On December 18, 2023 TTAB posted on their website an official addendum clarifying rule changes made in the 2024-2025 TTAB baseball and softball rule book, both of which are effective beginning this season. In particular, J. OPEN DRAFT RULES §3. specifies:
Teams with the lowest number of players will get to equal up on the number of players to the next closest team. Once two (2) or more teams are equal on the number of players, then alternating picks will start between the teams that are equal. This will continue until all teams are equal on the total number of players per team and then alternating picks until all players have been selected.
Below is a brief interpretation of the new draft rule followed by a general and hypothetical example.
TTAB is attempting to standardize the draft process for all statewide affiliates. It appears the new rule is also an attempt to prevent disparities in competition by ensuring new teams with only the maximum number of protected players, for example, can build their rosters first in ascending order to match the team(s) with the next-most returning players.
Here’s how we think this will work: at the start of each new season, the team with the fewest players will add to their roster first, until their player count matches that of the next largest team. This pattern will continue until all teams’ roster counts equal that of the team(s) with the largest player count. Since each “catch up” round will involve multiple teams alternating roster additions, selection order priority will need to be clarified.
Once all catch-up rounds have been completed and all teams have the same number of players, a traditional player draft begins until all draft-eligible players have been placed on a team. It’s a little complicated so here’s a general and hypothetical example.
Let’s say there will be 11 teams in your age division with the following pre-draft roster counts. In this scenario, we have three new teams: (1) Phillies, (2) Royals, and (3) Tigers. The Phillies protected only 2 players while the Royals and Tigers protected 3. All other teams have at least 4 returning players and no more than 8.
| Team Name | Roster Count | 2023 W-L Pctg. |
|---|---|---|
| Phillies | 2 | 0.531 |
| Tigers | 3 | 0.331 |
| Royals | 3 | 0.455 |
| Yankees | 4 | 0.787 |
| Marlins | 5 | 0.635 |
| Pirates | 5 | 0.953 |
| Orioles | 6 | 0.181 |
| Rangers | 6 | 0.200 |
| Astros | 6 | 0.943 |
| Giants | 8 | 0.300 |
| Cubs | 8 | 0.581 |
Since the Phillies have one less player than the Tigers and Royals, a player will be added to their roster first. This would be round 1. Now that the Phillies, Tigers and Royals each have three players, round 2 would consist of each team adding a player to equal the roster size of the next largest team. At the beginning of each new round, the first successive team picks first. In the case of a tie, the team with the lowest winning percentage from the previous season picks first. The catch-up draft rounds would be as follows:
Once player roster counts are equal across all teams, additional players are added according to winning percentage.