Why We Need More Players In Person At The Draft
We don’t.
This headline was entirely click bait. Sorry about that.
Just a few days after the conclusion of this year’s draft, the lack of players in attendance became a storyline. ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez wrote this piece explaining why there were no players in Atlanta for the 2025 draft. I also started getting asked about it after the piece came out—not before—in a few post-draft interviews.
This feels like one of the biggest non-stories imaginable.
Did anyone watching the draft even notice there weren’t players in attendance this year? Is anyone’s biggest critique with the draft as a TV product the lack of more in-person player interviews? I sincerely doubt it.
My running theory is that no one other than the people in charge of the broadcasts really cares too much about this.
We’re entirely capable of “marketing” the players who are drafted without those players showing up in person to take an awkward picture with the commissioner, throw on a jersey and then have an even more awkward in-person interview about what it was like to just be drafted.
As Gonzalez points out in his piece, there are reasons why players and their agents are incentivized to not show up to the MLB draft:
Representatives from each of the three agencies denied possessing a hard-and-fast rule preventing players from attending the draft, stating that those decisions ultimately rest with their clients. But those agencies, as well as other agents throughout the industry, did identify two key reasons why some of their clients ultimately don't attend.
One is that amateurs, particularly those who just graduated high school, don't want to subject themselves to the public shame of potentially seeing their names fall in the draft, preferring instead to host draft parties surrounded by friends and family members from home. Another, more prominent reason is that the MLB draft's economic landscape disincentivizes it.
Each selection within the first 10 rounds comes with an assigned value, but teams are free to divide their total draft bonus pools however they would like. Signing bonuses, then, are subject to negotiations. And those talks often take place minutes before players are selected, potentially influencing whether teams take them at certain spots. After that, deals still need to be finalized. Scott Boras, baseball's most influential agent, believes attending a draft can hinder leverage.
Baseball’s draft is different from the drafts of the NBA and the NFL. We don’t always need to try and copy those leagues. We can embrace what’s unique and different about our draft and still provide compelling reasons to watch the broadcast even if players don’t show up.
I thought one of the more touching moments of the draft was watching Tyler Bremner celebrate with his entire family after the Angels made him the second overall pick. Are we really going to make the case that that’s worse TV than him sitting by himself (or with a handful of family members) and then walking up on a stage at the actual draft? I’m not.
Players can still participate in the draft—and regularly do—without actually being there in person.
It’s the best of both worlds: The players can be with their families and friends in a controlled environment during a stressful time. There’s no worry about losing any sort of leverage in signing a deal. We can do remote interviews with players after they are selected just fine. And the draft itself actually moves at a quicker pace because we’re not slowing things down when an in-person player is selected.
If players really want to show up to the draft and take part in the live experience—that’s perfectly fine. I’m all for it. I just think this is a non-issue.
With the signing deadline now behind us we can begin to fully put the bow on the 2025 class and get started on 2026.
I’m quite happy with our 2025 draft coverage and how draft day itself went.
There were two surprises in the first three rounds. We didn’t have Giants third rounder Trevor Cohen or Braves third rounder Cody Miller ranked on the BA 500. Both players stood out for their impressive contact skills and had great performance this spring with Rutgers and Middle Tennessee State, respectively.
Each year our goal is to know about every single player who goes on the first day of the draft. Adding a third round to the first night makes that more challenging, but we’re going to shoot for it again next year.
Inside the first 10 rounds, we had reports on 250 of the 315 players selected—a 79.4% hit rate. In 2024 we had reports on 248/315 (78.7%). In 2023 we had reports on 244/314 (77.7%).
If we maintain this rate of improvement, just give us 23 drafts and we’ll finally have a 100% hit rate on the top 10 round guys before they are picked.
Fingers crossed.
I’ve spent the last two weeks tracking down signing bonuses and taking things a bit slower while trying to kick what I assume was a case of this new “Nimbus” covid variant.1
Tomorrow I start a two week trip that will include two of the best high school showcase events on the calendar: East Coast Pro in Hoover, Ala. and the Area Code Games in Long Beach, Calif.
It’ll be my first real exposure of any depth to the 2026 class and I can’t wait to get started. This class sounds like it has a chance to be pretty special.
I’m also hoping to get back on a consistent newsletter and podcasting cadence once I get back in mid-August.
That’s all for today. Thanks for reading and following along.
Below is the work I’ve produced for Baseball America since my last newsletter:
Writing
2025 MLB Draft Reviews For All 30 Teams. Quickly touching base on all 30 teams draft class with an overall theme, plus picks I’m intrigued by in the 4-10 and 11-20 round ranges.
The Best & Worst Values Of The 2025 Draft. In this exercise I slapped slot values on the BA 500 and then tried to see which picks and draft hauls the board really liked and really didn’t. It’s a relatively crude exercise but an interesting one either way.
2026 Way Too Early Mock Draft. Everyone loves a way too early mock. Roch Cholowsky looks like the leader in the clubhouse right now for 1-1.
Exciting Hauls & Puzzling Picks From Night One. The Pirates were a standout class for me after night one, though failing to sign Angel Cervantes does a lot to temper my excitement for the class—still, they took Seth Hernandez and you knew I was going to like whichever team did that.
Drafting Our 10 Favorite Day Two Draft Picks. A fun back-and-forth between Peter Flaherty and myself on day two of the draft. I liked the Mason Ligenza pick for the Dodgers, but he was one of two players inside the top 10 rounds to not sign.
Top 50 High Schoolers Headed To College. Texas leads all colleges with five players on this list reaching campus.
The Top 100 Signing Bonuses Of The 2025 Draft. If you want to see how teams lined up the talent of this year’s class, this is a better list to look at than the actual draft order.
MLB Draft Chat With Carlos Collazo (7/23/25). A post-mortem draft chat with BA readers.
Podcasting/Video
Future Projection Episode 133: 2025 Draft Reviews For All 30 Teams. If you prefer to get your post-draft analysis via audio, this is a good place to point you to.
I’m not going to miss a covid booster again, because this thing was pretty hellish. The “razor blade throat” descriptor is accurate. I could barely talk for two and a half days, and would highly recommend avoiding this one if you can.