MLB Draft Lottery Awards 18th Pick in 2025 MLB Draft to D-backs

The Arizona Diamondbacks were awarded pick number 18 for the 2025 MLB Draft following the Draft Lottery

Dec 10, 2024; Dallas, TX, USA; A view of the atrium at the Hilton Anatole during the 2024 MLB Winter Meetings. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-Imagn Images / Tim Heitman-Imagn Images

MLB held its annual Draft Lottery on Tuesday evening at 3:30 p.m. local AZ time. The first six spots in the Draft were up for grabs with of course the number one overall pick being the most wanted. The lottery was held at the Winter Meetings at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas, Texas.

The Arizona Diamondbacks entered the Draft Lottery projected to have the 18th overall pick, and after the Lottery, that's where they wound up. They will have the 18th overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft. The Washington Nationals won the first overall pick.

Per Baseball America, this is how the Lottery works, "Per the CBA, all eligible non-playoff teams are entered into the lottery for a chance to claim the top six picks, with odds determined by the standings. Ping pong balls are placed in an air-blown lottery machine that produces a ball labeled with a number every 15 seconds. Four balls are collected to create a four-digit code corresponding to a
certain team."

Once the six spots are selected, the order goes by reverse standings like the MLB Drafts of old.

The Colorado Rockies and Miami Marlins were tied for the best odds for No.1 overall with 22.45%. Meanwhile, the Arizona Diamondbacks had odds of just 0.27% for it.

Two non-playoff teams were barred from the lottery and were unable to pick before No.10 overall due to CBA rules. The White Sox were unable to have a shot at the No.1 pick despite having by far the worst record because they were in the lottery last year and pay into revenue sharing.

The Athletics were unable to participate because they are a revenue receiving team and had lottery picks in both 2023 and 2024. So, the White Sox will have the 10th pick and the Athletics will pick 11th.

In 2023, the Cleveland Guardians had a 2% shot of winning the first pick and they ended up winning it, so it wasn't a surprise to see the Mariners jump as high as they did from 15 to 3. The Cardinals jumped from 13 to 5.

Meanwhile, the Rockies, who had the highest odds, fell to 4 and the Marlins who were tied for the highest odds fell to 7, two brutal blows for those organizations.

Representing the Diamondbacks at the lottery was former All-Star catcher for the franchise, Miguel Montero, who is the Special Assistant of Development for Arizona.

The Nationals are officially on the clock for the 2025 MLB Draft.