I am continually amazed at the way college and high school players are drafted. While I don’t follow a great number of players I follow enough to know I don’t have a clue about this obscure process. I look at a player, look at this arm strength his speed his BA his power numbers and make a educated guess about where he will be drafted and I’m so far off that I think I’ve misspelled his name. I had one player I felt sure would go in the top ten rounds and he went undrafted. Is this just me or is this baseball?
Fungo
PS: My wife says: "He must have a bad attitude".

Well, Fungo, you need to dust off your crystal ball!

Really, I have to assume your wife is correct or it was a signability issue. Not sure if he wanted to go to school or in the draft, was asking too much $ or any variety of additional possibilities.

Then, when a particular strong prospect gets taken off the board and everyone starts shifting names and making phone calls, it throws off all thirty teams.

ktcosmos

...just for the record, I know you know all of what I just said.

I'm just blathering because I'm so stoked that my son got drafted today.

ktcosmos

ktcosmos, so let's share the infomation. What team and round? What a great day for your son!!!! Congratulations. It is a lot of fun today but boy does the work begin tomorrow.
So...enjoy today...a lot.

ktcosmos,
CONGRATULATIONS on your son being drafted!!!! Exciting times ahead!

I'm not really surprised by the players that DO get drafted --- It's the ones that get PASSED OVER that I don't understand. ---- I understand the signability issue clouds the draft but there are some that I believe have no signability issues. Like the college senior that has put up great numbers and was considered a great pick out of high school and after four years of very productive D-1 ball he gets passed over.

Genes are valid ingredients in the making of a professional player.

Fungo,

The ones that I get the biggest kick out of are the ones that cant even chew gum and walk at the same time.

Over hyped - and well connected - and gone before you can say October. LOL

You have to feel bad for the kids you speak of - who have done nothing but produce for years - only to be left out because they didnt have the right connections.

Sad - but true.

the only explanation i can imagine is the simple goal of the draft. a lot of times you'll hear a hs kid going number one in the draft and guys that were picked 10+ out of college appear in the majors much faster. some are simply further along in development while younger guys have a higher "ceiling". a senior out of college, that possibly could have been very productive, is older than others available. is a team more likely to get more years out of a HS kid or someone graduating from college?

thats how i see it

I, too, am amazed by the draft. Part of it, I think, has to do with "projectability" which so often is so far off that it makes you wonder what canteen some of these scouts have been drinking from.

I guess I don't have a clue. One player I've seen with a 5.75 ERA in 80 innings, listed 6-4 really 6-1, average college stuff and an average college beer belly got drafted in the let's just say 7th-11th round. Its not like there aren't ANY lefties available.

AAAAAAAAAAAAH but the pro scouts eyes may see things we do not-- if you try to figure it out you will go crazy--no different at the college level when you see kids who get scholarships and you wonder why-- the college coach saw something you or I didn't

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder !!!!

This is the first year I have followed the draft and I followed several guys I thought for sure were going to be drafted. When they weren't drafted or drafted much lower, I started thinking "Man, I wish I could see some of these guys who were drafted because they must be super men." I have no clue how it works

I can tell you that some of the so called guru's, you know the ones Baseball America, Inside prep baseball, Perfect game and the like. Post there top (you fill in the number) high school prospects list. While these lists are fun to look at (if your kid is/was listed) which mine never was (anywhere). Then along comes the draft and kids hopes are dashed all over the country. A PIECE OF ADVICE!!! DON'T BELIEVE THESE LISTS!!!! THEY MEAN NOTHING!!!

the only consistent qualifications I can identify for draft inclusion are

A) Hitting the ball very far, very often
B) Throwing the ball very hard once in a while, or appearing like you might someday throw hard.

Catching and throwing the ball well, or moving quickly from base to base, while helpful winning games and very nice, are by themselves not reason for being drafted. jmo

infield,

25th Round, Twins, who made it clear it was for a Draft & Follow. Son is soooo comfortable with that! He's heading to Yavapai College as a freshman.

itsinthegame,

those family-connected selections seem to be like honorary degrees in some cases. They were fun to hear announced, but ... I agree with Fungo. You know som eof them won't go anywhere but will be able to say, "I got drafted in 2006!" That sounds so cool!

In my son's case, I'm pretty sure my awesome softball and racquetball and kayaking skills propelled him (kidding).

I loved watching it and hearing all the kids names called and can't wait until next year!

ktcosmos

The ones that are hardest for me to figure out are the players who have been told by scouts that they most likely will be drafted in the first thru tenth round (and who most knowledgeable people would believe would go in an early round) only to fall to the 40+ rounds ... with no hint of late season injury or signability problems.

But I can say ... very sadly ... that I know of two specific instances where college coaches interfered with their players' draft status by intentionally misinforming scouts about their players. One actually told the scouts that the player was h*llbent on finishing his degree which was so far off the path of truth that the player ended up signing as a free agent for a couple thousand dollars. The second one was given little play time to show his stuff so that he wouldn't leave his school program (an older player with eligibilty remaining due to a red-shirt year), discouraged from playing summer ball, etc.

I would hope that the college coach interference cases are few and far between because I think it is dastardly, and I would imagine that a player's attitude towards a coach who would hinder his future would be difficult for upcoming seasons as there would be no trusting in the coach anymore.

Makes us realize that our sons need to have their heads on pretty straight in case their hopes are dashed on MLB draft day ... always have a back up plan.

Sad situations all around ...

FBM, Good post. When I was 20, to have a back up plan, I would have needed A plan to start with.

I watch a lot of hs baseball and I know I have no clue how most of these decisions are made.

It seems pretty clear cut when a kid is simply a top prospect stud but after these 1st round selections the choices rarely match what I would expect.

Somehow when a kid is identified as a draft prospect it seems to be a designation they can't lose, while much better unknowns can play right next to them and remain unseen.

You always hear about the scouts that uncover a hidden gem but if you watch most of them when they are there for a particular prospect, unless that player is pitching or hitting most of the scouts appear to be swapping stories and not watching anyone else. Seems to me if they really watched the whole game they might see holes in the prospects they are scouting and might actually find some of those hidden gems that are just playing the game.

Tr said it right. In the eye of the (team) Beholder. They're paying, they put the best eyes they know of, on the kid, and then they decide.

Was reading a report on a H.S. LHP that they had at 86-88 mph touching 90 mph on occassion and it went on to read that he lacks present velocity! Must admit I was scratching my head a bit.