We're now about three weeks from the 2021 MLB draft, which begins on Sunday, July 11, and while there's more buzz about specific team preferences, sources say information on this front will be much clearer at the end of the month with the College World Series and first draft combine along with a number of private workouts starting in the coming days.
It's still a little early to have a team's mix down to a few certain players. That isn't reality for most teams yet, and there haven't been many substantive calls with advisers yet, particularly at the top picks. In projecting picks for a mock, the buzz from the day or two before the draft is at least 50 percent nonsense, smokescreens and backup plans. What I'll get in the next two weeks, in combination with which teams have scouted players the most, the general profile of players they tend to take, and if I tend to handicap their picks, can all be combined for the best outcome in a projection.
All that said, it makes sense to check in on this front one more time as these final big events are about to kick off, then circle back with more at the end of the month. These are where I think players will be selected, not the order in which I'd take them.