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 2021 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 91st Major League Baseball All-Star Game. The game was hosted by the Colorado Rockies and played at Coors Field on July 13. It was broadcast nationally by Fox, Fox Deportes, and ESPN Radio. T ...

, the draft was held in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order was set based on the reverse order of the

2020 MLB season The 2020 Major League Baseball season began on July 23 and ended on September 27 with only 60 games amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The full 162-game regular season was planned to begin on March 26, but the pandemic caused Major League Baseball (M ...

standings. In addition, compensation picks were distributed for players who did not sign from the

2020 MLB draft 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 ad ...

and for teams who lost qualifying

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

s. On March 26, 2020, MLB and the

MLBPA The Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) is the labor union representing all current Major League Baseball (MLB) and Minor League Baseball (MiLB) players. All players, managers, coaches, and athletic trainers who hold or have held a ...

reached a deal that included the option to halve the draft to 20 rounds due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. MLB ultimately opted to shorten the draft to 20 rounds. In total, 612 college and high school players were drafted. The

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

, who had the worst record of the 2020 season, selected Henry Davis with the first overall pick in the draft. As punishment for their role in the sign stealing scandal, the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

forfeited both their first- and second-round picks in the draft. On April 2, 2021, MLB announced that the 2021 MLB All-Star Game, along with the draft, was being relocated from

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

in protest of the

Georgia State Legislature The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each of the General Assembly's 236 members serve two-year terms and are directly ...

's passage of the

Election Integrity Act of 2021 The Election Integrity Act of 2021, originally known as the Georgia Senate Bill 202, is a law in the U.S. state of Georgia overhauling elections in the state. It replaced signature recognition, signature matching requirements on absentee ballots ...

; three days later, Denver was announced as the new host city. Chase Silseth made his MLB debut for the

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on May 13, 2022, making him the first player from the 2021 draft to make his major league debut.

Draft selections

The deadline for teams to sign drafted players was August 1, 2021.

First round

Compensatory round

Competitive Balance Round A

Second round

Competitive Balance Round B

Other notable selections

Notes

;Compensation picks

References

{{2021 MLB Draft Major League Baseball draft

Draft Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...

Major League Baseball draft The Major League Baseball draft (officially the Rule 4 Draft; also known as the first-year player draft or amateur draft) is the primary mechanism by which Major League Baseball (MLB) assigns amateur baseball players from high schools, colleg ...

2021 in Denver

Baseball in Colorado Events in Denver