Over the next two or three blog postings I will express and illustrate some of the methods in which agencies, scouts, and colleges utilize to rank players who are eligible for the MLB Amateur draft. Players eligible for the MLB draft include high school seniors, Junior College players in their second year, University players who are Juniors or Seniors, or players in college that are 21 years of age. This blog post will discuss how and what colleges and professional scouts use to rank players for the draft.
High School seniors were amongst the most sought out players going into the MLB Amateur draft prior to the new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) taking affect (the CBA will be discussed in more detail at a later time). Prior to the new CBA, high school seniors were able to negotiate professional contracts to the best of their ability or agents ability. Signing bonuses were becoming larger and larger each year and high school seniors were more apt to signing a professional contract rather than attending college. The trickle down affect was that Colleges were seeing a depleted group of baseball players attending colleges. Colleges found themselves struggling to convince players to attend college and honor their scholarship given to them versus going pro. Players opting to sign a professional contract were starting to become more common and so were minor league players being cut by professional teams at a young age. MLB continually tried to find a balance between having the top talent in their farm systems, but to also maintain a high level of competition in colleges and have more baseball players become closer to earning a degree from their University. The new CBA began assigning “slot” bonus amounts in the draft that capped the amount of money teams can offer a drafted player. The new CBA becoming active in 2012 has already changed the way the MLB Amateur draft functions for teams and players. There has been an increase in high school seniors choosing to go to college versus signing a professional contract over the last two drafts. Sorry for digressing, but this post will continue after my week is finished out.
High School seniors were amongst the most sought out players going into the MLB Amateur draft prior to the new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) taking affect (the CBA will be discussed in more detail at a later time). Prior to the new CBA, high school seniors were able to negotiate professional contracts to the best of their ability or agents ability. Signing bonuses were becoming larger and larger each year and high school seniors were more apt to signing a professional contract rather than attending college. The trickle down affect was that Colleges were seeing a depleted group of baseball players attending colleges. Colleges found themselves struggling to convince players to attend college and honor their scholarship given to them versus going pro. Players opting to sign a professional contract were starting to become more common and so were minor league players being cut by professional teams at a young age. MLB continually tried to find a balance between having the top talent in their farm systems, but to also maintain a high level of competition in colleges and have more baseball players become closer to earning a degree from their University. The new CBA began assigning “slot” bonus amounts in the draft that capped the amount of money teams can offer a drafted player. The new CBA becoming active in 2012 has already changed the way the MLB Amateur draft functions for teams and players. There has been an increase in high school seniors choosing to go to college versus signing a professional contract over the last two drafts. Sorry for digressing, but this post will continue after my week is finished out.
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