84% of American born MLBers come from rounds 1-10. Another 10% come from rounds 11-20. A majority of drafted players are single A roster filler.
Here’s a story that relates to Steve’s post. A friend’s son was hitting .320 with 20 homers between AA and AAA. A teammate was hitting .230 with no homers. They could both play second, short and third. The .230 hitter was called up. Why? Second rounder signed for 600K versus 38th rounder signed for a plane ticket.
The next spring the kid tore it up in spring training. He was sent down on Opening Day Eve. The MLB manager told him first injury and he’s up with the club. The manager was fired the third week of April. Guess who the GM called up. The next spring the kid was released on Opening Day Eve.
The kid never saw a day in the majors. For the next eight years he played AAA ball for five different organizations rooming with the stud prospect teaching him how to act as a ball player. He’s now a minor league coach.
Why play AAA until age 34? He was being paid 75K to play baseball. It provided contacts until he was asked to be a coach.
Note: He did spend a year in Japan making significantly more money plus all expenses paid. He had a decent year. His American manager who got him there was fired. The second year option was not picked up.