New Draft Rules -- Tougher on Canadian Talent?

[Mass Haas]

Link:

 

slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Baseba...7-sun.html

 

Interesting note among several:

 

The draft remains at 50 rounds per team, yet many scouts expect to see clubs pass once organizational needs are filled.

[deeswan]

The draft remains at 50 rounds per team, yet many scouts expect to see clubs pass once organizational needs are filled.

 

Unless there is a college-bound player that the team really thinks it can make a run at signing, I would expect this as well. For a team like Milwaukee, the lower half of the draft has include a lot of DFE candidates over the last 6-7 years, I don't know why they would bother drafting/scouting guys they can't do that with anymore. Maybe to show a player you are interested in him or something, but it would be more symbolic than anything else.

[colbyjack]

I have read that draft and follows will still somewhat be around, teams just won't have as long to sign them. Meaning, teams now will take some players hoping they can have a big summer in the numerous summer college leagues, which will increase the importance to those players to perform well. So, instead of a near 12-month window, bordelrine draftees have two months to prove to the team that drafted them that they are worth being signed.

 

Which may increase the importance of the summer college leagues as well. I'm not aware of any Canadian summer leagues, but it would be pretty smart for someone to start one.

[deeswan]

Which may increase the importance of the summer college leagues as well.

 

Being in a Northwoods League area (La Crosse), that's pretty good news.

[Mass Haas]

Yes, but haven't the summer leagues such as the Cape League, New England College (NECBL), Northwoods, etc., traditionally invited sophomores from four-year college programs?

 

Being so close to the Cape myself, the Brewers have had only one Brewer "property" candidate that I could contact over the past several years, Baylor's RHP Steven White, who returned for his senior year and was drafted by the Yankees the following spring.

 

I've often thought it would be great if kids that have indicated they would go to a JUCO program that fall could be "followed" the prior summer, but none of the DFE candidates ever seemed to be assigned to the more prominent summer leagues.

 

I'm hoping that changes this summer and several of the kids will end up my way over the summer, prior to that August deadline for the Brewers to draft-and-follow.

[colbyjack]

Sorry Jim, I meant to make that part more clear. I think the new signing date will increase the need for these players to pursue these summer leagues, and the teams in conjuction with the coaches may try to persuade them to play more juco's and less college freshmen and sophomores. There are plenty of these leagues out there, so while the more prominent Cape League may not be the best place to start, there should be ample opportunities for players to make the most of that time.

 

And high schoolers have the various summer circuits, showcases, legion ball, etc. Showcases probably won't work as well, but it would be interesting if places (such as Perfect Game) started to hold a post-draft showcase and/or tournament to help some players that slipped through the cracks show their stuff with a couple of extra weeks under their belt.

 

This already happens to a certain degree, as a couple of former Brewer draft picks, Jemile Weeks and Tom Wilhelmsen, were at their best the summer after they were drafted. That propelled the Brewers to sign Wilhelmsen, and unfortunately they weren't able to put together a package appealing enough to Weeks to sway him from Miami.

 

I will miss the DFE process. Here's a nice DFE Obituary column from my associate at Perfect Game, David Rawnsley, who worked with the Astros when they followed and signed a couple of the bigger DFEs in recent years: Roy Oswalt and Wade Miller:

 

www.perfectgame.org/crack...ow%5Frule/

[Mass Haas]

More on the passing of the DFE process:

 

story.scout.com/a.z?s=228...p;c=609782