College Players taking over Draft

Changes in draft-and-follow rules are altering clubs' strategies. Tim Beckham became the top selection in the 2008 First-Year Player Draft on Thursday, giving all high school players in the country the hope, that someday, they might be selected with the first pick. However, if those future high school stars looked past Beckham at the two-day Draft as a whole, they might not be as hopeful. Each of the 30 clubs went," college heavy", in the 50-round affair that ended Friday evening at The Milk House. This produced a record-tying 21 collegiate players chosen in the first round on Thursday, a better indication of what was to come over the final 44 rounds on Friday.

Conversely, only 485 prep players were selected out of the 1,504 names that were called. While the 485 prep players drafted represents an increase of nine over last year, it's the second-lowest total in 21 years. High school players represented 32.2 percent of the players drafted this year, the lowest since 1987 when 32.8 percent came from the prep ranks.

These numbers are a direct result of the changes in the rules regarding, the draft-and-follows. Clubs are drafting more college players, because they are more advanced and mature. Clubs today are less willing to have patience with the younger players while they are more willing to draft the college players and take their chances with them. Also, the later-round high school players are deciding to go to college more.

Only 19 players have gone directly to the Majors without stopping in the Minor Leagues, the last being outfielder Xavier Nady, whom the Padres selected with the 49th pick in the 2000 Draft. All scouting reports indicate that there are no players in this year's Draft that will be able to make that leap.

On a final note, Major League Baseball's Urban Youth Academy also made its presence felt and is becoming a familiar part of the Draft process. The Academy had two players selected in the first round (Kyle Skipworth, sixth to the Marlins) and Aaron Hicks (14th to the Twins) and two more in the compensation round.