PHOENIX — When Major League Baseball’s annual amateur draft kicks off on Saturday, there will be fans in the crowd and representatives of every organization at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.Commissioner Rob Manfred will be on hand to introduce the event and call out the names of the top picks. But one group of people will be conspicuously absent — the draft picks themselves.Potential top pick Roch Cholowsky won’t be there. Ditto for Grady Emerson, the top high school position player in the class, as well as Jacob Lombard, Landon Thome, Gio Rojas and Logan Reddemann, all prospects expected to be selected on Day 1.For the second year in a row, no draft-eligible players will be in attendance, a league source briefed on MLB’s plans who was not authorized to speak publicly told The Athletic.Instead, when the names are called, the broadcast — which will air nationally on NBC/Peacock and MLB Network — will cut to a live feed of the player selected from a draft party or air prepackaged player highlight interspersed with commentary. Around 30 players are expected to participate in interviews or live reactions, the source said.At the NFL and NBA version of these events, many of the top prospects are in attendance, dressed to the nines, waiting to go on stage when their names are called. Though some top picks have gone to the MLB Draft in the past, the league has had a more spotty history of players attending.The reasons for the no-shows are varied. Some players want to be with large groups of friends and family for their big day. Others believe it hurts their negotiating leverage to be at the event itself. Cholowsky falls in the former camp.“I just want everyone there — big family guy, big social guy, everyone that got me where I’m at,” Cholowsky said. “I’d rather have them there than be on TV.“I just kind of told my parents (and) my agent what I wanted, who I wanted there, how many people and the best thing for that was staying home.”MLB has continually invited players to the live event. However, it’s not a requirement and many choose to watch elsewhere.“You hear (about) some great opportunities thrown at you with attending the draft, but at the end of the day, I want to make sure that I’m with the people who saw me throughout the journey. I want them there for that day,” Emerson said.In 2007, after years as a non-televised event, MLB began broadcasting its draft on ESPN, with Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex playing host.At the time, then-commissioner Bud Selig said the broadcast would “give fans access to see this critical function of an organization’s development. This is an idea whose time has come.”In 2009, the draft moved to MLB Network’s headquarters in Secaucus, N.J., when the network was in its inaugural year.That year, only one player attended — Mike Trout, who was selected by the Los Angeles Angels with the 25th overall pick.“This is your draft, this is your opportunity,” Harold Reynolds said on the broadcast. “You should be standing here with the commissioner holding your jersey. That’s just how I see it.”A baby-faced Mike Trout poses with then-commissioner Bud Selig at the 2009 MLB Draft after Trout was selected by the Angels with the 25th pick. (Rich Schultz / Associated Press)In the decade-plus that followed, player attendance vacillated. In 2012, No. 1 pick Carlos Correa attended, while in 2013, Aaron Judge, the No. 32 pick, was also on hand.