Tuesday, February 9, 2010

College baseball replacing the minor leagues?

I love college, and I love baseball. It's only natural that I love college baseball as well. But some within MLB want to help out the college game. Huh? (scratching head while thinking)

Here's an excerpt from a recent Buster Olney blog:

So there is sentiment within MLB right now about wanting to help the college game. It could do so, of course, by very publicly funding scholarships, in concert with the NCAA. To put the dollars in perspective, for the cost of one Stephen Strasburg signing bonus of $15.6 million, MLB could fund 390 full $40,000 scholarships at college baseball programs, creating a lure for coaches. In theory, MLB could fund one full ride at every Division I college in the country, which would be a pretty big deal. Or maybe MLB could pick a conference or group of teams in an area where baseball is more prevalent, such as Florida, Texas or California, and fund scholarships there.

I'm not sure how much a few extra scholarships would actually help out college baseball. I think the effect would be fairly marginal. The whole idea seems a little silly to me. But other proposals being kicked around might have a much larger effect on college baseball, and on minor league baseball.

A recent Biz of Baseball article brought up all kinds issues. Stating that player development cost around $600 million annually (around 6% of most teams' budgets), the article claims that changes are needed to reduce costs.

I'm all in favor of trimming fat. Yes, too many players are signed each year in the draft. Many of these players are released within a year of signing. Out of the 40 plus players signed by the Giants in my draft class, only 10 remained just a few years later. Teams approach amateur players the way a newly made millionaire might approach real estate. They buy, buy, buy with no intention of even keeping properties. They get rid of it as quick as they buy it.

Yes, perhaps a level of minor league baseball could be cut as well. Maybe low A could be merged with advanced A, or maybe the two short-season levels could be combined. I've talked this over with a few people, with mixed results. Some think it could work, some think that there is too great of a real difference between the various leagues to merge any of them.

Measures could be taken to curb signing bonuses at the top levels slightly. This would save a bit of money as well.

But others are proposing more drastic measures. Some believe that the entire model of player development should be scrapped. The theory goes that baseball should approach player development in a manner similar to that of the NFL or NBA. They should allow colleges to develop their players.

There's one obvious problem with that. Our public universities weren't built to merely develop athletes. Yes, they are at times used that way, but I'm not sure if this is right.

More importantly for baseball, it wouldn't work. Almost 30% of MLB players are Latino. Close to 50% of minor leaguers are Latino. How will teams develop these players without a minor league system?

These players are signed when they are 16. Many are shoved to baseball schools around the time they get out of diapers. Are we simply going to send all the Dominicans and Venezuelans to our public universities to develop them? Something tells me this wouldn't work.

Furthermore, we shouldn't expect every kid in America to attend college. Some athletes are so talented that they should be allowed to play professional baseball as soon as they graduate college. Other athletes simply struggle with school. They shouldn't be shoved into college if they instead have the opportunity to play professionally.

I remember discussing this with a college professor some time ago. In his mind, baseball had the right system. Colleges shouldn't be feeder systems for professional sports leagues.

So yes, some improvements need to be made within player development. Inefficiencies need to be identified and trimmed from the budget. But the entire system shouldn't be scrapped in favor of a college development system, and the money saved shouldn't just go into the pockets of owners. Improvements should be made within the system. Those players who are brought in should be paid slightly better. They should also be provided better meals and affordable housing.

Again, I love college, I love baseball, and I love college baseball. But using college baseball instead of the minor leagues to develop your players just seems like a bad idea.

67 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think MLB's system is much better than the NBA's, for sure. The stories I hear about recruiting scandals and players whose families are living in poverty in crack neighborhoods while the players are very restricted on what kind of aid they can take to help their families, all the while being showered and feted by the alumni and paying other students to take their classes so they can maintain their "scholar-athelete" status - make me sick. And none of it has anything to do with getting a college degree, yet all the restrictions are based on these illusions of NCAA sports being an extension of "gentlemen's games" and maintaining an illusion of these guys as scholar-athletes, when for many of them are just athletes. It's a mess. There are problems with the minor league system and development programs in professional baseball of course, but from my admittedly limited knowledge I think it's a better system than the college alternative. Also, I have trouble imagining the owners giving up that level of control.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Geno Espineli Fan said...

good article Garret! I agree with you that bonuses should be decreased and the average minor leaguer should have a better salary but other wise MLB's system is very solid. Just a suggestion: don't allow anonymous posts and preview post before you allow them onto the blog. Dumb and Dumber has a not so appropriate link on his post.

Unknown said...

Love the article, Garrett.

There are also other considerations. The idea of mixing professional money with amateur athletes is about as taboo as mixing gambling with pro athletes. There would be a lot of questions about any sort of corporate infusions of money into academic institutions, and legitimate ones. While I'm one who believes that the archaic attitudes with how colleges handle their athletic programs (as well as using their financial gains to help academic programs as a whole) need a reform as much as baseball's system of bringing in athletes...these are two reforms that will work best if they are done independent of each other.

In other words, I agree. Colleges and universities shouldn't be used to develop pro athletes...in any sport.

obsessivegiantscompulsive said...

I agree that it would not work to use colleges instead of the minors.

The main reason is because colleges do not do enough in 4 years to prepare players to be major leaguers.

Let's compare: in the NFL, Bill Walsh once filled 6-7 starting positions in one draft for the next season. In the NBA, you have a couple of players who look to be good to great players and can start immediately, while many in the first round are good enough to be a backup on an NBA team. There are many 18 year olds who make the NBA (though fewer lately), and many who spend only one year in college to get millions in the NBA.

In baseball, college players who jump straight to the majors (and stay there) are once in a generation. The closest to that happening in recent times is probably Tim Lincecum. Most need at least two years of playing minor league ball to be ready for the majors.

Of course, we could lower the standards. Robin Yount made the majors at a very young age, was horrible his first couple of years before crafting a Hall of Fame career.

We could have more players being kind of crappy in their early years, but then they reach arbitration earlier and before they reach their peak performance.

So then they reach free agency sooner and teams would pay less for their early years (and get much less results), but then would pay through the nose in free agency instead of getting those performances at a lower price in arbitration had those players spent those early years in the minors before reaching the majors.

I think teams would pay either way then.

charlene/crazedparent said...

It's an interesting concept but like the other commenters, I don't agree with it (Ditto what Kevin said.) There are many other areas within baseball that need an immediate overhaul. I can't imagine this ever coming to fruition.

Also? I can't imagine my world without watching some really good college *and* minor league ball!

Good read, G.

Darren Heitner said...

The MLBPA would never let MLB take away a high school graduate's opportunity to enter the draft without going to college.

Additionally, you write, "Measures could be taken to curb signing bonuses at the top levels slightly."

Be more specific...what do you have in mind? A slotting system? I also don't think this is a smart play.

Unknown said...

Great commentary! I just don't see how any MLB plan involving usage of college baseball for development would work. The idea of MLB sponsored scholarships sounds like an April Fool's joke.

And Darren, I should be more specific. I'll have some thoughts on a slotting system soon. (Congrats to Parise on a good winter.)

Anonymous said...

another reason why it wont work...both basketball and football take much fewer skill sets to succeed

how many guys go right from hs to the pros in baseball? how many go right from college to the pros?

they dont...cuz no matter how good they are, the pro game is that much harder

totally bad idea

The Fratus Family said...

I would have to politely disagree with you Garrett that there is a problem at all. 6% of baseball budgets on player development seems like a real bargain when you consider the value that MLB gets out of it. If they were spending 20% that would probably be closer to the true value.

I'd hate to think of all the diamonds in the rough like Jeff Kent and Mike Piazza that would likely never even get to play if there was no minor leagues. Just needing to staff 6 or 7 teams of 25 creates opportunities that would otherwise not exist.

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Anonymous said...

No, college should not replace the minors. What a ludicrous idea! If a kid comes out of high school with a 95MPH fast ball and a curve that'll buckle the knees, draft him! On the other hand, I think we should see a reduction in the number of minor league teams out there. Do we really need Rookie Leagues, Two A-level teams, AA, and AAA? Or better yet, why not move the nobody teams (Royals, Pirates, etc.) to AAA as affiliates of the big boys and dump all of their minor league teams? Would seem simpler in the end, would improve the level of play at the Major League level, and weed out all those players who are only in the minors simply because there are so many teams in the majors.

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