2025 MLB Draft

At the end of the day, the bat is what decides if you are a MLB player or not. Lots of guys that can play defense, but if you have a bat, you can always DH or play first base for someone.

 

I assume a player has been tried at enough positions by the time they are drafted to put them in their best place. Perhaps a high school bat is still flexible enough develop defensively and be less of a bust risk but I would rather try to pick him up post draft.

 

Zach Dezenzo and a billion other draftees say " hi"

This take is amazingly. . I'll say " uninformed" to he nice.

Until minor leagues, no level of baseball has any interest in development. They are interested and only interested in winning and where a player can help them do that now.

 

Your last sentence is completely wrong. If you don’t think D1 baseball programs have any interest in player development then you simply don’t know what you’re talking about.

 

Cam Smith -- who looks like he could win multiple gold gloves in rightfield after learning it in spring training-- says hi.

 

I never played baseball outside of little league, but as long as you can judge a flyball and have some athleticism, you should be able to play the outfield. Cam has elite athleticism.

 

There are like 300 D1 baseball teams.

My guess is that there are ~50 D1 pitching coaches who can really develop talent.

My guest is that there are 150+ D1 hitting coaches who can really develop talent.

Mostly any D1 pitching coach who is great won't be in D1 long.

 

That’s fine I guess (even though I don’t agree), but that doesn’t affect my point: from little league to D1, almost without exception, player development is a huge priority. There may be individual moments (like the CWS where a coach leaves a guy in to throw 150 pitches) where winning takes clear priority at the expense of player development, but they are the exception, not the rule. Frankly, it’s a ridiculous assertion to say that “no level of baseball has any interest in player development”.

Anecdotally, just in the last 2 years, I have had exposure to little league (from tee ball on up), select/travel ball, high school, small college, and D1, and at every level player development was a HUGE focus; in almost every case it was more of a priority than winning.

 

Excellent timing on this post