Royals have extra pick in MLB Draft because of Bobby Witt Jr.’s standout 2024 season
There are just 27 first-round picks in Sunday’s Major League Baseball Draft, and then comes a special round that is extremely short.
It’s the Prospect Promotion Incentive (PPI) pick round, and just one team will be making a selection: the Royals. They’re getting that 28th overall pick in the draft because of shortstop Bobby Witt Jr.
Here is a description from MLB on how a team can get a PPI pick: “If a player who was rated as a preseason Top 100 prospect by MLB Pipeline, Baseball America, and/or ESPN (at least two of the three) and was on his team’s opening day roster and goes on to win the Rookie of the Year Award or place in the top three in MVP or Cy Young voting prior to qualifying for arbitration, the club is awarded a Prospect Promotion Incentive pick after the first round.”
Witt, who at one point had been a top-100 prospect, finished second in the American League MVP award voting a year ago. So that got the Royals an extra pick that will be made before the Yankees, Mets or Dodgers get to make their first selection.
Those three clubs were given a 10-pick penalty by MLB for going over “the second surcharge threshold of the Competitive Balance Tax.” That’s why they don’t have a first-round pick in the draft.
The PPI has been around for just three years and the previous three teams to get an extra pick got it because a player won the Rookie of the Year award. They were the Diamondbacks (Corbin Carroll), Orioles (Gunnar Henderson) and Mariners (Julio Rodriguez).
The Royals are the first team to get the extra pick by having a player finish in the top three of MVP voting.
“We’re excited about it because it’s Bobby rewarding the team, and us feeling good enough about him being ready for the major leagues,” Royals general manager J.J. Picollo told me. “So I think it’s probably a little more coincidence than anything. Because we felt like he was ready to start on the opening day roster.
“But the guys up in that draft room right now are pretty happy that we got the pick. So I think it’s a great thing.”
This story was originally published July 11, 2025 at 9:45 AM with the headline "Royals have extra pick in MLB Draft because of Bobby Witt Jr.’s standout 2024 season."
