Luis Gonzalez, Roland Hemond to represent the Dbacks at the 2014 Draft

Dec 9, 2013; Orlando, FL, USA; Tony La Russa embraces Roland Hemond while Joe Torre (left) looks on after being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame during the MLB Winter Meetings at Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin. Mandatory Credit: David Manning-USA TODAY Sports

For the second straight year, Diamondbacks legend and special assistant to President Derrick Hall Luis Gonzalez will represent the Dbacks at the 2014 First year player draft. Dbacks executive Roland Hemond, who was the 2011 recipent of the Buck O’Niel Lifetime Achievment Award presented by the National Baseball Hall of Fame will also represent the team for the second straight year.

Major League Baseball’s First Year Player Draft wll be held on June 5th-June 7th, to assign the next round of ameture talent to major league clubs. The first two rounds will be conducted on June 5th folowed by Rounds 3-10 on June 6th, and the last 30 rounds will be held on June 7th. The first 74 selections will be televised on MLB Network with the rest of the draft being televised on MLB.com. The draft will be held at MLB Network’s Studio 42 in Secaucus N.J. The represenatives will be part of the first night as a symbolic transition.

The Draft will once again feature Competive Balance Rounds, which were agreed upon as part of the Collective Barganing Agreement. Those rounds give teams with the lowest revenues to grab more draft picks. The 10 lowest revenue teams will be entered into a lottery for the six selections immediatly following the first round. The draft will have 40 rounds and any team can pass on a selection.

Now I am not an expert on talent, so I decide to look at mock drafts from experts. I trust Johnathan Mayo of MLB.com. He has the Snakes taking Brandon Finnegan, the LHP of Texas Christian. Here is his explanation: “Finnegan returned to the mound for the second time in a few weeks on Thursday. If he can prove he’s healthy, he might not be available at No. 16. If he doesn’t, will the D-backs want to take the risk?” Other experts from various media outlets have the Dbacks taking guys like LHP Sean Newcomb of the University of Hartford, C Max Pentecost out of Kennesaw State Universtiy, and OF Bradley Zimmer of the University of San Francisco.