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Reply to "draft and follow"

Voodoo,

Tigers had Bonderman up all year. He was a first Rounder a couple years ago.

Brewers had Ricky Weeks up last year. He has a MLB contract. He was 1st round last June.

I believe you know what you’re talking about, I just don't think your correct in this case.

Rather than argue isolated cases, why not provide the facts based on the past 10 or more years. 1st Round picks by team who made the big leagues. This info is available to anyone, let alone agents.

Isolated cases can be misleading. Remember the Yankees taking Brian Taylor and paying him a record signing bonus? He got hurt and never made it. Many things can happen that keep players from making it.

There's only two ways for a player to make big money as a baseball player in the USA. One is being in the Big Leagues. What is the other?

Please don't say that you would rather have your client drafted in the 5th round by a certain team like the Dodgers, rather than being one of the 1st picks of the draft by the Tigers or Brewers. If that’s what you’re saying, I'm not buying that even a little!

I do agree that making the Big Leagues is the most important thing. Please look at the figures listed at the end of this post. Note the percentage of each round making the ML. About half (50%) of all first rounders play in the Big Leagues three or more years. 12% of the 5th rounders play three or more years. That figure continues to drop each and every round. For example only about 8% of those drafted in rounds 6-10 have played 3 or more years. 11-20 is about 4%.

A few examples to look over:

1990 Tony Clark Tigers 1st round
1990 Ron Walden Dodgers 1st round
1991 Jeff Cirillo Brewers 1st round
1992 Chris Gomez, Tigers 3rd round (1st player to the Majors from this draft)
1992 Dodgers. Los Angeles avoided being shut out altogether on this class when well-traveled infielder Keith Johnson 4th round, at 29, was unexpectedly called up.
1993 Darin Dreifert Dodgers 1st round
1993 Matt Brunson Tigers 1st round
1994 Antone Williamson Brewers 1st round
1994 Paul Konerko Dodgers 1st round
A few players selected ahead of Nomar that year included Williamson, Josh Booty (Marlins), McKay Christensen (Angels), Doug Million (Rockies), C.J. Nitkowski (Reds)
1995 Geoff Jenkins Brewers 1st round
1995 Dodgers. Set-up man Onan Masaoka 3rd round may be all the Dodgers have to show for this draft. Their top two picks have already washed out, and none of the others is on the fast track.
1996 Chad Green Brewers 1st round
1997 Matt Anderson Tigers 1st round (one of first from that year to appear in the Big Leagues)
1998 Jeff Weaver Tigers 1st round (one of first from that year to appear in the Big Leagues)
1999 Ben Sheets Brewers 1st round (first player from this draft in the Big Leagues)
1999 Eric Munson Tigers 1st round
2000 Dodgers. Ben Diggins 1st round
2000 Tigers. Matt Wheatland 1st round
2000 Brewers. David Krynzel 1st round
2001 Tigers. #Kenny Baugh 1st round
2001 Brewers. Mike Jones 1st round
2001 Athletics. Jeremy Bonderman (first to the Big Leagues with the Tigers)
2002 Brewers. Prince Fielder 1st round (Minor League player of the year)
2002 Tigers. Scott Moore 1st round
2002 Dodgers. James Loney 1st round
2003 Brewers Rickie Weeks 1st round (first player from this draft in the Big Leagues)
2003 Tigers Kyle Sleeth 1st round
2003 Dodgers Chad Billingsley 1st round

Here is a study that Allan Simpson (Baseball America) did on the 1965 to 1995 draft classes.

15,660 Players drafted, rounds 1-20
2,687 Played in major leagues
1,627 Played in major leagues more than three years

774 First-round picks
502 or 65% Played in major leagues
377 or 49% Played in major leagues more than three years

84 Supplemental first-round picks
49 or 58% Played in major leagues
30 or 36% Played in major leagues more than three years

774 Second-round picks
322 0r 41% Played in major leagues
199 or 26% Played in major leagues more than three years

774 Third-round picks
241 or 31% Played in major leagues
159 or 21% Played in major leagues more than three years

782 Fourth-round picks
186 or 24% Played in major leagues
114 or 15% Played in major leagues more than three years

782 Fifth-round picks
181 or 23% Played in major leagues
94 or 12% Played in major leagues more than three years

3,890 Players drafted, rounds 6-10
604 or 15% Played in major leagues
337 or 8.6% Played in major leagues more than three years

I’m not trying to win any debates, but the truth is an important little detail! That’s the reason I went to all the trouble of researching the above information. By the way, I do agree that the Dodgers are an outstanding organization.
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