It’s clear Major League Baseball is trying to create more interest and buzz around the amateur draft, and one of the biggest changes to a sport that took over and limited its minor-league affiliates is the newly created Draft League, which kicks off its inaugural 68-game schedule next month.
The league, created by MLB and Prep Baseball Report (PBR), is billed as “a showcase for top draft-eligible prospects” leading up to this year’s July draft. All six participating teams are organizations that had their affiliates with Minor League Baseball severed before the season: the Frederick Keys, Mahoning Valley Scrappers, State College Spikes, Trenton Thunder, West Virginia Black Bears and Williamsport Crosscutters.
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The league’s initial rosters went out to MLB teams earlier this week and many team executives and scouts expressed dismay at the lower-than-expected level of talent on the list. Though there wasn’t ever the expectation that first-rounders would play, the hope was to at least have a handful of players in the first five rounds. The initial roster, obtained by The Athletic, had only one prospect from Keith Law’s top 50 ranking, Fordham senior Matt Mikulski, and nobody else from the top 150 prospects from MLB’s own Pipeline or from the top 150 at Baseball America. One director said the league “won’t be highly attended unless they get some better players,” and a longtime scout said “it looks like an open tryout for the indy leagues.”
Part of this issue may be excessive expectations, however. Kerrick Jackson, president of the Draft League and a longtime scout himself, said to The Athletic that “the problem for us was we didn’t announce (the league) till December, when guys are placed for summer baseball in August, September or October” of the previous year. Summer leagues start recruiting for the next year 10 months or more in advance, securing commitments early from the most desired prospects, which meant many players were unavailable for the Draft League before the latter even came into existence.
“This is a test run in Year 1,” Jackson said. “This is a player-centered environment, but without the players having a true understanding there was a lot of skepticism” from players and college coaches. Once the league announced the names of the managers and coaches, Jackson said, more players and their representatives reached out to see whether they could still play in the league. PBR is responsible for all the recruiting and player selections.
With the 2021 MLB Draft moved back to July (now part of All-Star Week), this new Draft League was created as a way for draft-eligible players to showcase their abilities through “unprecedented visibility to MLB club scouts, both in-person and through technology” according to the league’s official release. Though MLB isn’t requiring clubs to scout the Draft League, they will be encouraged to do so. Several people shared the same sentiment with The Athletic: that it will become easier to do when the talent justifies deploying resources. Clubs are already shifting resources and roles, following a 2020 season in which scouts were barred from being in pro stadiums and limited in amateur events. There’s less in-person scouting than ever before, with many clubs cutting their scouting departments by more than half, and some clubs use pro scouts to help out on the amateur side in advance of the draft, which will now be six weeks later than it used to be.
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“Looks like there’s a real struggle to fill out rosters,” one longtime scout said. “There’s maybe five guys worth watching (to scout) and that’s being nice.”
Draft League games start May 24 and will go until mid-August with a break during All-Star Game week for the draft. Players who are selected in the draft will not be obligated to continue playing. Those who are still finishing their college seasons are allowed to report late. The timing of a summer league during a July draft is not unprecedented, though other — more popular — leagues like the Cape Cod League focus more on underclassmen.
Though there’s little upside for first-rounders to keep playing, or pitchers who are healthy enough to have gone an entire collegiate season, there are a few names who rank among Baseball America’s Top 300 who are obviously hoping to improve their standing. Those names include: Trenton Wallace (157), Brandon Birdsell (161), Ian Murphy (221), Jayden Melendez (222) and RJ Petit (280). Oregon DH Kenyon Yovan, a prospect as a pitcher a few years ago before injuries forced a conversion to hitting full time, is also there.
Mikulski, who was also ranked No. 53 in MLB Pipeline’s most recent rankings, has been a surprise this spring thanks to a new delivery and a fastball up to 98. At this point, however, it’s unclear what Mikulski, or any other pitcher already likely to go on Day 1, would gain from making six more starts — on top of a full spring of pitching — in the Draft League.
The new league’s success and long-term viability depend on unearthing a few surprises as it tries to find a way to keep fan interest and market amateur players who are virtual unknowns to its fan base. “I’m sure there will be some surprises,” one director said. “Someone will come out throwing 98.”
The creation of the Draft League is one of several steps being taken by MLB to modernize player development, along with the decision to turn the Appalachian League into a collegiate wood bat league for freshmen and sophomores. Under commissioner Rob Manfred, MLB has streamlined and regulated the number of minor-league affiliates, moves that have drawn mixed reviews along with some skepticism.
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“We are thrilled to partner with Prep Baseball Report and the founding members of the MLB Draft League to create a one-of-a-kind league that will attract the nation’s top players who are eligible for each year’s MLB Draft and allow local fans to see top prospects and future big-league stars in their hometowns,” Morgan Sword, MLB’s executive vice president, baseball economics and operations, said in the league’s official news release. “This announcement continues MLB’s commitment to preserving and growing baseball in communities around the United States.”
It’s clear from these initial rosters, however, that MLB has not done so — the Draft League has not attracted the top draft-eligible players, and though there may be a future big-league star or two somewhere on these rosters, the scouts we surveyed didn’t see them. This league has a lot to prove to all of its stakeholders — players, scouts, and the six communities who lost their affiliated minor-league teams this winter, to be replaced by this instead.
(Photo of Matt Mikulski: Vera Nieuwenhuis / Associated Press)