You may remember that the MLB Draft used to be 40 rounds. Because of COVID, Major League Baseball cut the 2020 Draft down to just five rounds, and the next season rather than rebounding back to 40 rounds, it was shortened – permanently this time – to 20 rounds. You may also remember that there used to be short-season Class A leagues and Advanced Rookie Leagues. Because of the smaller draft, those leagues were deemed unnecessary with some of the cities that housed teams becoming Draft League cities where college players can get in extra work.
Major League Baseball is running three other ideas out there that would further affect the player development and scouting departments of teams. The first would again reduce the draft, most likely down to approximately 10 rounds. The second part of the plan is to disallow high school seniors from being eligible for the draft. Finally, Major League Baseball would then knock out another level of the minor leagues – Low-A – because again, there wouldn’t be enough players. In the first cuts, the Phillies vacated Williamsport, PA, the home of Bowman Field, which MLB redid to use for the Little League World Series Classic. Further cuts would remove Clearwater, FL where the Phillies hold spring training and have a full minor league complex set up for instructions and rehabbing players.
The initial loss of the Short-Season A Leagues has resulted in players being pushed into a full-season league before they are truly ready. With the short-season leagues, teams had more time to prepare young players for minor league ball. The result has been higher walk rates and pitchers being cheated out of further development time. That has affected players in two ways; they simply aren’t prepared for minor league ball, and many of them get a shorter audition and get released.
A Reduced Draft; again!
You have to figure that the Players Union would not be enamored with the idea to further reduce the MLB Draft. Obviously, it gives less opportunities to players and while the top talent would find homes, middle tier (and lower tier) talent would be squeezed out of the opportunities. There would still be opportunities for players – as Otto Kemp did – to go undrafted and find work as an undrafted free agent. It is also possible that signing bonuses would fall.
Owners would save money – you knew that was coming – because they would have less players to develop. Between signing bonuses, coaching staffs, training staffs, equipment, stadiums and the personnel to run them all figure into the player development side of things for owners. Much of that money goes to those middle and lower tier players, many of whom never see the majors or at least do not become strong contributors at the MLB level.
No “Kids” Allowed
High school players would have to either go to college or, for those who are not collegiate candidates because of academics or cost would have to seek work with independent league teams to look for their opportunities. Essentially, independent leagues would become a facsimile of the Low-A leagues with pro scouts taking a look and signing those they like. Some of the Low-A cities could become homes to expanding leagues or to start new independent leagues.
Another piece of collateral damage could come from pro scouts focusing primarily on the major Division 1 colleges where players are most likely to become major league talent. Smaller D-2 and D-3 schools wouldn’t get the attention and Junior College programs would get almost zero attention. Of course, those are the schools were players who have lower academic achievements or less money wind up to at least start their college careers.
High school players from the U.S. and Canada, who are now eligible for the draft, would have their earnings potential pushed back. There is no union in the world that wants to see future members get to start earning later in life even if they are still at a very young age. It could also reduce the longevity of players who may have normally been in the majors by the time they were 22 or 23 and now may not reach that level until they would be a few years out of college. Ask Justin Crawford, who was drafted out of high school with the 17th overall pick, how he would feel about that. For him, he would possibly be just starting his professional career rather than being written as the favorite to win a job with the Phillies.
One possible loophole, which the owners would surely close in the negotiations, would be for high school players to be signed as undrafted free agents. The league would surely put in language stating not that high school players can’t be drafted, but word it as to put an age limit on signing players. In other words, teams can’t sign a player younger than 21 or maybe a year older or younger than that.
The Extinction of Another Minor League Level
As mentioned earlier, losing the Low-A level would further reduce the learning opportunities for young players. Of course, if the draft is reduced to only top tier prospects out of college being drafted, the need for more on the job training would also be reduced.
In case you’re not familiar with unions, they generally don’t favor fewer job opportunities. The MLBPA as of September of 2022, represents minor league players. The union negotiated a five-year CBA that runs through 2027. Still, this may or may not be an issue that the union is going to fight their hardest on. After all, minor league players salaries are still relatively small and it could become a situation where the union sacrifices jobs of “entry level” employees in exchange for higher income for the remaining “employees.”
It’s going to be interesting to see how these are treated. There could be some shifting and back-and-forth on how each of these would be implemented. They may allow some loopholes to remain open or owners could fight to the death over these issues. In the grand scheme of things, these are not going to be the main issues; there will be more news on things like a salary cap and salary floor, and other money issues than there will be on these minor league issues. It’s just another thing for the owners and player’s union to have to deal with in what is starting out to be a very contentious negotiation for a new CBA.
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