TheBaseballStars

I’m really not one for college sports, so when the NBA and NFL drafts roll around, you’re likely to find me out on a lake somewhere fishing while others are gawking over some 20-something who is fulfilling his dream and becoming a multi-millionaire. But if there’s ones thing that I admire about those drafts it’s the national hype and circus that surrounds them. I mean I could care less who gets drafted first overall, but I always make an effort to find out, for peace of mind, you know? So when ESPN started touting this year’s Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft my ears perked up. I figured maybe this is one draft I could rally around.

Now I know the MLB Draft was televised last year, but I missed it. This year I’ve got DVR so I decided to record the 2008 Draft in hopes of watching, learning the new talent and just seeing for myself how the draft feels when you care about the teams involved. One problem, the draft moved along like some mid August Sunday game between two cellar dwellers.

Now I’m going to admit I only watched the first five picks so far (I actually intend to watch the whole thing at some point, if nothing else to prepare my mind for an impending baseball card release featuring the drafted players) but I think I saw enough to form a decent opinion. After all, the first few picks are really where the excitement lies, right?

Let’s start with the overall ambiance. The Draft seemed a bit awkward. Everything from the location at Walt Disney World in Florida to the tables being set up in some mock gymnasium, just like they do for the NBA and NFL Draft, down to the aging men wearing USA Baseball jerseys and ringing cowbells as if it were the Olympics. It was so contrived.

Secondly, who the hell drafts on a Thursday at 2 p.m. Eastern/11 a.m. Pacific? Not even fantasy baseball junkies do that. And why not wait until after the College World Series? All of the other drafts take place after their post season’s games. Hell, sometimes post season performances cause some teams to move players up (or down) their draft boards.

As I watched the ten minutes of nonsense the ESPN guys were spewing before the first pick — especially the incessant use of the phrase “five-tool” and the “best (fill in the blank)” — I started to wonder what it would be like to see Bud “Stoneface” Selig strut to the microphone and announce the picks like NBA Commissioner David Stern. But when Selig finally opened his mouth, I found myself wishing he hadn’t.

Was it really necessary for him to repeat the phrase “2008 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft” before every pick? And can Bud Selig says these player’s names with some conviction, like he’s actually heard of them, that way people like me feel some sort of drama in hearing the name being announced. Instead he read off some teleprompter so far away that he actually had to squint to read it. Hell, after he announced the No. 4 pick (Brian Matusz) there was literally silence for about three seconds because 1) Selig said the name like it was a question, and 2) no one knew who the hell it was.

Which leads me to my point. Who are these guys? I consider myself a baseball fan, but unless you work for Baseball America, are a scout, actually follow college or high school baseball religiously, you’ve probably never heard of these guys. Instead all we hear is Karl Ravich, Peter Gammons and Chris Singleton regurgitate something that Baseball America wrote about them two weeks earlier. And they use terms like “toolsy” and “gritty,” talk about signability problems (baseball by a wide margin seems to have the largest issue with this because so many kids dismiss their drafted team and go to college), and discuss how they’ll have to transition from aluminum bats to wooden bats. (Note: How can you seriously judge a person’s power potential when the game is drastically different depending on what type of bat you’re using?)

I guess when it comes down to it, the MLB Draft just lacks the flare and importance that you see in other sports. I mean the majority of these draftees won’t even sniff the majors, and the ones that do likely won’t be seen for a number of years.

Maybe Peter Gammons said it best right before the Giants selected Buster Posey (no, Buster is not his birth-given name). Gammons, well respected among baseball circles and by fans alike, said “The junkyards are filled with catchers who were selected in the first round.”

Now Gammons may not have been disrespecting Posey per se, or any particular guy, but there’s a lot of truth in the underlying issue there. So many of these guys will end up out of baseball in just a few years that this moment, the time when they’re name is announced by the commissioner and these teams are supposed to see a glimpse of the future, will end up having no impact on the history of baseball. Perhaps that is why the MLB Draft is as bad, and unwatchable, as it is.