So how often do these late round picks actually go pro now, especially the high schoolers? I guess my point would be if most do not go pro after say the 30th round, why force all the teams to go through the rigmarole instead of just having the few players interested sign as undrafted players?
The late round picks who sign are living their childhood dreams. WRT HS prospects, The HSers who get drafted at 18ish have great upside but need serious development. They can develop faster as a pro versus college, so there is that. They also don't need to be a full time student as well. Needless to say, some HS are not eager to take college courses. There are solid reasons for a HSer to sign. I just don't think that many HSers end up getting drafted. HS competition is very uneven. Major college baseball programs can provide better, more steady competition, which helps MLB teams with their talent evaluation (and helps players with their development). Teams, it appears, tend to only draft the cant-miss HS prospects, since projecting HS talent is damn hard versus college. In the end the HSers weigh whether or not they will accept a small signing bonus now or go to college for three years and shoot for getting drafted in the first round or so.
I wonder if any team will take a chance on Luke Heimlich (or if he would sign). On one hand it happened 5-6 years ago when he was 15, but on the other child molestation is about as serious as it gets and 15 is plenty old enough to know that.
I mean Cesar Cedeno killed a girl, but he was a star by then. Matt Bush assaulted several people and ran over a guy when drunk, but he is a story of redemption. Had he simply been in a different state, his juvenile record might have been sealed and this not discovered (I'm sure it would have come out eventually, just not before the draft). Crimes against children is just so much harder to come back from. Only takes one team though.
From what I understand, it became public because he missed a court-mandated sex offender "check in." The story I read said, "3 teams have already taken him off their board." and my immediate thought was, "Only three??" Effed up...
I thought some of y'all may be interested in this. I was talking with a good friend who is also a good friend of Sam Carlson. Sam is a high school pitcher in Minnesota and at one point was projected to the Astros in the first round. He moved up and down mock drafts as things went on and was eventually picked 55th by Seattle. My friend was at his draft watch party. Sam was getting phone calls all throughout the first round and had a number of teams willing to draft him in the first round but they wanted him to sign for well under slot. Although he wanted to go pro, he had a viable full 4 year ride at Florida so he had college to fall back on. He continued to get calls in the second round and now he was being offered over slot money. At one point the White Sox had a deal in place with him and said to wait for a call to confirm. As the Sox pick came up, they went a different direction. The pick more than likely took less money than they offered Sam. At that point, Sam was thinking he was going to college and then he got calls from the Mariners and Tigers. There is some sort of rule that you cannot negotiate with more than one team at a time. I didn't really grasp that part of our conversation. So he had to give the Tigers an answer while the Mariners were on the other line. At that point, he could then talk to the Mariners regardless of what he told the Tigers. He ended up agreeing to an over slot deal with Seattle that was first round money and higher than the under slot deals he was being offered in the first round. I found it interesting how all this played out. In essence, he secured a better deal in the second round than had he agreed to sign with what teams were offering for the first round.
Also, my friend's son hit a home run off Carlson today in the Minnesota state baseball quarterfinals. Carlson lost 8-0. He gave up 7 runs in 2 innings.
According to his lawyer he wasn't required to check-in (and that charge was dropped). I feel bad for him, though I admit I don't know how I'd stomach knowing what he did. Apparently all 30 did.