The MLB draft begins today at 4 p.m. Three things we can be confident of with the Dodgers, who will have the 16th pick in the first round:

1) However unlikely it was that the Dodgers would spend more than $5 million to sign last year’s No. 1 pick, Zach Lee – and sure enough, they did it – multiply that by a factor of oodles this year.

2) However apparent the Dodgers’ needs are on the position player side, they’ll choose the best player available, which could very likely be a pitcher.

3) However much we make of the first pick, lower-round guys can definitely make a difference. It’s a wait-and-see proposition all around.

A sampling of Dodger draft picks of the past 10 years, with the round they were drafted in (via Baseball-Reference.com):

1 – James Loney (2002)
1 – Chad Billingsley (2003)
1 – Scott Elbert (2004)
1 – Blake DeWitt (2004)
1 – Luke Hochevar (2005)
1 – Clayton Kershaw (2006)
1 – Zach Lee (2010)

2 – Jonathan Broxton (2002)
2 – Ivan De Jesus, Jr. (2005)
2 – Josh Lindblom (2008)
2 – Garrett Gould (2009)

4 – Delwyn Young (2002)
4 – Xavier Paul (2003)
4 – Javy Guerra (2004)
4 – Josh Bell (2005)
4 – Dee Gordon (2008)

5 – Jon Meloan (2005)

6 – Edwin Jackson (2001)
6 – Matt Kemp (2003)
6 – Brent Leach (2005)

10 – Cory Wade (2004)
10 – Trayvon Robinson (2005)

11 – James McDonald (2002)
11 – Nathan Eovaldi (2008)

15 – Eric Stults (2002)
15 – Russ Mitchell (2003)

17 – Russell Martin (2002)

18 – A.J. Ellis (2003)
18 – Allen Webster (2008)

19 – David Price (2004)

24 – Andy LaRoche (2003)

25 – Jerry Sands (2008)

30 – Shawn Tolleson (2010)