The purpose of this document is to describe the procedures of the Association regarding the order of drafting players onto teams in those leagues that utilize a draft.
Teams in each league should be as balanced as possible.
The team drafting first in the first round has the greatest advantage, and should draft last in the second round. Similarly, the second team in the first round should draft second-to-last in the second round, the third team should draft third-to-last, etc. This leads to the principle that the order in each even-numbered round should be the opposite of that in the prior odd-numbered round.
Given the importance of pitching, teams having the opportunity to draft the best few pitchers in a league have a significant advantage over others. At the end of the second round, the team that drafted first in the first round still has had the greatest advantage (even though it drafted last in the second round) since it had the opportunity to draft the best player in the league. (Another way of stating this is that the combination first-last is considered to be better than last-first.) The team drafting first in the first round should therefore draft last in the third round. By extension, the team drafting second in the first round should draft second-to last in the third round. Thus, the third round order should be the same as the second round.
By the principle noted above, the fourth round order should be the opposite of the third (and thus the fourth round order should be the same as the first round). This makes sense since at the end of the third round, the team that drafted first in that round has had the greatest advantage (having drafted last, first, first) and should therefore draft last in the fourth round.
Since preference in the third round was given to the team drafting last in the first round, the opposite preference should be given in the fifth round. The fifth round order should therefore be the same as the first round. The sixth and seventh round should therefore be the same as the second, and the eighth round should be the same as the first. By extension, the ninth and twelfth should be the same as the first, and the tenth and eleventh the same as the second. Similarly (if needed), the thirteenth and sixteenth should be the same as the first, and the fourteenth and fifteenth should be the same as the second.
Prior to the start of the draft, a consensus shall be reached on the draft round to which each manager's child should be assigned. No co-manager or coach arrangements may be made prior to the draft.
After assignment of draft rounds to managers' children, each team shall be be assigned an initial drafting position by chance (i.e., by drawing numbered lots).
Teams shall draft in the initial order in the first, fourth, fifth, eighth, ninth, twelfth, thirteenth and sixteenth rounds and in reverse order in the second, third, sixth, seventh, tenth, eleventh, fourteenth and fifteenth rounds.
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Siblings must play together. When one sibling is drafted, the other one must be taken by the same manager with the next available pick.
After the draft is completed, but while all managers are still present, trades may be made by mutual agreement of the managers involved. Only trades involving equal numbers of players are allowed.
When the draft meeting is over, all team rosters are FINAL.
All information regarding the order of drafting and player evaluation is to be kept absolutely confidential.
Managers should call their players as soon as possible after the draft (within 24 hours).
Initial version adopted by IFPAA Board in May, 1999. Procedure updated February 2, 2000.