The Major League Baseball Draft Lottery will take place for the third time this offseason, with teams getting a chance for the first overall pick based on their 2024 records. According to Baseball America, the Pittsburgh Pirates will have a 5.31% chance of the first overall pick, which gives them the sixth best odds.
The lottery determines the order of the first six picks of the draft. The Pirates might not get the first overall pick, but they have a chance to get a high pick in this draft. Their chances were boosted when the White Sox and Athletics were removed from the draft. While both teams had worse records than the Pirates, they each were disqualified due to participating in previous drafts.
The White Sox are a team that pays into revenue sharing, and can’t win the lottery more than one year in a row. The Athletics receive revenue sharing, and can’t win more than two years in a row.
On that note, the Pirates won the first overall pick in 2023, but didn’t win a top-six pick in 2024. Had they won a pick, they also wouldn’t be eligible for this year’s lottery. They also might have still ended up with prep hitter Konnor Griffin.
The draft lottery will take place this December, determining the order for next summer’s draft.
