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Baseball Primer Newsblog— The Best News Links from the Baseball Newsstand
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
“Latino Players Forge a Big-League Presence, but Are a Rarity on College Rosters” (Including, strangely enough...Wagner)
It’s hard to watch the college-baseball World Series, under way now in Omaha, Neb., without noticing how different the college game is from the major-league version. Not in the caliber of play or the funny ping of the aluminum bats, but in the way the players look.
College players in the three main divisions are 86% white, according to the most-recent NCAA figures. That’s a big difference from Major League Baseball, where one study puts the number at less than 60%. The most striking difference is in the number of Latinos on the field: They made up about 29% of all major leaguers in 2007 but only 5% of players in college.
While the percentage of Latino players has more than doubled in professional baseball since 1990, accounting for top stars such as Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz, the percentage of minorities in the college game remains extremely low. That’s especially true for Latinos, for whom college ball’s failure to keep pace with the diversity of the major leagues is most striking. And that’s embarrassing to some.
“We don’t like that we’re all-white, either,” says Ron Polk, who retired last month after 29 years as the head baseball coach at Mississippi State University. “I don’t want anyone to draw the impression that we’re happy about it.”
Repoz
Posted: June 24, 2008 at 05:55 AM | 12 comment(s)
Related News: General, Special Topics, College
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Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.
If a foreign born player goes to college in the US, is he subject to the draft?
The Major League Rules govern which players are eligible for selection in the Draft. These Rules are detailed, but the basic eligibility criteria can be described as follows: Generally, a player is eligible for selection if the player is a resident of the United States or Canada and the player has never before signed a Major League or Minor League contract. Residents of Puerto Rico and other territories of the United States are eligible for the Draft. Also considered residents are players who enroll in a high school or college in the United States, regardless of where they are from originally.
More importantly, as the article points out, D1 schools are allowed 11.78 equivalent scholarships, or about 30% per player. This works as a significant factor against recruiting players from economically disadvantaged groups (ie, players who can't afford the other 70% of a college education). This arrangement was approved a year ago by a committee of D1 presidents despite lobbying efforts by ADs and baseball coaches.
Yes. From MLB.com:
Then why did this guy write a long article when there is a one sentence answer to why there is a disparity in the ethnic makeup of college and MLB rosters?
That, and aren't poor Hispanic players going to turn down a partial scholarship to a college baseball team for the salary of a professional baseball team? Its the same reason why there aren't a lot of African-Americans in college baseball - the economics don't make sense.
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