The Kumar Rocker story is a far bigger indictment of the entire system being somewhat broken... but also that teams really should be able to analyze all medicals well before the draft (in his case, he opted out of the MRI program), especially when it comes to pitchers; errr heavily used pitchers.
I agree prospects should be required to submit medicals as part of draft eligibility, but in the absence of that, any team that drafts a player without medicals knows the risk they are taking.
And the team shouldn't get much scorn/ridicule when they choose to walk away either. And in this case, with him not participating in the pre-MRI screen, they don't have to offer him a token contract to get a comp pick. I know they can't just grant the player FA and let them go to the highest bidder, or else all players will eventually try and game the system to steer where they want to go... but it also sucks that he has to re-enter the draft/delay his start to his domestic professional career after this turn of events.
Explain this pre-MRI program to me. Is it new? What does it do exactly compared to like standard medical evals for a prospect?
Its not new (I'm sure the Aiken fiasco helped bring it about), and its still voluntary... but teams can get out of paying anything if players don't participate and they don't like what they see on medicals after (and they still will get the extra pick the following year). Sounds like most players don't participate as they really don't have much to gain from it (except guaranteeing them a token offer if the team that drafts them doesn't like what they see). Rocker apparently had previous documented imaging studies and the Mets saw changes after his heavy heavy (heavy) work load this year they didn't like. https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/...ew-voluntary-mri-program-for-draft-prospects/
That is the other side of the risk coin. Mets took a risk on a pitcher who did not participate in the MRI program. Rocker took a risk that the eventual MRI would not make a team walk away.
It’s a bad system all around. Either make the combine somewhat mandatory (and if a player still chooses to opt out, something really fishy is occurring). Also still partially protect the player that a team still chooses to draft. Ultimately somebody may draft and pay Rocker to start his rehab from whatever procedure/surgery required to make his arm whole… unlike Aiken, Rocker did showcase dominance at a higher level of competition.
