Forgive me my ignorance, but how does making Puerto Rican players part of the amateur draft discourage them from pursuing baseball careers?

First, because now that they are drafted, Puerto Rican amateurs receive much smaller bonuses than they did when they could sign as free agents, and smaller bonuses lead to to less interest in getting those bonuses and thus less interest in professional baseball. Second, because now Puerto Rican amateur players have to wait till they are 18 to join a major league organization - as opposed to 16, the age at which they used to sign up with a major league teams and players from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, etc. still do, and since Puerto Rico isn't a hotbed of well-off high school baseball teams and private training facilities, they lose 2 years of development time.

smaller bonuses lead to to less interest in getting those bonuses

You often hear this argument with regard to the decline in African-American baseball players. And I think it's BS in both cases.

If you are good enough at age 18 to be signed by an MLB team, there's a 98% chance that you've been obsessed with baseball since you were about six. Six year olds don't think about bonuses - the parents might, and they do think about celebrity, but bonus size has to be a minor influence.

The argument also sheds no light on the apparent rising popularity of basketball, in which only a few dozen kids per year (and all 19 years old!) will sign professional contracts. Every year MLB teams hand out $100,000 to about 200 amateurs, and many hundreds more will sign for more money than their families have ever had in the bank.

Only a handful of basketball players will sign for more money than is available to baseball players of the same age - the 100th best amateur would be laughed off the court at a CBA tryout, but will sign for $120,000+ with a baseball team. If this seems excessively logical, it is so only as a response to the silly idea that kids in little league are considering what sport will offer them a better amateur signing bonus 5 years in the future.

I suspect that as with the decline in African-Americans playing baseball, the ultimate reasons have a lot less to do with MLB policy than they do with cultural trends that are difficult to pinpoint and are nobody's doing or "fault."

And as an aside, I object to the use of the topic introduction as a forum for your spin on the article. I don't know what BTF official protocol is, but generally the intro comments seem fairly neutral, and I prefer that.

Doesn't the average hot shot youngster that gets drafted get more in the draft than the average Dominican hot shot youngster? For example, Fernando Martinez's signing bonus was 1.4 million in 2005 as a 16 year old. Mike Moustakas got 4 million in 2007 as an 18 year old. Seems to me Fernando would have been better off if he were subject to the draft.

Seeing as how Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, I fail to see how you cannot include them in the amateur draft.

In terms of player development, I can see another factor which might link Puerto Ricans' inclusion in the amateur daft with declining participation in baseball: baseball academies. MLB teams have more incentive to run baseball academies in the Dominican Republic or Venezuela, for instance, where the players are not subject to a draft. Having said that, poster no. 5 has a good point, and it may be that MLB needs to pursue other means of player development in Puerto Rico.

and smaller bonuses lead to to less interest in getting those bonuses

From what I know of the Puerto Rico economy, I don't think there's many opportunities out there for kids to make as much money as they could be signing one of those smaller bonuses.

And it really doesn't explain why hoops would now be king. You can't get drafted at all until you're 18, and it's far far less likely you would be. Odds are, you wouldn't make any money until you're in your 20s.

Has MLB ever considered having a team play a few of its games in Puerto Rico, perhaps even rescheduling entire series to be played there? Trying something like this would almost certainly help avert problems such as these in a few years' time.

Has MLB ever considered having a team play a few of its games in Puerto Rico, perhaps even rescheduling entire series to be played there? Trying something like this would almost certainly help avert problems such as these in a few years' time.

Umm, the 2003/04 Expos...

RJ, you might want to check the batteries on your sarcasm meter ...

Has MLB ever considered having Spring Training in Puerto Rico? Or promoting a league there the way NFL does in Europe?

And it really doesn't explain why hoops would now be king.

You'd be surprised at how much money there is in so-called "amateur" basketball. It's not just about the NBA.

-- MWE

smaller bonuses lead to to less interest in getting those bonuses

You often hear this argument with regard to the decline in African-American baseball players. And I think it's BS in both cases.

I agree. Kids don't play baseball because they want to get a few thousand more in a bonus. They play because (1) they love baseball; (2) they want to be a big leaguer; and (3) they want the millions associated with being a big leaguer. No one gets into baseball thinking, "hey it will be great to sign a big bonus and play in the minor leagues."

You often hear this argument with regard to the decline in African-American baseball players. And I think it's BS in both cases.

If you are good enough at age 18 to be signed by an MLB team, there's a 98% chance that you've been obsessed with baseball since you were about six. Six year olds don't think about bonuses - the parents might, and they do think about celebrity, but bonus size has to be a minor influence.

You've gone from BS to minor in one paragraph. And since I certainly didn't say anywhere that it was a major influence, I'm not sure where your point of disagreement is. I'll just note that while I certainly don't think the money is an influence on whether kids play baseball at six years old, by the time they are sixteen - when, in many cases in Puerto Rico, they have to start thinking seriously about supporting their families, it is. And those last few years can make a lot of difference in whether a teenager is willing to make a final push to make it.

The argument also sheds no light on the apparent rising popularity of basketball, in which only a few dozen kids per year (and all 19 years old!) will sign professional contracts. Every year MLB teams hand out $100,000 to about 200 amateurs, and many hundreds more will sign for more money than their families have ever had in the bank.

Given that less than two dozen Puerto Rican baseball players are signed through the draft most years these days, I have to wonder who these hundreds are.

There are a lot more ways for Puerto Rican athletes to make money by playing basketball these days.

If this seems excessively logical, it is so only as a response to the silly idea that kids in little league are considering what sport will offer them a better amateur signing bonus 5 years in the future.

Silly straw man

I suspect that as with the decline in African-Americans playing baseball, the ultimate reasons have a lot less to do with MLB policy than they do with cultural trends that are difficult to pinpoint and are nobody's doing or "fault."

Obviously, there are many reasons, and nowhere did I or the article claim otherwise; it's complicated.

And as an aside, I object to the use of the topic introduction as a forum for your spin on the article. I don't know what BTF official protocol is, but generally the intro comments seem fairly neutral, and I prefer that.

Are you sure you aren't reading a parallel world version of BTF? The one I read almost never has intro neutral comments except when the post is on a subject on which there are no positions to be taken. Admittedly, though, that point of view is often delivered by way of witty sarcasm.

A proper BBTF intro would have been:

I haven't seen such a dearth of Puerto Rican exports... since Michael Peace and the Solid Rock Crew threatened to RRRock It Right!