The 2008 Major League Baseball’s amateur draft is rapidly approaching and I am bewildered in how much media coverage it is getting. Tonight I was watching the Twins beat the Yankees on the 4-letter network and the announcers seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time talking about it.

            The MLB amateur draft is not the same as the NFL draft or the NBA draft where a choice can make an immediate impact. It is almost impossible for a for a kid right out of High School or College to even make a club with no minor league time; let alone make an impact.

            I decided to do a little research to basically justify my belief that the amateur draft in baseball is almost a non-story. Five years have passed since the 2003 amateur draft took place. That seemed to be enough time for the cream to rise to the top. However, I was even amazed at what I found. 

• 1478 young men were selected by 30 Major League ball clubs in the 2003 amateur draft. That is an average of 49+ players drafted by each team in a single year and this draft does not include foreign players.
• Of those 1478, only 95 have seen any Major League playing time at all. That figures to 6.43%
• The only team that drafted in 2003 that doesn’t have even one player to see any Major league playing time is the Astros.
• 25 of the drafting teams have had their first round draft pick playing at least some time in the Majors. The Cubs, Marlins, Phillies, Tigers and Yankees have yet to have their 2003 first round picks see any time in the show
• The lowest pick in the 2003 draft to see any Major League playing time is Casey Janssen selected by the Orioles in the 49th round. However, Janssen did not sign with the O’s and went into the 2004 draft where he was taken by the Blue Jays in the 4th round.
• There are only a handful of those 95 players to have much of an impact since they have been in the Majors. Andre Ethier, Arren Hill, Shaun Marcum, Jared Saltalamacchia, Rickie Weeks, Delmon Young, Carlos Quentin, Ryan Garko, Adam Jones, Lastings Milledge, Nick Markakis, John Danks, Ian Kinsler and Jonathan Papelbon all have been contributors but most of the others have only been roster fillers.

            The reality is that most of the players selected in the draft don’t sign as a result of the draft. Many of the high school kids opt for college. Many of the college kids hang on for one more year for a better deal; as was the case with Casey Janssen. Some of these kids excel in other sports and opt for them rather than baseball. Some of them are realists that have concluded that making it in baseball is a long shot (except for a selective few) and choose to pursue other interests. 

            I guess that the point that I am trying to make is that the Major League amateur baseball draft is just not a big deal. We are not going to see anybody taken in this years draft for at least a year and probably more than that. It is all just media hype to give the reporters something to talk about. Like me!