2019 CPBL Draft Schedule
The CPBL has announced the schedule for the 2019 mid-season draft. The registration will open to those that are eligible on May 6. Those that are not eligible to enter the draft will get their chance to prove themselves at the amateurs tryout on June 17.
The final draft list will be available on June 24, and the big day, the CPBL 2019 mid-season draft is on July 1. The teams will have until August 31 to finalise all the contracts with their 2019 draft picks.
- Draft Registration: May 6
- Amateurs Tryout: June 17
- Final Draft List: June 24
- 2019 CPBL Draft Day: July 1
2019 CPBL Draft Order
With the potential fifth expansion team in the final review process, it is highly likely to see the Wei-Chuan Dragons participate in the 2019 draft.
Special draft incentives will be given to the Dragons this year. For the first four rounds, the Dragons will get to draft twice in the same round by taking the first and the fifth order.
- Wei-Chuan Dragons
- Chinatrust Brothers
- Fubon Guardians
- Uni-Lions
- Lamigo Monkeys
- Wei-Chuan Dragons
Is there any elligible players that have piqued your interest so far?
Too early because there’s some chance some of those players might sign with NPB or MLB after high school or decide to go to university first. Maybe around mid-June when we get a confirmed list then I can talk more about it.
However, if the draft is tomorrow, here are some of the players might be worth taking a look. In no particular order. It’s a list mix of university and high school players.
A lot of those players are being targeted by MLB and NPB scouts. So yeah like I said earlier, I can talk more maybe around mid-June.
– Li Chen-Hsun (李晨薰), RHP
– Chen Sheng-Ping (陳聖平), infielder
– Cheng Hao-Chun (鄭浩均), RHP
– Hsu Je-Hsi (徐若熙), RHP
– Liu Ji-hong (劉基鴻), infielder
– Kuo Tien-Hsin (郭天信), outfielder
– Yueh Cheng-Hua (岳政華), LHP
– Lin An-Ko (林安可), LHP
– Chiang Kuo-Hao (江國豪), RHP
Is it likely that there will be an expansion draft where the Dragons get to choose players from the other four teams’ rosters, as there is when there has been MLB expansion. In MLB in 1997, teams got to protect 15 players from their entire organizations in the first round, and then get to protect three additional players before each subsequent round until the appropriate number of players had been selected.
Yes, there will be expansion draft at the end of the year. In 2019 the Dragons can draft 2 players from each team outside of 30-man roster.
In 2020, they can draft 1 player from each team outside of 18-man roster.
So total of 12 players via the expansion draft.
Will the Dragons get a fourth foreign player the first year or two of CPBL major league play? 12 players and 4 picks in the first two rounds of the 2019 Draft (they will have to be very lucky to draft anyone later who will be ready for major league play in 2021) doesn’t sound like enough players to build a team around for 2021, particularly when the inevitable injuries are factored in.
Yes, for the first two seasons, the Dragons can have 4 foreign players in their first team roster.
Will they have enough players for 2021? Probably they will, but the biggest question is will this team be competitive enough in 2021. Me personally, I don’t think so.
For 2019, assuming they drafted around 20 players in the mid-season draft. and at the end of the year during the expansion draft they pick up another 8.
Plus additional signing from the end of season waiver list, former CPBL players in the industrial leagues. Ideally, they should have a pretty good chance to get the team up to 35-40 players.
We might even see the Dragons playing in the 2019 winter league too.
But yeah, like I said earlier, whether by 2021 they can be competitive enough, that’s another question.
Teams can always find players, but I agree with you that it will take the Dragons awhile to become competitive if they can’t obtain enough good players from the Draft or other CPBL teams.