The lure of drafting a HS player, and going to a JUCO may begin to lose favor with the MLB execs, as the "draft and follow" rules has been eliminated.
quote:The rules have since changed. The term draft-and-follow has gone extinct starting in 2007. Drafted players, other than college seniors, must be signed by August 15.
The draft-and-follow enabled clubs to maintain exclusive rights to a drafted player up until one week prior to the next year’s draft, if that player attended junior college. The club, however, lost any rights when a drafted high schooler decided to attend a four-year college or a drafted college player returned to school and attended his first class.
Draft-and-follow was often employed to enable an emerging player to gain another year of experience but still allow the drafting team the option to attempt to sign him before he would be eligible to re-enter the draft the following June.
Teams no longer have that luxury.
More and more, you are seeing the MLB teams take the seasoned college players, especially pitchers, over the HS players. At the D1 level, the play is approaching that of the lower minor league systems.
Be good,
David