MLB Draft rule change By: Austin Alexander-January 5, 2007 If you have followed the MLB draft in the past, you are likely familiar with the lengthy holdouts, outrageous signing bonuses and maybe you have heard of a little term called the “Draft and Follow,” or DNF’s. For years you’ve heard success stories of how a player was taken in the lower rounds of the June draft and emerges into the Major Leagues. Many of these players were DNF’s. A recent rule change has abolished this plan that has college coaches and professional scouts with mixed opinions. Before this year, an organization could draft a high school player who attended a junior college and retain his “rights” up until five days before the next year’s draft. They could do the same thing with a junior college freshman. For instance, in 1996 Orlando Hudson was taken by the Toronto Blue Jays out of Darlington High School in the 33rd round. They did not sign him so he enrolled at Spartanburg Methodist College and the Blue Jays followed his progress throughout his freshman year, eventually determining he was not ready to sign. Hudson went back into the draft and was taken again by Toronto, this time in the 43rd round. He returned for his sophomore year, they followed him again and decided he was ready. At the conclusion of his college season, and days before the 1998 draft, Hudson signed with Toronto and the rest is history. Now he is a two-time Gold Glove winner in the Major Leagues. DNF’s are usually reserved for the second day of the draft, usually between rounds 25-50. From club to club, philosophies differ toward DNF’s. Some organizations would collect as many “follows” as they could, others opt to stop drafting players as early as the 40th round. DNF’s, generally put, are players who have a pro “tool” but lack the “polish” to sign a contract. The thinking is that an additional year could help ready the player for professional baseball. The majority of DNF’s, however, never sign or have a career in pro ball. Quick fact. Last year, five high school players in South Carolina were selected in the June Draft. Wren’s Jason Place went in the first round and signed with the Boston Red Sox. The other four were taken on Day 2 and are all in a junior college right now as DNF’s. Some late drafts are “favor” picks. One notable “favor draft” is Mike Piazza (right) taken in the 62nd round by the Dodgers in 1988. Piazza’s father and Tommy LaSorda were close friends, of course that one worked out for everybody! The draft used to have an unlimited amount of rounds, it has since be reduced to 50 rounds. Another scenario we’ve seen occur time and again is a player holding out for weeks, months and, often times, all year for the contract they desire. Meanwhile, negotiations become grueling and college coaches remain in limbo as to whether the player will attend class and be on his team that year. No longer will we see long, drawn out contract disputes or DNF’s. Recently a rule change was made requiring players to sign by August 15. This gives players just a little more than two months to negotiate and sign or move on and attend, or return to, college. At that point, the club that drafted them loses the rights to that player and he re-enters the draft*. Obviously opinions on the rule change span the spectrum depending on which side of the ball folks are on. The consensus among four-year college coaches is that new regulation benefits them; junior college coaches, for the most part, are not in favor of the new rule. Pro scouts remain divided on the matter. Diamond Prospects surveyed those most effected by MLB’s decision to adopt the rule. Let’s take a look… *Note: If the player attends a four-year school, he is only eligible for the draft if he is 21 years old or has completed his junior year. A junior college player remains eligible for the draft each year he is at a JUCO. A Junior college head coach comment: As for how it will effect my job, it will not. As for effecting our program, it is hard to tell but I believe it will hurt us in the long run, because now we will not have that one tiny bit of information to sell to a kid that the four-year schools did not have. As for how it will play out with the players, it will lower the number of guys being drafted. And the guys that are Draft and Follow players are usually "raw athletes" who just happen to play baseball. They are not polished baseball players, but they are athletes and everyone knows you can teach an athlete to do things, but you cannot teach someone to be an athlete. With athletes not in the game of baseball, the game will be destroyed. I personally think for this state, which in my opinion is a sleeper state in terms of baseball talent, due to the large number of players that play more than just baseball, it might take some athletes out of the game on the college levels. Most of your draft and follow guys are athletes who play baseball. With a draft and follow they might choose to stay in baseball at the next level. Without it, they will choose to go into another sport at the collegiate level, because of all the collegiate sports, baseball has the least amount of money to offer players, due to Title Nine and Gender Equity rulings over the last 20 years. Collegiate baseball will lose an awful lot of "raw" athletes. Those raw athletes will choose to play basketball, football, soccer, or track in college, because those sports will be able to offer better packages for tuition, etc. This, in time, could hurt the professional level of baseball because they will not have those raw athletes to train! Obviously the people …
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