@keewart posted:The thing is, players in the minor leagues ARE professional baseball players. Just without the pay and prestige of MLB.
The best thing MLB did was reduce the rounds from 50 to 40 to 20. It killed many dreams, but at least kept realistic dreams alive.
I chuckled when I saw this. When my son was old enough to understand the game he asked why I didn’t sign. I was drafted in the late 40’s. I told my son I was drafted in a round so insignificant it didn’t exist anymore. The draft had become forty rounds. I wasn’t contacted for six days. I guess that’s when the organization realized they needed more short season roster filler. Besides, as I put it I was a first round pick of IBM. At the time it was “the” company.
A few years ago I read 84% of American players come from the first ten rounds. Another 10% come from 11-20. It made sense to shorten the draft to twenty rounds.