Will we ever see an international baseball draft?

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JoeMcKim
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Will we ever see an international baseball draft?

Post by JoeMcKim »

After reading that Otani guy from Japan will be getting signed directly out of high school, is it time for Japanese, Venezuelan, Dominican, Panamanian or wherever young prospects come from have to go through a draft instead of being able to be free agents? I don't know what you do though, do you make a whole draft only for International amateur players or do you combine them into the normal June amateur draft?

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Bo Hart
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Re: Will we ever see an international baseball draft?

Post by Bo Hart »

Yes, absolutely. I think the chances of it happening eventually are extraordinarily high; in fact, I think it could happen as soon as the next collective bargaining agreement.

Selig has said that he wants to see it implemented. Also, consider the fact that they implemented international spending limits in the CBA passed this last offseason. I think that's a strong indication that an international draft is coming -- and soon.

As far as one draft or two separate ones... I'm not sure. I think it's more likely it would start out as a separate process, at least initially. It could then eventually merge into a unified draft, or possibly stay as a separate entity completely on a permanent basis. I really don't know.

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