@Dominik85 posted:I think in these days the communication with the agent/advisor is even better than it used to be and teams basically know almost surely if a player will sign (unless a medical gets in the way).
Also with 20 rounds teams might be less likely to waste a pick just to make a bond with a player like they used to make with 40 players.
Nobody needed 40 players so they used to make courtesy picks of a coachs son or Pick a HS guy just to start a relationship but I think now with less rounds they are not doing so much of it.
If someone goes unsigned (except for late round flyers), there was a communication issue. My son wasn't drafted as a juco freshmen in 2015 because he rejected the signing bonus offered - it was dynamic and in the late rounds, they were asking "will you sign for $X" as the team's turn was coming up. I wonder how many scouts had kids on the phones asking the same question at the same time? He was drafted in 2016 and didn't sign because he overslept, his cell phone was dead, he and his advisor/agent weren't on the same page about how important going to Arkansas was (that was in the 18th round). Finally being drafted in 2017, there were two teams bidding at over slot, all managed by the advisor/agent and the outcome was know before it happened in the 3rd round.
A couple interesting facts on this: My son was not recruited in HS but was identified pretty quick in juco, and I counseled him to take the small late round offer in 2015 and then the $165K Boston offered in 2016 - both times he chose the opposite and was way better off because of it. More importantly, he owns his whole path.