• Massachusetts*
• Michigan*
• Nebraska
• Nevada*
• New Hampshire
• New Jersey
• North Carolina
• Ohio*
• Oregon
• Tennessee
• Washington, D.C.
• West Virginia*
• Wyoming

Connecticut, Kentucky, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia all have legal online sports betting but don’t allow wagering on the 2024 MLB Draft.

If you’re in an eligible state, most, if not all, of the best online betting sites will have some gambling offering on the MLB Draft. The options will vary depending on the sportsbook.