Thoughts on the Draft

Growing up in Taylorsville, the Zion of Utah baseball, the Major League Amateur draft had a local flavor. My senior year, we had two draftees - one in the 7th round to the Houston Astros, and one in the 39th round to the Oakland Athletics. 

Now that I'm in Kansas City, the draft has taken on a whole new light. The draft is a big deal when you're team is already out of playoff contention. This was the first year that the flaws in the draft were apparent to me. I'm way behind the curve on this one, I know. But here are a few thoughts. 

The biggest difference between the MLB draft and drafts for the NFL and NBA is the length of time it takes for a drafted player to impact their new team. Eric Hosmer, for example, was the Royals' first round pick in yesterday's draft. Apparently, he has raw power and the potential to be an impact bat that drives in runs and frequently deposits balls in the fountains of Kauffman Stadium. The problem is that the soonest this could happen might be 2012, and that's being optimistic. Eric Hosmer is 18 years old and just graduated from high school. He was drafted on his potential, which seems to be limitless at this point. And that, brings me to my second qualm with the draft.

Despite having as many career at bats in the major leagues as I do, sometime in the next 10 weeks, he may receive a signing bonus upwards of $5 million dollars. Reportedly, he is asking for $7 million, so $5 million might be deal for the Royals. That's a lot of money to pay for an unproven player. In past drafts, that kind of money has dissuaded teams at the top of the draft, like the Royals, Rays, or Pirates, from selecting the top talent available. In the NBA, the debate about who will be the first overall draft pick centers on their talent, their ability. The MLB draft takes talent and ability into account, but it has to be balanced by the players' signability. That's why Tim Melville, a high school RHP (right-handed pitcher) who was possibly one of the best high school arms in the draft, and a projected first-round pick, slid all the way to the Royals in the 4th round (115th overall). Concerns about a high signing bonus and whether or not he will attend college made his signability an issue and kept other teams from selecting him sooner. In this case, he fell far and fell to the Royals. In other cases, the best talent might fall to the best teams, the teams that can afford the multi-million dollar signing bonuses. 

The office of the Commissioner of Baseball is aware of these and other issues with the draft, but changes in baseball can take time. Sometimes even longer than it takes for a first round draft pick to materialize.