MLB Draft Question (pitchers, scouts, pitcher, athletic)

[shoe01]

Why don't they move it a few weeks? I can imagine a scenario in which a college pitcher gets the news of being drafted while on the mound from a heckler. Some regionals were going on Monday and Tuesday.

[jtur88]

I don't see where that's a problem. The worst it can do is set back by a couple of days the player's eligibility to negotiate a signing bonus, but there's only one team in contention for the contract.

[Finger Laker]

If anything I wish they'd move it up to the time between the end of the regular season & the regionals

I really don't see too much ammo for a heckler - at least not A list material and even if they were able to come up with something, it seems like a lousy reason to move things forward

With MLB trying to create more excitement around their draft and get some of these players known at earlier stages I think it could create a nice memory/time marker for a fan to be able to see a guy who their team just drafted play a little bit

Could also boost ratings for the regionals as well - UCLA had 2 pitchers go in the top 3 and were eliminated by the time the draft happened .... would of been interesting as a Pirates or Diamondbacks fan to turn into the UCLA games to see these guys throw .... especially if you were a d'back fan who also followed ASU as they finished their season with a big series against UCLA

[jtur88]

Originally Posted by Finger Laker

With MLB trying to create more excitement around their draft and get some of these players known at earlier stages I think it could create a nice memory/time marker for a fan to be able to see a guy who their team just drafted play a little bit

The downside of that is having the fans clamor to have the guy brought up to the majors prematurely, which is neither good for the player nor the club, nor ultimately the fans..

I thought the whole idea of the draft was to select talent to be developed in your system, and not to showcase razzle-dazzle players commanding high signing bonuses who are not yet ready for MLB.

The sucessful teams of the future (thus serving their fans faithfully) will be the ones who quietly draft players that have raw athletic talent and the character and discipline to develop their tools as well as mature playing smarts. Scouts know who these players are---the media does not.

Frankly, I'm growing weary of "MLB trying to create more excitement", instead of just playing the game on the field and letting it sell itself on its own merits.

[Finger Laker]

Bah - if a player can't play then there will be zero clammoring .... it really doesn't hurt anything

as a marlins fan i've seen it from all angles .... i've seen the josh booty route - super high prospect, who signed a big bonus, baseball only contract and couldn't hit a lick at a professional level .... no marlins fan was clamoring for him

then you have guys like miguel cabrera - who we were all excited about in the minors, were ecstatic when he made his jump from AA and he flat out performed