What impact does coronavirus have on the draft?

[ThomasTomasz]

This may be a question for @Tony-OH and anyone else familiar with scouting and the draft process to weigh in on, but I have to think high schools lose the most from cancelled seasons.  Right now, a majority of colleges and high schools have cancelled spring sports.  At least with the major college programs, they have 15-ish games under their belts currently, and there is tape from previous seasons to look at.  But with high school seniors, this is a critical year for them to get scouted, and it doesn't look like they are going to have that opportunity.  

How do we think this is going to affect the draft process?  Would we see a large number of high schools enter college?  Do we see a large number of juniors stick for their senior year?  What about seniors if they get an extra year of eligibility?  There is a lot to unpack.  Obviously this probably won't affect the Orioles with the #2 pick, as the top prospects are going to declare regardless, but it will definitely have some impact as the draft moves into later rounds.  

[scOtt]

I read an article earlier today that mentioned all this. Can't remember where, I read a LOT of stuff today all over. Anyways, it said all the scouts for all the teams were sent home. Plus all the amateur showcases, College WS and games, have been cancelled  too. Like everything else (maybe more so for the draft...) this is all just totally up in the air right now. In limbo waiting to see how this whole pandemic plays out.

[Tony-OH]

8 hours ago, ThomasTomasz said:

This may be a question for @Tony-OH and anyone else familiar with scouting and the draft process to weigh in on, but I have to think high schools lose the most from cancelled seasons.  Right now, a majority of colleges and high schools have cancelled spring sports.  At least with the major college programs, they have 15-ish games under their belts currently, and there is tape from previous seasons to look at.  But with high school seniors, this is a critical year for them to get scouted, and it doesn't look like they are going to have that opportunity.  

How do we think this is going to affect the draft process?  Would we see a large number of high schools enter college?  Do we see a large number of juniors stick for their senior year?  What about seniors if they get an extra year of eligibility?  There is a lot to unpack.  Obviously this probably won't affect the Orioles with the #2 pick, as the top prospects are going to declare regardless, but it will definitely have some impact as the draft moves into later rounds.  

This is a great question and something I haven't thought much about until I saw this message. I think one thing you may see more of are teams holding more work out camps for key high school and college players this May when hopefully this crap will be over. We also don't know how the perfect game type of events will be affected (they are cancelled for now but could open back up in May) but those showcase type events will also be heavily used since they now use trackman and other data collection technologies.

Saying all that, these unprecedented circumstances and not having senior/junior years to judge off of really will make things interesting. Also, I wonder if colleges will give everyone an extra year of eligibility which could mean a lot of guys who aren't drafted very high could stay an extra year.

[Legend_Of_Joey]

I forgot where I read it, but there was a suggestion to hold the draft in August, after the Summer College Leagues.

[mdbdotcom]

22 minutes ago, Legend_Of_Joey said:

I forgot where I read it, but there was a suggestion to hold the draft in August, after the Summer College Leagues.

Makes sense to me.

[Frobby]

36 minutes ago, Legend_Of_Joey said:

I forgot where I read it, but there was a suggestion to hold the draft in August, after the Summer College Leagues.

They’ve been talking about doing something like that anyway, in connection with the proposal to restructure the minor leagues.  

[Woody Held]

Keith Law has an article on this in the Athletic today.   He talked of having a combine, like the NFL in May but that wouldn’t allow for game action which is really needed.  Maybe some tournaments prior to the draft.   He also brought up shortening the draft to 20 rounds. 

[paulcoates]

NCAA grants an extra year of eligibility to Spring Sports

 

https://www.golfchannel.com/news/ncaa-grant-extra-year-eligibility-spring-athletes?utm-tags=golf1305000&fbclid=IwAR2bOofPr_10uhV5PW_AYn-BmxVlhhRjUkyZb53nEV_Eham4FeCm9oX-_fg

[atomic]

25 minutes ago, paulcoates said:

NCAA grants an extra year of eligibility to Spring Sports

 

https://www.golfchannel.com/news/ncaa-grant-extra-year-eligibility-spring-athletes?utm-tags=golf1305000&fbclid=IwAR2bOofPr_10uhV5PW_AYn-BmxVlhhRjUkyZb53nEV_Eham4FeCm9oX-_fg

Not that relevant as most good college players are drafted after junior year. Could help college seniors get better signing bonuses though.

[sportsfan8703]

It might be best at #2 to grab the safe pick in Spencer Torkelson. Advanced NCAA bat. Not much left to prove in NCAA. There are concerns about Hancock and Martin. Can Martin play SS?  
 

We rely heavily on analytics but this draft looks like scouting will play a huge role. I’m sure we have numbers on guys from last year, but now those Sr arms that we’d target in rounds 10-20 have leverage because of an extra year of eligibility. 

[DrungoHazewood]

On 3/14/2020 at 3:17 PM, Woody Held said:

Keith Law has an article on this in the Athletic today.   He talked of having a combine, like the NFL in May but that wouldn’t allow for game action which is really needed.  Maybe some tournaments prior to the draft.   He also brought up shortening the draft to 20 rounds. 

Oooh... are they going to have everyone run the 40 and do standing jumps and measure their chests and biceps with a tape?  Baseball has always been lacking that special livestock sale feel of the NFL. I've always wondered where Brian Matusz and Chad Bradford and Todd Frohwirth would have been drafted if they'd had a televised showcase where they had to do massive squats and bench presses.

[atomic]

5 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Oooh... are they going to have everyone run the 40 and do standing jumps and measure their chests and biceps with a tape?  Baseball has always been lacking that special livestock sale feel of the NFL. I've always wondered where Brian Matusz and Chad Bradford and Todd Frohwirth would have been drafted if they'd had a televised showcase where they had to do massive squats and bench presses.

I am guessing Randy Johnson and Fernando Valenzula would have done terrible on all the NFL type testing.  

[DrungoHazewood]

4 minutes ago, atomic said:

I am guessing Randy Johnson and Fernando Valenzula would have done terrible on all the NFL type testing.  

Wilbur Wood and Smokey Burgess may not have survived the pre-event stretching.

[MongoBoy]

13 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Wilbur Wood and Smokey Burgess may not have survived the pre-event stretching.

Don't just look at Kaley, guys.

 

[weams]

7 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Oooh... are they going to have everyone run the 40 and do standing jumps and measure their chests and biceps with a tape?  Baseball has always been lacking that special livestock sale feel of the NFL. I've always wondered where Brian Matusz and Chad Bradford and Todd Frohwirth would have been drafted if they'd had a televised showcase where they had to do massive squats and bench presses.

Brian sure could surf though. He had all those balance muscles fine tuned.