Going Pro vs Draft

[Jeffreauxdawg]

We posted on this the other day after Robbie's tweet. I'm telling you guys... I am watching guys that would have been drafted in the 2nd or 3rd round at the latest out of high school go in the 17th-19th rounds after 3 years of college.

Seth Halverson from MO just went in the 19th and he was a Perfect Game all american and ranked #40 from PG in 2018.
Dominic Keegan from Vandy was taken in the 19th at 573 and was ranked #145 coming out of high school in 2018.
Elijah Cabell from Florida State was taken in the 17th at 511 and was a PG all american ranked #38 by PG in 2018.
Jayson Gonzalez from Vandy was taken in the 17th at 515 and was a PG all american ranked #58 by PG in 2017.
Tyler Ahearn from Florida State was just taken at 590 in round 20 and was ranked #138 by PG in 2017.

These are just the names I recognized from PG rankings over the last few years. They all likely signaled they wanted to go to college if not selected in round X. Well they are now looking at 5 digit bonuses vs mid 6 figure to low 7 figures.

I want college baseball to grow and I hope every great player that shows the hint of interest in coming to State, gets on campus. I will never blame a guy for taking the money in the top 5-7 rounds out of high school. It's crazy how much more the pros value "potential" vs production. All Dominic Keegan did was hit .345 with 15 Hr and 57 RBI in the SEC this year and he fell like a rock from how he was viewed in High School.

Wild.

 

[The Peeper]

And then there's the Will Bednar's of the world who goes undrafted in 2019, only pitches 15 innings in 2020 and is drafted 14th and now looking at a slot of $4 million

 

[Jeffreauxdawg]

Correct.. If you are not going to get $250K+ in bonus money, its almost a no brainer to go to college.

Also, don't let "undrafted" out of high school fool you. Will was a top 150 high school prospect. He could have gone top 8 rounds out of high school. He let teams know a number that it would take to sign him (let's say $1 million or $500K) and nobody wanted to pay that much at the time. Whatever that number was, I am sure it was less than the $4.04 million he currently slotted to receive, so Bednar is a big draft winner. But acting like he made a 40 round improvement is a little misleading too.

I mentioned this before. Rocker was drafted in the 38th round of the 2018 draft. He would have been somewhere near a top 10 pick if he didn't tell teams he was dead set on going to college. So technically, Rocker improved his draft status by 37 rounds, in reality he ended up right where he would have been 3 years ago in the draft.

 

[patdog]

Agreed. Somewhere between about the 3rd ($870,000) to 7th ($194,000) round is where is makes sense to go to college, above that you need to go pro out of HS. Exactly where just depends on the player's economic situation and wants.

 

[maroonmania]

Exactly where just depends on the player's economic situation and wants.

^^ This. There is a lot more at play here than just money. And obviously some guys have family that need the money a whole lot worse than others but its really an individual choice. But for me, experiencing the social years of college life were some of my very best. How much money is worth tossing that away to go ride buses around doing nothing but playing baseball every day mostly with a bunch of dudes older than you? Only the individual can say, and yes, there are guys that would gladly sacrifice the college social life so that they never have to darken the door of a classroom but I think a guy going to college gets a lot more well rounded development for life. The minor league life is not the greatest environment to mature into adulthood. So I'm just saying there is more at play here than just dollars. JT Ginn turned down a lot to come play for, per his words, his 'dream team' at MSU and got a trip to the CWS out of it. He ended up still getting what he turned down in the end but how much was that experience worth? I would think a WHOLE lot that money could not have bought.