Major League Baseball unveiled the recommended slot values for the 2025 MLB Draft, which in turn sets the bonus pools that define what teams may spend.
This system, which was collectively bargained between the owners and players, has been around since 2012. The Dodgers in this draft will have more to spend all but one of the 14 bonus-pool drafts.
The Dodgers have $9,031,300, which is the 24th-most among 30 MLB teams, per Jim Callis at MLB.com. That makes sense considering the Dodgers pick last in every round by virtue of winning the 2024 World Series. They also had their first pick drop 10 slots for surpassing the third competitive balance tax threshold last season (they also exceeded the fourth tier as well, and will do so again this season).
But the Dodgers also gained in their bonus pool by acquiring a Competitive Balance round A draft pick in the January trade of Gavin Lux to the Reds. That trade gave the Dodgers the No. 41 pick, which comes with a recommended slot value of $2,386,900. Their first pick comes just one prior, with the No. 40 pick carrying a slot value of $2,443,600.
We noted back in March how the Dodgers would have more to spend in this draft, but we just didn’t know how much. After all, the increase from 2023 to 2024 in slot value was around 8.8 percent, but the increase from 2024 to 2025 is just 4.78 percent.
“This year’s slowdown in growth comes while MLB grapples with the declining footprint of regional sports networks,” wrote J.J. Cooper at Baseball America on Friday, “although other revenue streams (like licensing and international deals) have helped soften the blow.”
The Dodgers bonus pool, which is derived from the total recommended slot values for every pick through the first 10 rounds, is up 47.7 percent over last year’s $6.115 million bonus pool.
In the 14 years of the current draft slotting system, the only higher Dodgers bonus pool was in 2016, when they not only had their own first-round pick (Gavin Lux) but also the No. 32 pick (Will Smith) for Zack Greinke signing as a free agent with Arizona, and the No. 36 pick (Jordan Sheffield) for failing to sign draftee Kyle Funkhouser in 2015. The Dodgers had $9,336,500 to spend that year.
The only other Dodgers bonus pool of the last 14 years over $8 million was in 2019, when they had two first-round picks (Kody Hoese and Michael Busch), the latter for failing to sign first-rounder J.T. Ginn in 2018.
Dodgers 2025 draft bonus pool
| Round | Pick | 2025 slot | 2024 slot | 25 over ’24 inc. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 40 | $2,443,600 | $2,332,100 | 4.78% |
| Comp A | 41 | $2,386,900 | $2,278,000 | 4.78% |
| 2 | 65 | $1,349,100 | $1,287,600 | 4.78% |
| 3 | 104 | $737,000 | $703,400 | 4.78% |
| 4 | 135 | $544,900 | $520,000 | 4.79% |
| 5 | 165 | $407,300 | $388,700 | 4.79% |
| 6 | 195 | $317,200 | $302,700 | 4.79% |
| 7 | 225 | $250,300 | $238,900 | 4.77% |
| 8 | 255 | $211,700 | $202,000 | 4.80% |
| 9 | 285 | $196,000 | $187,100 | 4.76% |
| 10 | 315 | $187,300 | $178,800 | 4.75% |
| Totals | $9,031,300 | $8,619,300 |
