What's it like to be a potential first-round MLB Draft pick?
It’s a position very few can relate to. You’re in your early 20s or maybe even younger. Potentially life-changing money is within reach.
That’s the situation Mississippi State second baseman Justin Foscue, shortstop Jordan Westburg and pitcher J.T. Ginn currently find themselves in. Foscue, Westburg and Ginn all have a chance to be high picks in next week's Major League Baseball Draft. (And MSU signees Austin Hendrick and Blaze Jordan, too, for that matter.) Even if they’re not first-rounders, a large sum of money likely awaits those five if they are indeed chosen highly as the slot value for the draft’s first 66 picks are all over $1 million.
So exactly what is this like? What’s the mindset of a young man staring down the barrel of this situation, while also having the option to return to or go to school? What’s most important – is it the prestige of being chosen highly or is it strictly the signing bonus figure?
It’s different for each person that goes through this process, but Ethan Small can relate better than most. Small, Mississippi State’s former ace pitcher who was chosen in the first round of the MLB Draft by the Milwaukee Brewers a year ago, said the bottom line for him was always, well… the bottom line. It came down to money.
“I definitely can’t speak for everyone, but I would say the dollar figure many times outweighs the round (you’re picked in),” Small said in an email exchange with Cowbell Corner this past weekend. “College, and specifically Mississippi State, are great places for young ball players to mature as men and grow into their own. However, no matter how great the experience was, the time comes to move on and think about the future. The reality of it is that these picks can come with a large signing bonus and can definitely make the transition into life and out of college easier. With that said, I wouldn’t trade my four years in college for anything.”
Small inked with the Brewers for a signing bonus of around $2 million last summer. He was the draft’s 28th overall pick.
Small said, entering the draft last year, he had already made up his mind he was going pro. Again, the MLB Draft is a measure of each player’s individual situation and for Small, he said it just made sense to start his journey towards the big leagues.
“Personally, being a redshirt junior in my last year (at Mississippi State), I was entering into professional baseball without a doubt,” Small said. “The MLB Draft is a game of leverage, and the players have to take that seriously to come out of it with the money they are worth.”
Now here’s where Small’s circumstances differed from what Foscue, Westburg, Ginn, Hendrick and Jordan are facing. To play this out, take the ongoing coronavirus pandemic out of the equation, because Small nor anyone else had any idea it was coming a year ago.
When Small wrapped up his junior season last year, sure he could’ve elected to come back to Mississippi State as a senior. However, if the 2020 season had played out as normal, he’d then have had zero negotiating power with any MLB franchise that took him in the 2020 draft. College seniors almost always get stuck having to basically take whatever they are offered. Remember former Bulldog Jake Mangum ended up signing with the New York Mets last summer for $20,000 – a whopping $467,900 less than the slot value of his pick. Bottom line: Mangum’s college career was done. There was little else for Mangum to do but sign for what was being offered. Had Small returned, it’s possible he could’ve faced a similar circumstance and ended up getting much less than he got in 2019.
Okay, now go ahead and jump back into reality. The coronavirus pandemic HAS happened and has changed everything. Foscue and Westburg, though they were juniors in 2020, could still come back and be juniors again in 2021. The NCAA granted all spring sport athletes an extra year of eligibility. Thus, in theory, Foscue and Westburg could be Bulldogs again next year and basically head into next year’s draft still as juniors and still with negotiating leverage. In Ginn’s case, he’s only a sophomore anyway, so he would have leverage in this coming draft and the next draft regardless. For Hendrick and Jordan, this is likely their only chance at the draft for awhile as if they end up coming to Mississippi State, they won’t be draft eligible again until after their junior year or after they turn 21, whichever comes first. Thus it seems likely most everything for Foscue, Westburg, Ginn, Hendrick, Jordan and any other player with Bulldog ties taken next week will then likely come down to simply when they are picked and how much they are offered to sign. Is the risk of playing baseball at Mississippi State worth it for a chance to maybe be drafted higher/make more money in the future?
To be fair though, money isn’t always everything. If you’ll recall, Ginn has already been a first-round MLB Draft choice once. Back in 2018, the Los Angeles Dodgers picked Ginn in the first round, then offered him a reported $2.4 million. However Ginn elected to instead come to Mississippi State. So there’s sometimes more at play in this whole deal than just money. Other times (and arguably most times), money is the largest factor as Small admitted was the case for him.
If you believe recent mock drafts, it certainly seems Foscue, Westburg, Ginn, Hendrick and Jordan are all in line to be staring at big dollar figures come next week. And if that comes to fruition, it means big decisions await.
The thing to remember though is that the MLB Draft is unpredictable. Small’s advice? He wants the players to enjoy their draft night surrounded by those closest to them. He wants it to be a celebration of these guys' accomplishments. There’s also the caveat to be ready for anything.
“The draft can be a cruel process to some and highly rewarding to others,” Small said. “I remember being crushed that it didn’t work out the way I had hoped in 2018 (when Small was picked in the 26th round by the Arizona Diamondbacks). Fast-forward a year later and it was one of the best things to ever happen to me. There are many blessings in life in disguise and they don’t always happen when you want or expect them to. If I could give advice to anyone coming up through the ranks it would be to not concern yourself with mock drafts, rankings, and all these other opinions that people may have about you. At the end of the day, the draft is only the start of will be the true challenge of making it to MLB.”