Sometimes events line up not unlike soldiers for morning Colors. On Monday, July 1 the Nats’ faithful were treated to the inauguration of the James Wood era. Two weeks distant would be the annual MLB Draft. By then the top prospects in the game would have played their exhibition “Futures Game.” Against this backdrop it was utterly irresistible to accept freebie tickets to a “High A” Minor League (MiLB) game. The contest featured Winston-Salem’s “Dash” (CWS) versus the Hickory “Crawdads” (TEX). It turned out to be a wonderful, albeit a very warm evening. But, for every element within plain sight were several others lingering not far behind the beautiful twilight.
Look at baseball through whatever colored lenses you prefer. Just remember one thing above and beyond everything else: It is a business with a system. Major League rosters have 780 players on the active rosters with 420 more on the “40-man roster.” Those four-hundred plus are either injured, or down on the “Farm.” That could be a rehab assignment recovering from injury, or they could be a yo-yo piece going back and forth between the big club and the minors affiliate. There are 126 Minor-League teams in AAA, AA, High-A, and Single A. Each of those has a roster somewhere in the vicinity of 35 players. It’s roughly 4500 players. For each MLB active player there are ~5.75 others in the feeder system. Oh, and there are 81 “Rookie League” teams spread between Arizona, Florida, and the Dominican Republic. If the roster size is, say 30 each that adds another 2400 or so players into the feeder system. That brings the math up to over 8 players in line to replace each Big Leaguer. The imagery for the kids is not unlike salmon swimming upstream from the ocean to mountain streams. The attrition is staggering.
Hickory boasts that the franchise has sent 223 players to the Majors over their 31-year history. Some of the names are familiar: Adam LaRoche, Andrew McCutchen, Joey Gallo, Jose Bautista, Washington nemesis Jurickson Profar, Nyjer Morgan, and Sean Burnett. They made it. Countless others did not. It’s the nature of the beast.
Players arrive in the minors largely through the annual draft. Each team gets 20 non-trade-able selections. Another 10-20 picks are distributed based upon Free Agent compensation, Rookie of the Year awards, and the “Competitive Balance” picks. In all some 618 players will be selected this year. Only players from the US, or went to school in North America are eligible. International players sign directly with the teams. Nearly all those selected in the top ten rounds will sign with the teams. Some, mostly in the lower rounds will opt to go to or return to college. But, once a player signs with an organization his rights go to the team. There’s no Free Agency in the minors unless the team cuts the player loose.
This year’s All Star Game features Paul Skenes. He being the 1st overall pick in the Draft last year. By the old system the Nats would have had the 1st pick, possibly taking Skenes. Both he and Nats pick Dylan Crews made money in college with the Name Image and Likeness (NIL) thing. It’s not a system, it’s chaos. Players move to the highest bidder. College baseball doesn’t make nearly the revenue of football. But, there’s plenty of money around to induce frenzied movement. How much money? So far it’s a better kept secret than most. This recent development adds a layer of intrigue for the youngster getting drafted. The hero of the game for Hickory made $1 million when drafted out of High School during the third round in 2018. Would he have made more going to college chasing NIL money? Who knows? Last year, just 22% of the draftees were High Schoolers. The shift from just a decade ago is dramatic.
MLB’s approach to all of this has changed often over time. When Harmon Killebrew was signed out of High School by the Washington Senators in 1954 it was a different universe. Harmon was 17 years-old when he signed for the astonishing sum of $30,000. A 3-bedroom house was going for about $7500 at the time with a new car in the driveway for another $1800 or so. It was a lot of money. In fact it was a lot more than the $4000 limit that the Leagues had put in effect. If the bonus exceeded $4000 the prospect had to play 2 full years in the Majors before being sent down. This was to discourage over-bidding by teams for the High School kids. The draft was still eleven years away. Killibrew had barely 100 plate appearances over those 2 years with a full 1/3rd of them being Strikeouts. He played just over 300 games in the minors after that before coming up for good in 1958 en route to his Hall of Fame status. Whether it’s dipping a toe or being wet for a long time almost no one escapes the minors entirely.
What the future holds for the baseball system has many possibilities along with few certainties. NIL is here to stay, and probably expand in influence. It is beyond regulation. College revenue sports are the wildest version imaginable of the Wild Wild West. The full effects of it have not been felt…yet. Paul Skenes has pitched less than half of the innings at the time of this writing than he did last year at LSU. College coaches ride good arms hard. The coach’s future is now. Odds are good that Skenes won’t pitch as many innings this year as he did in college. MLB teams have too much hope for return on investment to ride them onto the Tommy John table for Minor League games. It may be that position players and pitchers start making career decisions based on such considerations.
The game itself turned into a combination of light hitting, good fielding, and a nice crisp pace. The game went 11 innings in 2 hours and 37. LP Frans stadium is a nicely built and well maintained facility. Some 1,364 patrons came out for a Monday game between two lower-performing teams. The park has craft brews, padded seats, and one is sitting on top of the game. What’s not to like? That would be the food. At any Diner, Drive-in, or Dive within a few hundred miles will have on their menu the ubiquitous “Carolina Burger.” It’s a delightfully messy arrangement with onions, cheese, mustard, chili, and cole slaw. Of course there are variations on the theme. But, basically if you don’t need a bib to eat it something is amiss. They serve it at the stadium. Not even the cook’s mother would think it’s any good.
There were four players of note at this particular game. Three of Texas’ top-four prospects are on the Hickory roster. #1 prospect Sebastian Walcott is a DH, #3 Kumar Rocker was injured,, and #4 Anthony Gutierrez. On the Winston-Salem side is #6 prospect Samuel Zavala. Walcott and Gutierrez are hitting .235 and .240. Those are two of the three highest averages on the team. Not surprising that they accounted for two of the five Crawdad hits and a sacrifice fly. Zavala drove in the only run in regulation for W-S on a sharp single. The noted prospects delivered. But, the game-winner was delivered in the 11th by #11 prospect Cameron Cauley.
The Winner: https://www.milb.com/video/cameron-cauley-s-walks-it-off-with-a-single?t=playerid-695508
Wherever they happen in the baseball universe, walk-offs are cool.
Author’s Note: Special Thanks to Granitrocmonster for the advanced scouting report.
