Dodgers weekly recap: Why this years draft feels like a non-event

Welcome to The California Post’s weekly Dodgers recap, where baseball writers Dylan Hernández and Jack Harris review the week that was, hand out very official awards and take stock of the state of the season.(Where we speculate about potential future Dodgers acquisitions — focusing this week on the upcoming MLB Draft that begins on Saturday)Eric Becker, University of Virginia shortstop (ETA: Saturday)Draft weekend is usually a defining period for many organizations’ futures.But for the Dodgers this year, it has felt like an almost non-event.That’s the external perception, at least, with the team having just one pick (No.40) in the top 130 overall selections, and only two in the first six rounds.The club’s top selection was bumped down to the second round because of luxury tax penalties from last season.

They then forfeited four other early picks for signing two players this offseason who had received qualifying offers (Kyle Tucker and Edwin Díaz).The team also has by far the smallest pool for signing bonuses of any club at $3.9 million (the next-closest club is the Toronto Blue Jays at $5.5 million.As president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman quipped this winter, the Dodgers “food budget for the draft meetings [might] exceed our signing bonuses.”“Not great by any means,” Friedman acknowledged at the time.

“But [we are] just trying to balance that with doing everything we could to put ourselves in the best position to win a championship in 2026.”Because of that, don’t expect anything flashy in the draft, making a prospect like Becker –– who has a plus glove, hit .348 in college and won’t have to be wooed with a bigger signing bonus like a high school prospect might –– a sensible selection.He has long been linked to the team this summer in mock drafts.The real goal this weekend will be finding overlooked talents later in the draft, something the Dodgers have done successfully over the years to maintain a top-ranked farm sy...