WBC Champs Dominican Republic. Credit: Mike Blake/Reuters.
Over the past couple of years, Major League Baseball officials have talked about instituting an international draft, or making the current Rule 4 Draft open to international players. Since we posted our first mock draft of the 2013 season, we are now tackling the idea of an international draft in baseball.
Many believe that an international draft is very close to occurring because of the new restrictions placed on international spending for amateur free agents who are not eligible for the draft in the United States. The new restrictions on signing bonuses take effect on June 1, 2013, but an international draft would not occur until at least 2014 if it is approved.
An international draft idea is being studied by Major League Baseball and by the MLB Players Association. The research is being conducted by a committee specifically appointed to study the idea. The committee consists of New York Mets General Manager Sandy Alderson, Tampa Bay Rays Executive Vice President Andrew Friedman, and Kim Ng from the Office of the Commissioner. The co-chairs of the committee are MLB Executive Vice President Robert Manfred and Executive Director of the MLBPA Michael Weiner.
Those against the idea of an international draft feel that the signing and development programs in the Dominican Republic would be negatively impacted. The reason for this is that so many teams have taken advantage of the signing age permitted by the league in the Dominican, which is 16. Teams sign and then develop players they have scouted in the D.R. and then move them into their organizations in the United States. In the U.S., a player must be 18 in order to qualify for the current draft.
Think about it; would you want to spend millions of dollars on a young prospect, send him to your development academy, and then have him plucked from your organization by a rival during the draft? This is one thought that many teams involved in scouting and development in the D.R. will be focused on if the international draft ever comes close to fruition.
So, if an international draft is added to the Collective Bargaining Agreement in the future, MLB would need to decide on a universal age for the players who would be eligible. This could be dropped to 16 in order to keep developing young players in the D.R., or keep it at 18. Or, in an attempt to please both camps, the league could set the draft-eligible age to 17.
It had been reported earlier in March of this year by baseball writer Buster Olney that the league would be willing to make major concessions to the union in order to create an international draft. Some of those possible concessions could be a higher minimum salary and less Major League service time required for a player to go to arbitration.
Another reason that the international draft could be on the way is the support the World Baseball Classic has been receiving from the league. Players are willing to miss time with their big league teams during Spring Training to play for their country in the hopes of winning a title and global bragging rights for a couple of years. Major League Baseball has witnessed the success of the World Baseball Classic and continues to push for an international draft because of that very success.
I am not sure of my stance on an international draft just yet. It intrigues me very much, especially given the amount of talent in the D.R., Cuba, Venezuela, and other countries in South America. Then, consider the amount of talent in China, Japan, Canada, and even Australia. The more information that becomes available on an international draft, the more interested I become in the idea. I am one of the few who religiously followed the MLB draft each year online as it unfolded, so you can understand why I would be excited to add international flavor to the event. Let us know your thoughts in our comments section below this post.
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Jim is the creator and editor of At the Dish, Cinn City Sports, Life with Tony and Enzo and owner of JAVFreelancing. He coached baseball for five years, three at his former high school (Holy Cross in Delran, NJ) and two at prominent Division III program Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. He has worked for the Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, NJ; Metro Networks in Bala Cynwyd, PA; and was the play-by-play announcer for the Camden Riversharks of the Independent Atlantic League of Professional Baseball for two seasons (2007-2008) on Rowan Radio 89.7 WGLS-FM, the student-run radio station at Rowan University. Jim earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications and minor in Journalism from Rowan University in 2008. While in school he was the Assistant Sports Director at WGLS for two years and the Sports Director for one year. He also covered the football, baseball, softball and both basketball teams for the school newspaper 'The Whit.' Jim lives in New Jersey with his wife Nicole, sons Tony and Enzo and dog Phoebe. He can be reached at jimvassallo@mlbdrafts.com.
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