Jon Daniels is Hopeful For Organized Programs To Develop Players After MLB Draft
Next week, all 30 clubs in Major League Baseball will have the arduous task of navigating through a unique yet challenging MLB Draft.
There will be five rounds instead of 40. Players selected in those five rounds will be presented with deferred bonuses not paid in full until 2022. While clubs can pursue an unlimited number of undrafted players, the only tangible incentive they can offer is a maximum bonus of $20,000.
Despite facing these restrictions, the Texas Rangers have a plan of attack heading into next week. The club's Senior Director of Amateur Scouting Kip Fagg detailed the team's strategy earlier this week.
Once the draft is over, a whole other set of challenges await the Rangers and the other 29 clubs for that matter. While it's not official, the minor league season is merely a red stamp away from being canceled. MLB and the Players Association can't even figure out the major league season as they are still deadlocked in a stalemate over a return-to-play agreement. If the major league season is in danger, the minor league season doesn't stand a chance.
With that in mind, what happens to the players that are signed out of this year's draft? Development with the ball club usually gets underway immediately after the draft. Last year's first round pick Josh Jung hit the ground running playing four games in the Rookie Arizona League, then finished the year playing 40 games at Class-A Hickory.
Hitting the ground running won't be an option this year.
"These guys haven't been playing. They've been working out on the side," Rangers General Manager Jon Daniels said this week. "Even if we got the green light, just from a health and safety standpoint, there would be a period of time we'd need to ramp them up and do some assessments before we really rolled them out. I'm hopeful we'll be able to do that for them this fall."
Making the safe assumption there is no minor league season, the Rangers hope there will be a program in place so drafted players—as well as existing minor league players—will have a way to continue their development.
"I'm hopeful that there will be some sort of organized player-development program," Daniels said. "When I say organized I mean that the league will put something together for all 30 clubs. There have been some ideas floated out there. Nothing is set in stone by any stretch. These guys would be priorities for us. I think they would be included in that."
The future of the game, both in the short- and long-term, could suffer without a program in place. Ideally, MLB and the Players Association would have already figured out their issues regarding the season by now. That way, MLB could be currently working on a developmental plan for hundreds of minor league players and the prospects set to join them after next week's draft.
The Rangers have made do with the hand they've been dealt amid the coronavirus shutdown. They've been creative and instituted new plans and programs internally, some of which will remain permanent fixtures in how the Rangers develop their current and future prospects.
"Through the shutdown, the job our player-development group has done with the virtual development and some of the tools that we've put in place, quite frankly I think some of them are really good and we're going to continue to use them in the future. I think they are going to become part of our regular program," Daniels said.
"Like everybody has, you've figured out some things that are really good and efficient and productive that maybe we weren't doing beforehand. Same thing on the development side. I think we'll be able to provide them with some resources right away, even if it takes a little time after the draft to bring them in."
No matter the hurdles, the Rangers are fully prepared to better the organization with next week's draft. Major League Baseball will hopefully get their season figured out sooner rather than later. That way, the future of the game can become its primary focus.
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