MLB Amateur Draft begins on Monday at 7 p.m. ET - MLB

The 2017 amateur draft gets underway today and will last through Wednesday. If you’ve spent a lot of time around here, you know that we don’t really cover high school or college baseball. As such, we’re not going to put on some fake draft expert cap and pretend that we know what the heck we’re talking about. We are men of action. Lies do not become us.

But we can certainly point you to the folks who do make it their business to know what the heck they’re talking about when it comes to the top amateur baseball talent in the land, thereby helping you get ready for the draft.

The draft will be broadcast on MLB Network this evening. There will be a pre-draft show at 6PM Eastern and the actual draft will get going at 7PM. It will also stream at MLB.com.
Baseball America has the board with the top-500 prospects ranked. Yes, 500. That’s a lot. It also sort of explains why we don’t really spend a lot of time on amateur stuff here. You just ain’t gonna compete with Baseball America, so you shouldn’t even try. We can agree with them that, based on what we’ve read, Hunter Greene, the pitcher/shortstop from Sherman Oaks, California is the top prospect.
Other experts to follow as the draft unfolds: ESPN’s Keith Law, MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo and Baseball America’s Jim Callis.

The Twins have the top pick. Below I have listed the draft order for the first round, alongside what MLB’s anti-free market slotting rules have decided each of those picks is worth. But we’ll leave rants about that aside for now.

1. Minnesota Twins ($7,770,700)

2. Cincinnati Reds ($7,193,200)

3. San Diego Padres ($6,668,100)

4. Tampa Bay Rays ($6,153,600)

5. Atlanta Braves ($5,707,300)

6. Oakland Athletics ($5,303,000)

7. Arizona Diamondbacks ($5,016,300)

8. Philadelphia Phillies ($4,780,400)

9. Milwaukee Brewers ($4,570,000)

10. Los Angeles Angels ($4,376,800)

11. Chicago White Sox ($4,199,200)

12. Pittsburgh Pirates ($4,032,000)

13. Miami Marlins ($3,875,800)

14. Kansas City Royals ($3,727,600)

15. Houston Astros ($3,588,200)

16. New York Yankees ($3,458,600)

17. Seattle Mariners ($3,333,200)

18. Detroit Tigers ($3,214,600)

19. San Francisco Giants ($3,101,700)

20. New York Mets ($2,994,500)

21. Baltimore Orioles ($2,892,400)

22. Toronto Blue Jays ($2,795,200)

23. Los Angeles Dodgers ($2,702,700)

24. Boston Red Sox ($2,614,500)

25. Washington Nationals ($2,530,400)

26. Texas Rangers ($2,450,100)

27. Chicago Cubs ($2,373,300)

28. Toronto Blue Jays (Compensation for Edwin Encarnacion-CLE) ($2,302,900)

29. Texas Rangers (Compensation for Ian Desmond-COL) ($2,238,900)

30. Chicago Cubs (Compensation for Dexter Fowler-STL) ($2,184,300)

Follow @craigcalcaterra

PITTSBURGH — The New York Mets will have to dig out of an early-season hole without star first baseman Pete Alonso.

The leading home run hitter in the majors will miss three-to-four weeks with a bone bruise and a sprain in his left wrist.

The Mets placed Alonso on the 10-day injured list Friday, retroactive to June 8. Alonso was hit in the wrist by a 96 mph fastball from Charlie Morton in the first inning of a 7-5 loss to Atlanta on Wednesday.

Alonso traveled to New York for testing on Thursday. X-rays revealed no broken bones, but the Mets will be missing one of the premier power hitters in the game as they try to work their way back into contention in the NL East.

“We got better news than it could have been,” New York manager Buck Showalter said. “So we take that as a positive. It could have been worse.”

New York had lost six straight heading into a three-game series at Pittsburgh that began Friday. Mark Canha started at first for the Mets in the opener. Mark Vientos could also be an option, though Showalter said the coaching staff may have to use its “imagination” in thinking of ways to get by without Alonso.

“I’m not going to say someone has to step up and all that stuff,” Showalter said. “You’ve just got to be who you are.”

Even with Alonso in the lineup, the Mets have struggled to score consistently. New York is 16th in the majors in runs scored.

The team also said Friday that reliever Edwin Uceta had surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. Uceta initially went on the IL in April with what the team called a sprained left ankle. He is expected to be out for at least an additional eight weeks.

New York recalled infielder Luis Guillorme and left-handed reliever Zach Muckenhirn from Triple-A Syracuse. The Mets sent catcher Tomás Nido to Triple-A and designated reliever Stephen Nogosek for assignment.

Nogosek is 0-1 with a 5.63 ERA in 13 games this season.