RealGM

The only reason why I'm starting a thread on this is because I've always been a little miffed as to why MLB has done such a poor job of promoting its draft. The draft is such a big thing in the NBA and the NFL, but barely registers a *blip* on the radar screen to the common sports' fan. Sure, if you're a baseball aficionado, you keep up with such things. But to the common sports' fan, there's very little mention of it in the bigger outlets of the general sports' media establishment.

One of the great unsung things about MLB is its draft, minor league system, development of young talent. To the average baseball/sports' fan, when a new young player emerges at the major league level, it's as if they appear out-of-nowhere. How many average baseball/sports' fans can name their MLB team's minor league teams, or their MLB team's top picks in recent drafts?

Any thoughts as to why MLB has done such a poor job promoting this aspect of their product?

NEW YORK -- Major League Baseball's amateur draft is shifting to prime time.

The commissioner's office said Tuesday that this year's draft will start at 6 p.m. on June 9 and be held at the studios of the MLB Network in Secaucus, N.J.

There will be 111 picks on the first day, which includes the first three rounds mixed in with two compensation rounds.

Rounds 4 through 30 are scheduled tentatively for June 10, with the remaining 20 rounds the following day. The last two days will be held by telephone conference call.

The draft was held in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., in 2007 and 2008.

Bulltalk wrote:Any thoughts as to why MLB has done such a poor job promoting this aspect of their product?

It's not that MLB has really done a poor job of promoting it. It's just that college and high school baseball aren't promoted. In the NBA and NFL, even the casual fan knows who the top prospects in the draft are. College baseball games are sometimes broadcast on local channels or on ESPNU, but they're not on ESPN or CBS or ABC like football and basketball games are.

Plus, it's a 50 round draft plus compensation rounds. By the time you get to the 4th and 5th rounds, lots of the prospects are mediocre college players or more unkwown high school players.

Well, it goes 50 rounds, nobody knows anyone in it, it's during the season as opposed to the offseason so fans are generally more interested in the actual games, and anyone in it generally won't show up in the majors for a year or two at the earliest.

trwi7 wrote:

Bulltalk wrote:Any thoughts as to why MLB has done such a poor job promoting this aspect of their product?

It's not that MLB has really done a poor job of promoting it. It's just that college and high school baseball aren't promoted. In the NBA and NFL, even the casual fan knows who the top prospects in the draft are. College baseball games are sometimes broadcast on local channels or on ESPNU, but they're not on ESPN or CBS or ABC like football and basketball games are.

Plus, it's a 50 round draft plus compensation rounds. By the time you get to the 4th and 5th rounds, lots of the prospects are mediocre college players or more unkwown high school players.

I think it's also the lack of instant gratification. We're going to see Aaron Curry on Sundays in the Fall, but with rare exceptions like (maybe) Stephen Strasburg, the 2009 baseball draftees aren't going to sniff the majors until 2011 or later, and a lot of them won't get there at all. So it's hard for the average fan to get excited.

50 rounds?!?!?!

Good points made by all.