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Fans say “don’t be a fool, stay in school” to potential MLB draftees

NCAA and MLB rule changes should push seniors to college, and college players to stick around

By Kyle Thele

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FOR USE WITH US-FRANCE-ARCHITECTURE BY FREDERIC BI Photo credit should read HENNY RAY ABRAMS/AFP via Getty Images

Welcome to SB Nation FanPulse, a survey of fans across MLB. Each week, we send out questions to the most plugged in Twins fans, and fans across the country. Sign up HERE to join FanPulse.

Normally, there are forty rounds in the MLB Rule 4 draft, better known as the June amateur draft. Under an agreement with the MLBPA, the league has made changes to that structure.

For now, the MLB Draft could have as few as five rounds and may occur more than a month after originally scheduled.

To help some of these players facing an uncertain future, the NCAA announced earlier this month they would allow baseball players to return for a fifth year of eligibility. They will also expand baseball rosters to help fit the incoming class.

With all of those changes and the overall uncertainty facing the game right now, potential MLB Draft prospects have a difficult decision to make. First and foremost, should they even enter the draft?

A clear majority of fans, according to SB Nation’s FanPulse, say they would hold off on entering this year’s draft.

The survey shows 60 percent of fans thing changes to the NCAA eligibility rules will have a noticeable impact on this year’s draft.

An even bigger majority think the changes will influence high school seniors who are deciding between college and the pros.

Making things more complicated is a rule in place that states any baseball player who doesn’t sign with a pro team out of high school and plays Division I baseball instead must wait three years before entering the draft again. Normally that would mean a top prospect would either begin his career immediately after high school or no earlier than after their junior season.

Fans believe this is another rule that should be changed, allowing players to go pro after only one year of DI baseball.

This is one of many hard decisions Major League Baseball needs to make in the coming weeks and months. Next week’s FanPulse will turn its focus on what the league should do with those involved in the sign-stealing scandal and how things may have changed in the last two months.

To sign up for FanPulse and have your voice heard each week, sign up here.

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