The Draft Major League Baseball draft

1 draft

1.1 influence of draftee s age
1.2 economic impact
1.3 media exposure

the draft

major league baseball s first amateur draft held in june 1965. teams chose players in reverse order of previous season s standings, picks alternating between national , american leagues. first pick, kansas city athletics took rick monday, outfielder arizona state university.

originally, 3 separate drafts held each year. june draft, far largest, involved new high school graduates, college seniors had finished seasons. draft held in january, typically involved high school players graduated in winter, junior college players, , players have dropped out of four-year colleges. junior college players required wait until current season completed before sign. finally, there draft in august players participated in amateur summer leagues. august draft eliminated after 2 years, while january draft lasted until 1986.

influence of draftee s age

early on, majority of players drafted came directly high school. between 1967 , 1971, 7 college players chosen in first round of june draft. however, college players drafted outperformed high school counterparts statistician bill james called laughably huge margin. 1978, majority of draftees had played college baseball, , 2002, number rose above sixty percent. while number of high school players drafted has dropped, picked have been more successful predecessors. in study of drafts 1984 1999, baseball prospectus writer rany jazayerli concluded that, 1990s, gap in production between 2 groups had disappeared. in october 2011, dr. jazayerli presented research study included analysis of players drafted since 1965, instead of breaking them college or high school draftees, segregated them age on draft day. in study published in baseball prospectus, included follow article of financial benefits, jazayerli concluded young players return more value expected draft slots. in jazayerli’s study looked @ statistics , broke draftees 5 distinctive groups based on age , being drafted in rounds. dr. jazayerli’s defined “very young” player younger 17 years , 296 days on draft day. since inception of draft, youngest player ever drafted in round alfredo escalera. escalera drafted kansas city royals in 8th round of 2012 first year players draft @ 17 years , 114 days. dr. jazayerli’s study not demonstrate influence of player s age when drafted in late round.

economic impact

initially, draft succeeded in reducing value of signing bonuses. in 1964, year before first draft, university of wisconsin outfielder rick reichardt given record bonus of $205,000 ($1,583,031 today) los angeles angels. without competition other clubs, athletics able sign rick monday bonus of $104,000. take until 1979 drafted player receive bonus higher reichardt s.

player salaries continued escalate through 1980s. in 1986, bo jackson became first draftee sign total contract (signing bonus , salary) worth on $1 million ($2,184,882 today). jackson, heisman trophy-winning football player auburn university, first overall choice in national football league draft, , offered $7 million ($15,294,171 today) contract play football tampa bay buccaneers.

high school players possessed additional leverage, had option of attending college , re-entering draft next year. agent scott boras routinely exploited advantage increase contracts of clients. in 1990, boras client todd van poppel signed $1.2 million ($2,199,796 today) contract oakland athletics, after committing play university of texas. following year, boras negotiated $1.55 million ($2,725,470 today) contract yankees first round pick brien taylor, had said attend junior college if did not receive contract equal van poppel s. june 2009, figure high $15 million floated collegian pitcher stephen strasburg.

increasingly, teams drafted based on whether or not player sign particular amount of money, rather on talent. became known signability pick. before 1992 draft, team owners unilaterally decided extend period of time team retained negotiating rights player 1 year five. in effect, rule prohibited high school draftee attending college , re-entering draft after junior or senior seasons. major league baseball players association filed legal challenge, major league baseball argued that, since players association did not represent amateur players, not necessary union agree change. arbitrator decided change draft articles must negotiated players association.

media exposure

the first-year player draft has historically had far less media exposure counterparts in other leagues 3 primary reasons:

high school , college baseball, primary sources of mlb draftees, not popular college football, college basketball, and, in canada , parts of u.s., college , junior hockey. consequently, prospective top draft picks unknown casual sports observer @ time of draft. however, changing: ncaa baseball has enjoyed spike in popularity in 2000s , top collegiate baseball players have enjoyed greater media exposure, though still far below of basketball , football counterparts.
unlike top draft picks in nhl, nba, , nfl, of whom expected make immediate impacts, top mlb draftees assigned minor leagues several years hone skills, @ low levels (rookie or class a) initially. due this, fans cannot see newly drafted players perform immediately, causing them forget or lose interest in them. entire 2007 first round (64 players) totaled 1 inning of major league playing time of end of 2008 season; of 2009 season, vast majority of 2008 first-rounders still assigned minor league organizations. in contrast, every first-round pick in 2008 nfl draft had played in league end of 2008 season.
while many nhl, nba, , nfl draftees reach respective leagues, vast majority of players selected in first-year player draft never play in single mlb game, including many first-rounders. example, 31 of 52 first-round draft picks in 1997 draft made big-league appearance, , 13 of 31 appeared in more 100 games of 2009. in 1997 s sixth round, 5 of 30 players selected made big league appearance, , 2 of 5 (tim hudson , matt wise) played more 40 innings in majors. further illustrating unpredictability of draft s middle , later rounds, none of 30 players selected in 18th round ever reached major leagues, 19th round produced all-star , world series mvp, david eckstein.

the 2007 draft televised live first time in draft s history on june 7, 2007. draft coverage took place @ disney s wide world of sports complex @ walt disney world near orlando, florida. since 2009 draft, first round of draft broadcast on mlb network live , in prime time studios in secaucus, new jersey.

beginning in 2018 under changes mlb scheduling practices, teams have off day on day of draft.