This year’s MLB Draft was completely different from others in history, including the lack of high school players taken early.
For starters, the draft was cut to just five rounds compared to 41 rounds in 2019. The change was due to the shutdown in sports and inability of teams/scouts to evaluate and meet with players.
The result is that MLB teams went the safer route with many of their picks towards the top of the draft.
The first seven players taken in the draft were all college players. It wasn’t until the San Diego Padres took Robert Hassell III with the No. 8 pick that the first high school player was selected. That was the longest in MLB Draft history it ever went before a high school player was taken.
In general, college players are considered to be less risky compared to high school players. The reason has to do with the known vs. the unknown. For college players, you have 3-4 more years of stats, more information about a player’s physical build, and more information about their makeup and character, all of which help form an evaluation of a player. Conversely, evaluating high school players takes much more projection of what the player could become.
The inability to evaluate many of these high schoolers during their senior season made them more risky for teams, which likely explains why so many teams drafting high went for more of a sure thing to increase their likelihood of a return on investment.
