With the major league baseball draft about two weeks away, there are many teams still scrambling around trying to figure out what to do.
High School versus College? Power bat versus Pitcher? Immediate help or projection player?
High school or prep telent is looked upon as what is their ceiling. There is a lot or projectibility here, whereas college talent usually has almost all their tools in order. They basically need some refinement.
Those teams which usually pick at the top of the draft (also known as the worst teams) usually go for the best talent but longer term projects, since one player is not likely to help the parent club very soon.
But like the Tampa Bay Rays of three years ago, you can build a nice foundation with picks, get better, and still have that one last top pick to put you over the top.
The Washington Nationals have that opportunity this draft with their second No. 1 overall pick in consecutive seasons.
Top high school players could take up to five or six years to make an impact, whereas many recent top picks have shown that highly rated college players (namely pitchers) can make a parent team better much sooner.
Because of the time involved in development, the MLB is more of a crap shoot, as players need to master various levels before making “The Show,” and then become the biggest test of all.
Many more “can’t miss” prospects taken very high in the draft often miss badly, sometimes due to lack of ability to adjust to the many levels and just plain not having the ability to actually play baseball.
That means no baseball instincts. I feel it is always better to take the best baseball player over the best talent over athelticism.
This years draft presents a plethora of prep talent, but also word that many teams will try ot take lesser talent in hopes to sign them on the cheap.
Presented are some keys to developing a major impact through the draft.