MLB Draft: Has amateur draft spending gotten out of control?

The MLB draft isn’t the spectacle that its equivalents in the NFL or the NBA are, and this probably isn’t shocking to anyone. What’s often shocking to some fans are the signing bonuses given to high school or college players (MLB can pick from both), even though there’s no guarantee a player drafted will ever reach the major leagues, let alone play for the team doling out the bonus.

While commonly referred to as a “crapshoot,” a more realistic complaint of the MLB draft is the reality that for most fans — fans focused on the 2014 MLB pennant race — the draft simply doesn’t matter. Oh sure, the guy your team is taking in the first round could become a franchise cornerstone, or maybe the next big MLB superstar, but you’re gonna have to wait a few years, if he ever makes it at all.

Almost every player picked in the MLB draft, regardless of when he is picked, will need at least three years of seasoning in the minor leagues before an MLB team will even consider calling him up. There are certainly exceptions — two 2013 draftees are already in the big leagues.

The St. Louis Cardinals pressed LHP Marco Gonzales into service from AA in late June due to injuries, but the 19th overall pick was roughed up in three starts and demoted in July. The Cleveland Indians have had more success with LHP Kyle Crockett, a fourth-round pick initially recalled in May but has since found a home in manager Terry Francona’s bullpen.

But Gonzales and Crockett are exceptions, and though both project to be useful big-leaguers, neither project to be stars. One exception to slow development who could be a star is recently recalled Chicago Cubs second baseman Javier Baez, a 2011 draftee out of high school and a consensus top prospect in the game. But citing Baez as a quick developer highlights the talent disparity between the college/prep levels and the professional levels of baseball. The gap isn’t nearly as close as the gap between say, a college football player and the NFL.

So, with the July 18 deadline for signing 2014 draft picks passed, it was announced MLB teams are spending more on draft picks then they have since before 2012, when the new collective bargaining agreement was implemented. Fans might wonder if MLB draft spending is getting out of control, where the measures implemented to cap the spending aren’t working.

But fret not, spending might be up since the new CBA was implemented, but it’s still down from the 2011 record,  before the restrictions were imposed. These restrictions included slot values for picks in the first 10 rounds, and an amount of money each team was allowed to spend was based on both the slot recommendations as well as other awarded picks, such as competitive balance picks or compensatory picks. The restrictions aren’t perfect — 15 teams went over the “soft” cap allotted to its picks, and that’s up from 11 last year and 10 in 2012, international players still aren’t eligible for the draft, most picks can’t be traded (competitive balance picks can be), and since the picks aren’t subject to any sort of scouting combine, teams must rely on their own background information, including medical exams, which in part led to the Houston Astros failing to sign top overall pick Brady Aiken.

But no team overspent the “hard” cap imposed by MLB, meaning no team will be forced to forfeit a 2015 draft pick, and changes are likely on the way, possibly as soon as the 2017 draft. MLB.com’s Jim Callis mentions here MLB and the union called for a pre-draft medical combine in the last CBA, but weren’t able to figure out the logistics. Those logistics should be a priority next negotiations.

While 2017 seems like a long way away, it’s important to keep perspective here: it’s not a bad thing for MLB teams to pay amateur talent, because it can help attract more amateur talent to the major leagues, and away from other professional sports.

Having the most talented players it can should be important to MGB, as it will be the lifeblood of the game’s future. While the NBA and NFL might be able to offer amateur players more money initially, MLB players have longer average careers than the other major professional sports, and there is no salary cap in baseball.

Baseball is not dying, no matter what Keith Olbermann wants you to think, but this quote from Toronto Blue Jays knuckleballer R.A. Dickey was pretty enlightening as to how unconcerned the players union is about taking care of draftees:

"“It’s not that you don’t care about the draft, it’s just for me personally, it’s not as high on the totem pole as some of the other player issues,” Dickey said. “When guys are being offered $6 million in the first round, you still think to yourself, well, that’s a substantial amount of money.”"

It’s admittedly not the union’s concern – draftees aren’t members of the MLB players union, and minor leaguers have their own union. But this should be the union’s concern. While some of the restrictions have been great (having a deadline to sign players has been a welcome change, as players no longer could lose a half-season of development due to not signing early), MLB and the players union should begin to make sure taking care of draftees and fixing any bugs in the current draft system becomes a priority in the next CBA. Trading draft picks, shared medical information, and making the competitive balance pick process fair would be good ways to start.

And when fans start to look at the money given ahead of time to MLB draftees, it often doesn’t account for the less-than-glamorous lifestyle most minor leaguers live. But the draft is important, not just to help teams stay competitive but to help the sport stay competitive as well. If MLB wants to continue to entice game-changing players such as Baez, Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, or Chris Sale, to name a few, it needs to make sure it’s both concerned with the players already in the game and the players who will be in the sport, from draft night onward.