Texas Rangers Rise in First MLB Draft Lottery

The Rangers didn't claim the No. 1 overall pick, but they did make a move up the draft order thanks to the inaugural lottery.

The Texas Rangers didn’t get the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft Lottery, but the Rangers did improve their position by two spots on Tuesday at the Winter Meetings in San Diego.

The first-of-its-kind lottery was designed to determine the first six selections of the draft. While the Rangers entered the lottery with a 5.5 percent chance of getting the first pick, the Rangers ended up moving from No. 6 to No. 4 when the lottery was complete.

The Washington Nationals, the Oakland Athletics and the Pittsburgh Pirates each had the best chance of landing the No. 1 overall pick at 16.5 percent.

Pittsburgh ended up with the No. 1 overall pick, followed by Washington, Detroit and Texas. Minnesota moved up to No. 5, while Oakland fell to No. 6.

After that, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Colorado and Miami rounded out the top 10.

After the first six picks of the draft were determined by lottery, picks 7-18 were determined by reverse order of the 2022 standings.

The Rangers have already had an eventful Winter Meetings, as they’ve signed pitcher Jacob deGrom and have an agreement with starting pitcher Andrew Heaney.

The Rangers went 68-94, finishing fourth in the AL West. The Rangers and the Colorado Rockies had the same number of wins, but the Rockies had just a 3.9 percent chance of claiming the No. 1 overall pick. The tiebreaker was the two teams’ 2021 records, and the Rangers were worse.

The Rangers cannot lose their first-round pick, as all first-round picks are protected from compensation for signing a free agent. The Rangers gave up their second- and third-round picks in the 2022 Draft for signing Corey Seager and Marcus Semien.

The rest of the draft order is set,. Tampa Bay selects at No. 19, followed by Toronto (20), St. Louis (21), New York Mets (22), Seattle (23), Cleveland (24), Atlanta (25), Los Angeles Dodgers (26), San Diego (27), New York Yankees (28), Philadelphia (29) and Houston (30).

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You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard

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