Major league baseball games may have started in April, but tonight marks the beginning of the First-Year Player Draft with first round going to the Houston Astros.

This article from the San Francisco Chronicle, “Astros Set to Lead Off Intriguing Baseball Draft,” describes interesting details about this year’s draft. With new guidelines in place, each team will be forced to navigate rules regarding player signing bonuses. In addition, most major league teams are in agreement that there aren’t as many premium players in this year’s draft in comparison to previous drafts.

Stanford’s Mark Appel is likely the No. 1 pick, with an impressive fastball and 2.27 earned run average (ERA). To learn more about baseball statistics and analyzing batting statistics, visit Math & YOU.

** Update: MLB Draft First Round results can be viewed on Bleacher Report.