Over the last year I have written several articles on changes in the new CBA that could, in my opinon, help baseball. As we approach the lockout, I wanted to refresh those and talk about a few other ways I see that the process of acquiring amateur talent could be helped.
1. Eliminate Drafting of High School Players in the Rule 4 Draft
This has been proposed by MLB, likely because these players come with the highest risk and require much larger bonuses than college kids. The plan is to limit drafting of players to college sophomores and above. The perception that MLB owners are cheap SOBs is just dripping from this proposal.
After thinking about it, however, I agree with not drafting HS players because:
(1) Only about 50 top-ranked HS kids (75=80 total HS players) are drafted each year.
(2) Losing these players from the draft pool would not impact:
(a) the long-term quality of the draft (just make the draft 2-3 years later that much stronger)
(b) the quality at the bottom of the next couple of drafts, especially if the draft was shortened.
(3) The current Rule 5 (and proposed changes to that draft) exposes HS players to the draft well before they are ready to make their ML debuts.
(4) The maturity level of HS players makes it non-optimal for them to go into professional baseball right out of high school where they would be dealing with older players and outside influences that ard
(5) Eliminating HS players from the draft eliminates the perceived negative impacts (costs, time consumed, pressures) of the travel ball/showcase circuits.
(6) The House vs NCAA settlement actually helps as college teams can now have up to 34 full scholarship players instead of the previous limits of 13.7 full scholarships that could be divided between players. MLB needs to lean into this by setting up a competitive scholarship fund for needy players, including NIL opportunities for those players.
(7) While I hate the ML Rule 5 draft and want it discontinued, if it stays, it can be one year earlier as proposed by both the MLBPA and MLB, although Rule 5 drafted players should still have to stick in the majors like they do now.
While I agree with not including HS players in the draft going forward, this would have to come with other changes to the draft.
2. Other Changes To The Rule 4 Draft
(1) 15 round draft
(2) All picks have slot bonuses assigned (same range as before, just spread out over 15 rounds).
(3) No trading of draft picks that would occur before the 11th round, Teams receiving competitive balance picks would not be eligible to trade draft picks.
(4) Unlimited signing of NDFAs with a cap on $100,000 per NDFA with excess bonuses counted against bonus pool.
(5) Draft-and-follow of JUCO players eliminated...again
(6) Teams have to spend at least 95% of their draft budget or be fined
3. Establishment of An International Amateur Draft
The current international amateur signing system is seriously flawed and ripe with the opportunity for corruption. At the same time, the reality is that the socioeconomics don't favor one set of rules for Rule 4 and international amateur player acquisitions. So here is what I consider a fair system for instiution of an international amateur draft.
(1) 5 rounds/150 players at most
(2) Draft in January
(3) Age limit for draft will be at least 17 years old at the time of the draft
(3) Draft order is based on reverse order of finish from previous system
(4) Bonus slots will be based on top 150 international bonuses from each of the last 2 years
(5) International amateur NDFAs could sign for up to $100,000 without counting against a teams bonus pool.
(6) No trading of international draft picks
(7) Teams must spend at least 95% of their international bonus pool or be fined
(8) OPTIONAL: Teams receiving competitive balance picks will be granted an additional $2 MM per draft to their draft pool
(9) International signees would not be eligible for the ML R5 draft and their minor league free agency would be governed by the current 6-year minor league free agent rules.
4. Rule 5 Draft and Minor League Free Agency
(1) The changes in the Rule 5 draft have been mentioned above for Rule 4( and international amateur) draftees and NDFAs
(2) Players obtained through the Rule 4 draft process (draftees and NDFAs) will be eligible for minor league free agency if they turn 25 before the end of the regular season if they are not placed on a major league roster by November 1st.
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