Before each type of draft occurs, a pool of eligible players must be defined from which teams will draft. This is known as the
Draft Pool:
Determining the Draft Pools
Each type of draft has a pool of eligible players, determined on a specific date prior to the draft. Here is how the draft pools are determined for each type of draft, and when the pool is determined:
Viewing the Draft Pool
When a draft is about to occur, the
Draft Poolscreenbecomes visible in the
Transaction area and on the
League Menu. Additionally, there is often a reference to it on the
Manager Home page. The Draft Pool becomes visible on the day it is created, which differs according to the type of draft, and is covered in the table above. This happens on the day before the draft, or in the case of
first-year player drafts, as soon as the draft pool is created.
About Players in a Draft Pool
Players in a draft pool have certain characteristics defined by the league. Player names, nationalities, ratings, and potential are all determined by random factors. Most of this can be changed by
customizing the game. Although OOTP encompasses a baseball universe, in many ways leagues are independent of one another. In this vein, draft pools are created specifically for each league. In other words, there is no shared global draft pool. For example, let's say you have a game with two leagues, a U.S. league and a Japanese league. If they both have a first-year player draft on the same day, each will still have a completely different pool of players to draft from. The U.S. league cannot draft a player from the Japanese league, and vice versa. However, the
free agent pool is shared worldwide.
Adding Players to a Draft Pool
If you are the
commissioner, you can also add players to a draft pool using the
Create Fictional Player and
Import Historical Player options on the
Draft Pool page. These features are described more in
Other Commissioner Functions.