College Baseball - Draft Process

Draft Process

A college player at a four year school is eligible for the draft after they are done with at least three years of school. They must either compete up to their junior year or be twenty one years of age to enter the First-Year Players Draft. A player is not able to enter the draft before this unless they attend a junior college, in which case, they are eligible to leave whenever they choose to do so. There are forty rounds in the Rule IV Major League Draft for eligible college and high school players to be selected. Despite MLB's draft being considerably longer than that of the NFL or NBA, only about 9.1% of all NCAA senior baseball players are drafted by an MLB team.

One of the biggest controversies with the draft and these amateur athletes is the use of agents. There have been many cases of college athletes consulting or hiring an agent prematurely in direct violation of NCAA rules. The NCAA came up with the “no agent rule” as a result of this for what they say was to benefit their amateur athletes. This law stated that a college player is unable to hire an agent or even a lawyer in order to assist them in negotiating a contract with a professional team. The rule states that “n individual shall be ineligible for participation in an intercollegiate sport if he or she has agreed (orally or in writing) to be represented by an agent for the purpose of marketing his or her athletics ability or reputation in that sport”. Representation of an agent is considered to be any direct contact with the professional team during the contract negotiations. This contact can be made many different ways, whether through direct conversation, via mail or through the telephone. This rule is strongly enforced by the NCAA and has harsh consequences if broken.