Donald Arthur Mattingly is an American professional baseball coach, and former first baseman and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). He is the bench coach for the Toronto Blue Jays of MLB. Nicknamed "the Hit Man" and "Donnie Baseball", he spent his entire 14-year MLB playing career with the New York Yankees and later managed the Los Angeles Dodgers for five years and the Miami Marlins for seven years.
Aaron John Boone is an American baseball manager and former infielder who is the manager of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played in MLB for 13 seasons from 1997 to 2009. As a player, Boone is most recognized for his 2003 campaign with the Yankees, during which he hit the winning walk-off home run of the 2003 American League Championship Series.
The Major League Baseball draft is the primary mechanism by which Major League Baseball (MLB) assigns amateur baseball players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur baseball clubs to its teams. The draft order is determined by a lottery system, starting in 2023, where teams that did not make the postseason in the previous year participate in a state-lottery style process to determine the first six picks. The team with the worst record has the best odds of receiving the first pick. Prior to 2023, the draft order was based on the previous season's standings, with the worst team selecting first.
Robert Andrew Witt Sr. is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Texas Rangers, Oakland Athletics, Florida Marlins, St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Cleveland Indians, and Arizona Diamondbacks.
The 2004 Los Angeles Dodgers season was the 115th for the franchise in Major League Baseball, and their 47th season in Los Angeles, California. It brought change to the Dodgers as the sale of the franchise to developer Frank McCourt was finalized during spring training. McCourt promptly dismissed General Manager Dan Evans and hired Paul DePodesta to take over the team. That led to a flurry of trade activity as the new group attempted to rebuild the Dodgers in their image.
The 1999 Los Angeles Dodgers season was the 110th for the franchise in Major League Baseball, and their 42nd season in Los Angeles, California. The season started with a new management team; Kevin Malone became the team's General Manager and Davey Johnson was selected to be the new Dodgers Manager. Looking to make a splash, Malone exclaimed "There is a new Sheriff in town" as he took over the reins and made a splash by signing starting pitcher Kevin Brown to a huge long contract. However, the team struggled to a third-place finish in the National League West.
The 1985 Los Angeles Dodgers won the National League West before losing to the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS. Fernando Valenzuela set a major league record for most consecutive innings at the start of a season without allowing an earned run (41).
The 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers season got off to a strong start when rookie pitcher Fernando Valenzuela pitched a shutout on opening day, starting the craze that came to be known as "Fernandomania." Fernando went on to win both the Rookie of the Year and Cy Young Awards.
The 1969 Los Angeles Dodgers finished in fourth place in the new National League West, eight games behind the Atlanta Braves. The Dodgers' record for 1969 was 85–77, which was nine wins better than 1968.
The 1995 Major League Baseball draft began June 1995 to assign amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order is the reverse order of the 1994 MLB season standings. In addition, compensation picks were distributed for players who did not sign from the 1994 MLB Draft. The California Angels received the first overall selection, choosing Darin Erstad.
The 1991 Major League Baseball draft began 3 June 1991 to assign amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order is the reverse order of the 1990 MLB season standings. In addition, compensation picks will be distributed for players who did not sign from the 1990 MLB Draft. The New York Yankees received the first overall selection.
The 2009 Major League Baseball draft was held June 9 to June 11 at the MLB Network Studios in Secaucus, New Jersey.
The 2016 Major League Baseball draft began on June 9, 2016, to assign amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order is the reverse order of the 2015 MLB season standings. In addition, compensation picks will be distributed for players who did not sign from the 2015 MLB Draft. The Philadelphia Phillies received the first overall selection. The Los Angeles Dodgers received the 36th pick as compensation for failing to sign Kyle Funkhouser, the 35th overall selection of the 2015 MLB Draft.
Robert Andrew Witt Jr. is an American professional baseball shortstop for the Kansas City Royals of Major League Baseball (MLB). The Royals selected him second overall in the 2019 MLB draft and he made his MLB debut in 2022. Witt was named to his first All-Star Game in 2024.
The 2019 Major League Baseball draft was held from June 3 to 5, 2019. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order was set based on the reverse order of the 2018 MLB season standings. In addition, compensation picks were distributed for players who did not sign from the 2018 MLB Draft and for teams that lost qualifying free agents. The first 41 picks, including the first round and compensatory picks, were broadcast by MLB Network on June 3, and the second round was streamed on MLB.com directly following the first round. The remainder of the draft was streamed online from June 4 to 5.
The 2020 Major League Baseball draft took place on June 10 and 11, 2020. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to Major League Baseball (MLB) teams. The draft order was set based on the reverse order of the 2019 MLB season standings. In addition, compensation picks were distributed for players who did not sign from the 2019 MLB draft and for teams who lost qualifying free agents. On March 26, 2020, MLB and the MLBPA reached a deal that included the option to shorten the draft to five rounds, and also shorten the 2021 draft to 20 rounds due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In a plan to allow teams to sign an unlimited number of undrafted players for $20,000 each, MLB ultimately opted to shorten the 2020 draft to five rounds. The draft was originally planned to be hosted live for the first time in Omaha, Nebraska, to accompany the since-cancelled 2020 College World Series. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the draft was instead held remotely from MLB Network's studios in Secaucus, New Jersey. With sponsorship from T-Mobile, the event was officially the 2020 MLB Draft Presented by T-Mobile, with ESPN providing live coverage for the first time since 2008, alongside MLB Network.
The 2021 Major League Baseball draft took place on July 11–13, 2021. In conjunction with the 2021 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the draft was held in Denver. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order was set based on the reverse order of the 2020 MLB season standings. In addition, compensation picks were distributed for players who did not sign from the 2020 MLB Draft and for teams who lost qualifying free agents. On March 26, 2020, MLB and the MLBPA reached a deal that included the option to halve the draft to 20 rounds due to the COVID-19 pandemic. MLB ultimately opted to shorten the draft to 20 rounds. In total, 612 college and high school players were drafted.
The 2022 Major League Baseball draft took place on July 17–19, 2022, in Los Angeles. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to Major League Baseball (MLB) teams. The draft order was based on the reverse order of the 2021 MLB season standings. In addition, compensation picks were distributed for players who did not sign from the 2021 MLB Draft.
The 2023 Major League Baseball draft took place on July 9–11, 2023, in Seattle. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. For the first time, a draft lottery was used to set a portion of the draft order. The first six selections were set via the lottery, with picks belonging to the remaining lottery participants set in reverse order of regular season winning percentage. To complete the first round, playoff teams selected in an order that combined postseason finish, revenue sharing status, and reverse order of winning percentage. Reverse order of regular season winning percentage and postseason finish was used to set the draft order for rounds two through 20. In addition, compensation picks were distributed for players who did not sign from the 2022 MLB Draft.
The 2024 Major League Baseball draft took place on July 14–16, 2024, in Fort Worth, Texas. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The first six selections were set via a lottery, with first round picks belonging to the remaining lottery participants set in reverse order of regular season winning percentage. To complete the first round, playoff teams selected in an order that combined postseason finish, revenue sharing status, and reverse order of winning percentage. Reverse order of regular season winning percentage and postseason finish was used to set the draft order for rounds two through 20.
