The 2022 Major League Baseball Entry Draft begins Sunday night, when the Baltimore Orioles make the No. 1 pick for the third time in franchise history. From there, the draft will consist of 20 rounds that will take place over three days. Sunday night will feature the first and second rounds, as well as two compensatory rounds and two competitive balance rounds. From there, rounds 3-10 will take place on Monday afternoon, with the rest of the class squared off on Tuesday afternoon.

Below, you’ll find how you can watch the MLB Draft as well as answers to eight pressing questions about this year’s event.

How to watch the first round of the 2022 MLB Draft

• Date: Sunday July 17 | Time: 7 p.m. ET
• Location: Los Angeles, California
• TV channel: MLB Network | Direct: fuboTV (try for free)

And now, eight questions about the project.

1. Who goes #1?

The Orioles, and more specifically senior executive Mike Elias, have become fond of the so-called “portfolio approach.” It goes like this. They will identify a group of players that they consider justifiable selections of their choice, then they will select the one with the lowest signing bonus demands. These savings are then redistributed to the rest of their class, maximizing their overall talent accumulation.

All that to say that the Orioles’ plans aren’t easy to pin down in advance. Some with other teams who spoke to CBS Sports expect them to take a high school position player, but it’s unclear which one. The mock final draft of our own Mike Axisa got the Orioles ready with second prep goal Termarr Johnson.

Johnson, for what it’s worth, was the No. 1 rated prospect in the class by CBS Sports in the preseason. It slipped to No. 4 in our final ranking. In other words, he would be a justifiable No. 1 pick, should the Orioles go that route.

2. Who are the best players in the class?

Clearly, Johnson is one of the best prospects available. Who else fits the bill? CBS Sports’ final Top 30 rankings had the following players in the top 10:

1. Georgia prep outfielder Druw Jones
2. Shortstop Cal Poly Brooks Lee
3. Oklahoma prep shortstop Jackson Holliday
4. Georgia prep infielder Termarr Johnson
5. Florida prep outfielder Elijah Green
6. Florida JuCo third baseman Cam Collier
7. Georgia Tech wide receiver Kevin Parada
8. Texas prep shortstop Jett Williams
9. Texas Tech second baseman Jace Jung
10. Virginia Tech outfielder Gavin Cross

You can check out the rest of the top 30 rankings by clicking here.

3. Are there any players with notable bloodlines?

You may have seen the surnames ‘Jones’, ‘Holliday’ and ‘Collier’ and wondered if these players were related to former major league players – Andruw, Matt and Lou, in this case. . They are indeed. Plus, they’re not the only three with big league bloodlines working in their favor. Carl Crawford’s son Justin and Kansas City Royals executive Dayton Moore’s son Robert are also members of this class.

You can click here to learn more about how Jones, Holliday and Crawford compare to their All-Star fathers.

4. Is Kumar Rocker in this class?

Rocker, a former Vanderbilt standout and the No. 10 pick in the 2021 draft, is eligible for the draft again after failing to sign with the New York Mets last summer. He recently made a series of starts with an independent league team, showing the kinds of things that should make him a first-round pick again. CBS Sports recently detailed how he went from arguably the most overexposed prospect in last summer’s draft to a relatively mysterious man over the past year.

5. How will NIL affect signability?

One of the invisible hands in the draft, so to speak, is the concept of signability – or, basically, the likelihood that a player has put pen to paper. Some players will slip on draft night because teams feel unsignable; conversely, some will go up because they are willing to take the “slot” value to go to a certain point in the draft.

The NCAA’s recently installed name, image and likeness policy, which allows players to (rightly) earn money from their talent, has changed the calculus for teams and players in this regard. .

“I think it’s a real thing, I think you can tie it to the number of people using the transfer portal to get additional NIL funding,” a veteran scout recently told CBS Sports. “It’s not just for kids in college, kids going to college will make the same demands.”

You can click here to learn more about how the NIL could impact who signs.

6. Which stock is up and which is down?

CBS Sports recently highlighted a number of players moving up or down the draft boards ahead of Sunday. One of the biggest lifters was Oklahoma right-hander Cade Horton. Here is what we wrote at the time:

Horton, a draft-eligible sophomore who missed the 2021 season due to Tommy John surgery, put himself in first-round consideration with a phenomenal run at the College World Series that culminated in a record the final 13 strikeouts. His arsenal is all about power, including a high-spinning fastball that can hit the upper 90s and a slider that was clocked up to 90 on that aforementioned debut. Horton has a limited record (he pitched just over 50 regular-season innings for the Sooners), and scouts still have doubts about whether he’ll be a long-term starter. Still, one team seems destined to take him in the top 30-35 picks.

Horton should therefore leave the table on Sunday.

7. Do you have any notable throwing injuries?

Oh darn. Tons.

Dylan Lesko, Landon Sims, Connor Prielipp, Peyton Pallette and Reggie Crawford – all of whom were ranked in the top 50 during pre-season – all required surgery or spent the year rehabilitating. What is the cause of all these injuries? Some scouts blamed the pandemic and the lack of “live innings” pitchers may have accumulated in the 2020 calendar year.

“Nobody denies that the development of the pitch has made tremendous progress in the last five years,” a scout told CBS Sports. “The problem is when you can only do that and no one can cast live, the risk increases.”

You can click here to learn more about how all injuries changed the class.

8. What are the most polarizing perspectives?

CBS Sports recently highlighted a number of players that we deem “polarizing,” meaning reviewers differ in where they see said player going. One player we focused on in this play was Tennessee flamethrower Ben Joyce. Here is what we wrote:

Joyce will break some models and potentially some fake drafts. He has a monster fastball and slider, with 43 of the first recorded at 100 mph or more during the NCAA Tournament. (It peaked at, uh, 105 mph during the regular season.) Its heater also features good elevation and is delivered from a lower arm slot, a sought-after combination these days. Teams trying to quantify things — that is, all of them — will find it hard to contain their excitement over what Joyce brings to the table. He’s here anyway because there’s never been a consensus on when it’s too early to pick up a reliever, and because teams will have drastically different schedules on when they expect to take a reliever. what he reaches the majors. Keep in mind that he’s only pitched 32 innings in the past two seasons due to his role and past operation at Tommy John. A team that thinks he could make it to the majors soon, maybe even this year, might be tempted to draft him earlier than anyone else.

When will Joyce leave? We will find out soon enough.