Erik Bakich is familiar with the process.
No, Bakich wasn’t drafted into the big leagues during his playing days, but Clemson’s first-year coach has been watching his players go through the process from afar for the last two decades as a college baseball coach. At Michigan alone, where he spent the last 10 years as the head coach, Bakich produced 38 draft picks.
With this year’s Major League Baseball Draft set to begin tonight, Bakich offered some advice for any player who may hear his name called during the 20-round event, which will conclude with the final 10 rounds Tuesday.
“Slow it down,” Bakich said. “It’s a family decision (as to what to do after being drafted), and it needs to be made by the entire family. Parents need to parent. They can’t leave it up to the kid. I’ve never met an 18-year-old kid that didn’t want to sign and didn’t want to jump into professional baseball.”
Clemson has several current players and recruits who could have decisions to make after the draft. In addition to seniors, four-year players who have completed three seasons or are 21 years old are eligible to be drafted. So are high school seniors, who, if drafted, can choose to start their professional career early or go to college. The only college players eligible to be drafted after one year of school are junior college prospects.
Of course, money is often the driving factor in the decision-making process. Each draft pick is assigned a slot value for a signing bonus. The higher a player is chosen, the more lucrative that offer typically is. Players selected in the first and second rounds are looking at potential seven-figure payouts.
But if players and their families are in a position where the money isn’t an immediate need, Bakich said he would advise them to consider several factors before jumping at a big payday.
“My biggest advice is there are a lot of kids that are talented enough right now to just go out and play pro ball and go out and play minor league baseball, and this decision needs to be made with a long-term lens,” he said. “Every decision needs to be, ‘Is it about playing professional baseball or is this going to help me be a Major League Baseball player?’
“Looking at who’s in Major League Baseball and how the rosters are constructed in Major League Baseball, depending on the year, it’s almost 50% of all major-league players that are four-year college players, and the next highest percentage are always foreign free agents. And then the next percentage are high school kids. And then the smallest percentage are junior college players. … Then looking at who the high school guys are, the vast majority of them are first-rounders.”
If prep players aren’t drafted in the first round, Bakich is of the opinion they should wait on pro ball and go to college.
“I know I don’t speak for everyone, and there are some families that have done well and made it. And that’s great,” Bakich said. “There are obviously always going to be some outliers. For me personally, if it were my sons, if they’re in the first round and they want to think about it, sure. Otherwise, they need to wrap their heads around going to college because the other thing for me personally is if I had to erase the friendships and experiences as a college player, there’s not an amount of money that’s even possible that would be accepted to erase those friendships, those memories and that experience.
“The draft bonus can be a nice start to life, but the real money – it’s set-for-life money, it’s generational wealth kind of money – that’s in getting to the big leagues and staying in the big leagues.”
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