Goosegg posted:"If you’re gonna get drafted in the bottom 20 rounds after your junior year, you have almost no chance of ever making it to the big leagues. May as we’ll finish your degree, continue to improve, enjoy your last year at your university, particularly if you are playing in front of large Power 5 crowds, and then take a chance your 4th year. May not get drafted, but you had a great career."
This isn't the way it works. Under the CBA, players drafted after slot rounds can receive 100k bonuses (+ whatever slot money, if any, is left) without worrying about penalties. Many juniors (and aged sophomores) (including most all I know who signed) receive 100k signing bonuses. It's a nice payday - and backed by the MLB scholly (FWIW).
While college ball - especially in baseball powerhouses - has higher visibility and even better facilities, virtually no one playing for those schools is looking to cap off their career in college. In fact, at these schools it is expected - and planned for scholly purposes - that the kid will leave after junior year. (One notable exception was Indiana's incredible undersized lefty, Joey Denato, who turned down a FA offer of 150k after his junior year to return for a NC run his senior year. He was drafted low in his senior year and received nothing but reached AAA before retiring.)
You can't get to the show working for a fortune 500 company; you can't get to the show relying on your college major; you can't get to the show without signing an affiliated pro contract. NO D1 POWER CONFERENCE KID WHO RAN THE GAMUT OF TRAVEL BALL, HS BALL, COLLEGE BALL, SUMMER COLLEGIATE BALL WANTS TO "SETTLE" FOR A DEGREE.
When these kids hang up their cleats, they gave their dream everything they had. Each can look in the mirror some ten years hence and NOT wonder "what if." A great college career - to most - does not trump a crappy pro career; all they worked for was a shot.
You also brought up finishing your degree. A couple of things here: is your degree substantial enough in the sense you're not competing in the work market with people with HS degrees PLUS four years of experience (many power conferences implicitly or even explicitly force kids to lower the rigor of their intended major); second, in many D1 colleges, players end their four year eligibility short of credits needed to graduate. (This is the subject of many old threads.)
Some of the stadiums in the low minors are worse than some HS fields. Vermont, Beloit, Bakersfield (vacated last year) suck; but it's a way stop as each kid suffers and either succeeds or fails. BUT YOU CAN'T FAIL IF YOU'RE NOT IN THE GAME.
All very true. It’s nice to be informed of the reality of what lays ahead. Most kids would likely go pro after their third year to fulfil their dream anyway of having their name called. So the conversation is probably moot. And besides, now that Manny just signed for 300 mill, every kid is gonna just right in if and when their number is called lol