The Failure Baseball’s Draft

The Detroit Lions, the Tampa Bay Lightning, The Los Angeles Clippers and the Washington Nationals all have two things in common: in the most recent season of their respective leagues they finished dead last and as such are now owners of the number one overall pick in their leagues entry draft. Unfortunately for the Washington Nationals who are off to another dismal season the chances that their pick of pitcher Stephen Strasburg turning their franchise around is limited.

The four major professional sports leagues have instituted an amateur draft in an attempt to help bad teams get better. If it weren’t for the draft the best players would simply sign with the best teams- a situation that is not good for a league that wants parity and competition. So the draft enables bad teams to get better at least in theory. For Washington Nationals fans, which are few and far between, a radical turn around courtesy of Stephen Strasburg is unlike based on past MLB draft results. Since 2000 baseball has seen the fewest impact playes drafted first overall. Delmon Young of 2003 and Justin Upton of 2005 have both impacted their teams but only Minnesota’s 2001 pick of Joe Mauer has generated an all-star. This is in comparison to the other professional leagues which have seen teams radically be able to change their franchise’s fate with one overall pick. The NHL has seen all but 2 of its picks since 2000 compete in an all star game, while the NFL has had fewer success stories the impact of one player was clear in the 2007-2008 season when number one pick Eli Manning led the Giants to the super bowl, and in the NBA recent number picks have included Dwight Howard who is currently leading the Orlando Magic’s playoff push, as well as Lebron James who has taken over the NBA.  Picking first overall in the NFL, the NHL, or the NBA is something to covet as one player can quickly arrive to the show and quickly make a difference-baseball though is a different story.

Although the other sports are team games, baseball is rarely won or lost on the strength of a single player. A pitcher even a cy young candidate only pitches every 5 days, while a batter will only come up to bat at most 5 times in one game. To win in baseball a solid team effort is required. This dynamic limits the impact that the MLB amateur draft has. Unlike the other sports where often all that a team needs is a quarterback, a goal scorer, or a shooter, baseball requires multiple parts to even become a competitive franchise. There is no quick fix to a team stuck in last place like the Washington Nationals. Not only does that one pick fail to have the ability to impact every game at the most critical moment but MLB is also the only league without a salary cap. This situation means that the picks that do work out and are stars are going to follow the money to big markets.

The Washington Nationals tried to celebrate a new era in their franchise with an after party in their stadium; however, it rained and washed most of the fans away. The weather in this case may reflect where the Nationals franchise is headed as a number one pick in baseball rarely will save a franchise from drowning in last place.