By the numbers: Breaking down the 2018 Draft

JACKSONVILLE - Over half of the players drafted come from 5 states (CA,FL,TX, GA, NC), two-thirds come from colleges and universities and over half the players drafted are pitchers. Also noted that the SEC and the ACC remain the two best conferences in college baseball according to the draft data. 

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By the numbers: Breaking down the '18 DraftJun. 6th, 2018The 2018 Draft is in the books, with 1,214 players taken over three days and 40 rounds. Now all 30 teams will work to get these players signed before the July 6 deadline. Players came from all over the United States and Canada, from high school and college and from every position on the diamond. Here's a deeper dive into the Class of 2018.

Breakdown by school

There were 805 players from four-year schools taken, or 66.3 percent of all draftees this year. That continues an upward trend. In 2017, it was 63.5 percent; in 2016, 62.9 percent of all those drafted came from four-year colleges. High schoolers made up 24.96 percent of the class, down from 25.7 last year and 25.9 in 2016.

          No School: 2

High School: 303
Junior College: 104
College: 805

Ever since the bonus pool system now in use for the Draft was implemented, teams have been using picks, particularly later on in Day 2 of the Draft, to save money in order to sign players in other areas who require a bonus above pick value. Those discounted players often come in the form of college seniors, and plenty of them were taken this year, 311 to be exact (27 fifth-year seniors). That's actually down a tick from last year, when 328 seniors were selected.

Breakdown by programThe University of Florida made a big splash early on, with three players taken in the top 33 picks: Jonathan India (No. 5 to the Reds), Brady Singer (No. 18 to the Royals) and Jackson Kowar (No. 33 to the Royals). But the five Gators total taken across all 40 rounds wasn't even close to leading the way:

Kentucky: 13
Texas Tech: 11
Arkansas: 11
Wichita State: 11
North Carolina: 10
South Carolina: 10
There were five schools with eight drafted players: Tennessee Tech, Arizona, Louisville, Mississippi and Vanderbilt.

Breakdown by positionPitching, once again, ruled the day. A total of 653 pitchers were taken, or 53.8 percent of all draftees.
RHP: 500
LHP: 153
OF: 215
SS: 100
C: 115
3B: 50
2B: 40
1B: 31
Util: 10

Breakdown by state

It was a relative down year for the state of California in terms of high-end Draft talent, with four players -- high schoolers Cole Winn, Brice Turang and Matt McLain, to go along with Stanford's Nico Hoerner -- being taken in the first round. That didn't keep the state from being the most represented one across all 40 rounds.

California: 187
Florida: 158
Texas: 114
Georgia: 65
North Carolina: 49

The top four is the same as the last two years, with North Carolina supplanting Illinois, the No. 5 state in 2017, this year. There were players from 47 states taken.

You down with PDP?There were 145 players taken who participated in Prospect Development Pipeline events run by Major League Baseball and USA Baseball in 2017-18. That's an increase of close to 117 percent compared to the 2017 Draft. That list includes 13 players taken in the first round (top 30 picks), headlined by No. 6 pick Jarred Kelenic.

Jonathan Mayo is a reporter for MLB Pipeline. Follow him on Twitter @JonathanMayo and Facebook, and listen to him on the weekly Pipeline Podcast.

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