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June 13, 2017 Prospectus FeatureMLB Draft Day 2: Quality Seniors
Quality seniors. Every draft is full of them, last year, the significance of quality seniors was higher than ever as draft bonuses soared, giving teams more money to work with for higher upside players. While this left the seniors with little leverage, their importance has dominated the later stages of Day 2 in the draft. Baseball America described Logan Ratledge process during the 2015 draft as such. “(They) said they’d be able to give me a $100,000 bonus,” Ratledge said, “but I’d have to tell teams not to draft me the rest of the day.” So Ratledge called to ask the club offering $20,000—let’s call it Team B—not to select him. Team B wasn’t happy; it had to find a new senior to save money, but the area scout had a plan in place and found one. Ratledge, though, had to wait a nervous night until the next day. The 11th round came and went, and the third team didn’t draft him. The same thing happened in the 12th; still no pick, and no $100,000 bonus. Ratledge says his nerves were shot. He was ready to just get it over with. “I 100 percent believed they were going to take me, but they kept passing and passing,” he said. “I was expecting it wouldn’t be easy, and I know it’s a business, but I wasn’t expecting it to be so cutthroat.” Teams prioritize quality seniors because they like them, and believe they will sign early in the draft for a much lower signing bonus then what is assigned. The benefits to this can be rewarding, the player could get more pull or time in the organization, even if he doesn’t have success. These players are still liked by their area scouts, they wouldn’t draft them if they didn’t, but their ability might not always match their draft status. With that said, here are my three quality seniors. Logan Taylor, CF, Sr. University of Louisville (Louisville, KY) Phoenix Sanders, RHP, Sr. University of South Florida (Tampa, FL) Kevin Santa, SS, Sr., University of Tampa (Tampa, FL) (D2)
Steve Givarz is an author of Baseball Prospectus. Follow @SteveGivarz
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Kit Scheetz and Johnny Adams are some personal favorites.
Thanks for everything that you have done to cover the draft.