Should MLB televise their draft like the NBA, NFL?!

No. First of all, most people don't follow high school and college baseball to the same extent that they follow hs and college basketball and football. second, most draftee either take a long time to make the majors or never make it at all. Again very different. Most of the excitement from the nba and nfl draft comes from both knowing the players your team drafts and the thought of that player coming in a helping your team. Both of this elements are largely lacking from the mlb draft.

 

OK, another mystery of the universe...How many rounds does the MLB draft have?

 

Are you crazy? That's too many damn rounds to sit through and the networks would lose lots of money....

The ESPN highlights are fine by me...

 

Booorrrrinnnggg! The prospects take to long to make it to the big leagues.

I'd rather watch darts.

 

Does MLB even have their draft at a central location? I always thought they phoned their picks in or something..

 

No freaking way.

 

Another MLB Draft thread by ESource? I feel it would be way too boring to watch.

 

It doesn't sound like a bad idea to have a couple of rounds televised since MLB lags in fan interest compared to the NFL and NBA but DoitDickau makes valid points on why it would be a flop.

 

Rumor has it the 1996 draft is still going on somewhere in Micronesia.

 

I listened to the ammy draft last year, and it literally put me to sleep. And I love drafts!

Talk about boring...

 

You guys are aware the NHL draft is televised too, right? Absolutely no one has a clue who those guys are, but it's still there on TV.

MLB could make it work rather easily if they wanted. Televise the first round or two, have a bunch of profiles and clips, a lot of the picks are from college so get some college coaches, etc. They'd have to change some rules though as you can't trade draft picks, so that limits a lot of the action. It would hepl sustain some excitement for the league.

 

I'm guessing your average NHL fan knows a lot more about hockey prospects than your average MLB fan knows about baseball prospects.

 

1) It is long enough as it stands
2) Probably 95% of the 1st round picks baseball fans have never heard of
3) Who in the hell would watch it


(as evident by your poll results)

 

I hear the ratings are something that the network that carries them counts on to make their year

 

I would love to watch the MLB draft on tv. Especially this upcoming year's since two Rice pitchers will probably be among the top 5 picks in the draft.

I follow college baseball (as well as college baseball recruiting) very closely though, which is probably not typical of the average MLB fan.

 

I think that the amateur draft (which is what I have always heard it referred to) is like 40 rounds. I know that Piazza was a very late round draft pick of the Dodgers (he might have gone in the 40th round).

Dickau hit on a lot of it, but compared to college football and college basketball, college baseball doesn't get as much exposure. You can see some games through local sports stations or maybe even Fox Sports South regional broadcasts but nothing like ABC or ESPN (except for the college world series) or CBS.

So, why would anyone tune in except those people who are die-hard fans of the teams that have players that are going to get picked like texxx?

Also add in that more high school players are drafted in baseball than basketball and football (duh) and that makes it more confusing. Who would know anything about the star shortshop at John Tyler High School except the people in that town? Yet, he might be a first rounder.

 

You really think NHL fans in the US and Canada are up on their 17 year old Swedes, Russians, Fins, Norwegians, etc. that are playing in nickel and dime leagues in countries no one can pronounce?? I doubt it.

The MLB draft is North American prospects. A lot easier to keep track of and do features of (for tv).