Draft Food for Thought: The Doorways To Professional Sports

To declare or not to declare.

That is the paramount question facing high school athletes clutching to achieve stardom at both the collegiate and professional levels.

But over the years, controversy has spewed out of nearly every professional league’s entry-level draft, producing entangling debates about whether these high school stars need some years of maturing and grooming at various universities across the country.

This week’s MLB Draft led me to examine the similarities and intricacies of the drafts of our major professional sports: the NBA, the NFL, and the MLB.

What do they have in common? They look to transform amateur athletes into budding stars at the highest level, mostly as a blatant method to secure financial future.

These drafts also have similar questions with the entrants: are they truly ready for the scrutiny at the top level, and have they demonstrated the maturity to handle such heavy and consistent pressure applied by the media and fans?

Whatever the answers, every draft employs different stipulations before players may drop their names for consideration.

The NFL requires high school players to complete at least three years of college—redshirt sophomore or junior years—before claiming eligibility.

The NBA changed its policy in 2006 from allowing athletes to enter the draft right out of high school to establishing the “one and done,” signifying that potential draft prospects must be one year removed from high school and be at least 19 years of age during that calendar year before dropping their name into the proverbial hat.

The MLB Draft operates with a system quite distinct from the other two—likely because of baseball’s gradual discrepancies in talent and performance at the high school, collegiate, minor and major league levels.

In baseball, athletes have a choice.

They can declare for the draft right out of high school, get selected amongst MLB’s 30 teams and progress through the minor league system. Should a draftee reconsider his decision by an August 15 deadline, he can select to go to college—but therein lies a second choice. In the situation that a player chooses to attend a four-year university, he must complete at least his junior year before re-attaining eligibility. Junior college players are qualified to enter the draft at any time, à la Bryce Harper.

The reason for mentioning these distinctions is that the integrity of college athletics and academics are constantly under the spotlight, with the likes of Derrick Rose, Keith “Tiny” Gallon, and Willie Warren—amongst others in the past—falling under the NCAA microscope.

Is there a save-all plan to combat allegations and improve the integrity of the collegiate games and scholastic achievements? Probably not. But if the NCAA were to implement strict draft regulations across its amateur sports that have professional equivalents, there might be improvement in both the integrity and competition in the college arena.  

These draft rules need to be similar to the MLB’s parameters, in that high school athletes have a choice: accept eligibility out of high school and forgo their amateur status or postpone the eligibility and go to college—except there is a catch.

If an athlete chooses the college route, that player must complete at least junior year before re-attaining eligibility to be drafted. As it stands now, such a change would only affect college basketball, as the sport is one focal point of recent NCAA investigations and the only one that allows its student-athletes to declare after only one year.

Not only would we see an experience-based performance boost for the game, but the academic scope would have a stronger and deeper lens, potentially increasing the authenticity of the scholastic foundation that helped establish the NCAA.

If the governing body were serious about its members’ academic shortcomings, what is stopping them from creating a plan that would widen the academic latitude and increase scrutiny while at the same time improving competitions in sport?

Who will take the initiative in an athletically ruled environment? Take this food for thought.