Why not get rid of the Minor Leagues?!?

[rib217]

There is a great following for both College Football and College Basketball; these kids pick a University, attend school, receive an education and have solid followings across the nation. Professional teams draft from the college teams and it seems to be a solid system.

There is College Baseball but with no where near the following as the others. Each MLB team has to put together A AA AAA teams by drafting tons and tons of players and then spend the time developing these players. Why is it that baseball does it this way? I think if you went the way of the other sports Alot more people would follow the up and coming kids and be more excited. Frankly, it seems like MLB is a bit of a mess with tons of teams and college.

Why not have each MLB team have just one Minor league team that they put together from the College Program. Thoughts? Ideas?

[mac-unit]

Horrible idea. Guys go over seas for the NBA to avoid 1 year of college ball, there would be ridiculous amounts of people doing similar things for the MLB since they don't have to go overseas to play professionally. There is also independent baseball leagues that would be happy to pay these guys to draw in a good crowd for a few seasons. But they could also go to DR for a year and sign as a free agent at 15 if they wanted.

[zhutou]

Horrible idea. Guys go over seas for the NBA to avoid 1 year of college ball, there would be ridiculous amounts of people doing similar things for the MLB since they don't have to go overseas to play professionally. There is also independent baseball leagues that would be happy to pay these guys to draw in a good crowd for a few seasons. But they could also go to DR for a year and sign as a free agent at 15 if they wanted.

uh, no. the point about college basketball is hardly true. why would good prospects play abroad when the true competition and fame is back home?

[iltat]

I would expect the general talent level to go down, the general major league talent to go down, and the overall interest in baseball to go down.

Baseball players often don't actually reached their potential until their late 20s or early 30s, as opposed to football or basketball players who are considered "old" by that point. The game requires more finesse and fine tuning than general athleticism, and those are things that come with age and practice. There are some older football or basketball players that excel, but they are few and far between, unlike baseball.

I prefer the current system for baseball. I feel that the NCAA abuses the idea of "college athletes" with the allowance of one-and-done and the ability of players to leave school early to start their pro careers. In my opinion, all major sports should have a rule against under-21 players being able to play at the highest level (minor league baseball and D-league basketball are good examples of possible training that is available to those who don't want to attend college), and I understand the consequences of such a rule (my favorite player's Ken Griffy Jr, so I am aware of what I would have missed out on by him not getting to enter the league so quickly). However, I feel it would benefit the overall quality of all the sports.

[iltat]

Horrible idea. Guys go over seas for the NBA to avoid 1 year of college ball, there would be ridiculous amounts of people doing similar things for the MLB since they don't have to go overseas to play professionally. There is also independent baseball leagues that would be happy to pay these guys to draw in a good crowd for a few seasons. But they could also go to DR for a year and sign as a free agent at 15 if they wanted.

uh, no. the point about college basketball is hardly true. why would good prospects play abroad when the true competition and fame is back home?

Because big salaries and no classes exist in Europe. If you don't think guys are doing this, there's a lot of evidence that shows how wrong you are.

[rib217]

if a kid graduates at age 18 from high school and spends four years in College then he would be around 22 at the end of his senior year. At least over the last few years i have seen a ton of rookies all in that age group.

If you still gave each team one AAA club they could then develop their fresh college batch of kids; obviously some rules would need to be in place but i just don't see a huge college baseball following or a big minor league following

the nfl and nba drafts are like what 5 rounds or less. The Mlb draft is like 50 rounds or something, just tons of players being drafted, a giant mess of guys and they have to fish out the talent. why not let 4 years of college do that and then take them in your AAA team

[Bobbleheadrusty]

if a kid graduates at age 18 from high school and spends four years in College then he would be around 22 at the end of his senior year. At least over the last few years i have seen a ton of rookies all in that age group.

If you still gave each team one AAA club they could then develop their fresh college batch of kids; obviously some rules would need to be in place but i just don't see a huge college baseball following or a big minor league following

the nfl and nba drafts are like what 5 rounds or less. The Mlb draft is like 50 rounds or something, just tons of players being drafted, a giant mess of guys and they have to fish out the talent. why not let 4 years of college do that and then take them in your AAA team

Maybe because there are 100 towns, cities and rural areas that support minor league franchises. last year more then 40 million people attended Minor league baseball games. These are money making enterprises for the most part.

Why wouldnt baseball teams want to have a minor league pool of 150ish players to choose from when trying to see who hits or misses. Baseball sees a top prospect failure rate FAR higher then in other sports (Except hockey), so you need to keep a much deeper pool in which to find players. Football may see 1/3 of a first round never amount to anything, baseball could be as high as 80% (and that includes college players).

Lets look at the 2000 draft, since thats long enough to make a call on all the players (they would be 28-29). Here are the college players taken in the first round (and their overall pick)

2. Adam Johnson, RHP, CLE
5. Justin Wayne, RHP, Expos
12. Joe Borchard, OF, CHW
14. Beau Hale, RHP, Orioles
15. Chase Utley, 2B, Phils
16. Billy Traber LHP, Mets
17. Ben Diggins, RHP, Dodgers
20. Chris Bootcheck, RHP, Angels
22. Phil Dumatrait, LHP, Boston
24. Blake Williams, RHP, Cards
27. Robert Steihl, RHP, Astros
29. Dave Parrish, C, Yankees

So, out of 12 college players taken in the first round a total of 1 (Utley)has had ANY value at the ML level (Though obviously hes turned into an elite player). Billy Traber would be the 2nd best player on that list and hes got a 5 something career ERA.



Also, what about the foreign players. Very few of them could get in to an American University.


In addition, there IS an established trend for basketball players to go to europe/one year of college rather then waiting, and the NBA has worked to develop the D league as an alternative to college. The only reason football hasnt done the same is that the physical maturity of an 18-21 year old player couldnt compete with a 25 year old in a minor league football setting, and the injury risk is too high.

[CadensDad]

Why would these kids want to goto college when they can get drafted by a mlb team and be getting PAID to learn how to play baseball better so they can make more money. If the NCAA would let these kids get paid for playing then I might say lets cut out both high A and low A ball and maybe even AA. But honestly this idea is just crazy.

[mac-unit]

Horrible idea. Guys go over seas for the NBA to avoid 1 year of college ball, there would be ridiculous amounts of people doing similar things for the MLB since they don't have to go overseas to play professionally. There is also independent baseball leagues that would be happy to pay these guys to draw in a good crowd for a few seasons. But they could also go to DR for a year and sign as a free agent at 15 if they wanted.

uh, no. the point about college basketball is hardly true. why would good prospects play abroad when the true competition and fame is back home?

The won't have to get play abroad, I'm just saying if they wanted they could sign at 18 from the DR if they really wanted to. In every state there are independent teams who would happily pay and coach these guys for 3 years while they'd have to wait for the draft. Most of the guys who go to college would be the 2 way players or the guys who got recruited for football too.

[SpecialFNK]

college players use aluminum bats. once they get drafted and report to the minor leagues they have to use wooden bats. thats a big adjustment right there.

even when players are drafted from college, there is still a time period where they have to continue to work and develop. most of them simply are not ready to play at a higher level of competition right from college. you often see young players even in their early 20's come up to the major leagues and struggle and then have to be sent back down to the minors.

i think if you eliminated most of the minor leagues and players were playing in the major leagues at an earlier age you would have alot of them failing and teams would not be willing to stick with them long term and allow them the time to develop.