Red Sox First-Round Draft Position Set After MLB Lottery

There was a chance, albeit an incredibly slim one, of the Boston Red Sox obtaining the first overall pick through the inaugural Major League Baseball draft lottery Tuesday night.

But when the ping pong balls settled, or whatever the MLB used to determine the order for lottery teams, the Red Sox were left with the 14th overall pick for the 2023 draft. Boston had just a 0.8% chance — ranked 14th among the 18 non-playoff teams — to take home the No. 1 pick.

Luck obviously was not on the side of the Red Sox, as the Minnesota Twins, who finished with the same regular-season record as Boston and had a 0.9% chance at the top pick, moved all the way up to the fifth spot. The other big winner on the night were the Pittsburgh Pirates as they clinched the coveted first pick.

Here are the full results from the lottery with the teams’ percentage of claiming the top pick going into the night, courtesy of MLB.com:
1. Pittsburgh Pirates (16.5%)
2. Washington Nationals (16.5%)
3. Detroit Tigers (7.5%)
4. Texas Rangers (5.5%)
5. Minnesota Twins (0.9%)
6. Oakland Athletics (16.5%)
7. Cincinnati Reds (13.2%)
8. Kansas City Royals (10%)
9. Colorado Rockies (3.9%)
10. Miami Marlins (2.7%)
11. Los Angeles Angels (1.8%)
12. Arizona Diamondbacks (1.4%)
13. Chicago Cubs (1.1%)
14. Boston Red Sox (0.8%)
15. Chicago White Sox (0.6%)
16. San Francisco Giants (0.5%)
17. Baltimore Orioles (0.4%)
18. Milwaukee Brewers (0.2%)

So obviously not the result the Red Sox wanted, but a far from surprising one.

For all remaining rounds after the first round, all lottery teams will be slotted in the reverse order of their 2022 winning percentage.