How Mizzou baseball is affected by a five-round MLB Draft and who could be chosen
Missouri coach Steve Bieser and his staff were expecting seven or eight Tigers to be drafted in this year’s Major League Baseball draft. That was before the amateur selection process was shortened to just five rounds because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The draft, set for June 10, has been whittled down from its customary 40 rounds. This saves MLB clubs some money, but it also means a number of fringe players are missing out on opportunity to turn pro.
Undrafted players can try to latch on with clubs via free agency, but the maximum signing bonus they can earn this way is $20,000. In comparison, the first pick of the sixth round of the draft was allocated signing-pool money of $301,600, according to MLB.com. This year, talented sixth- or seventh-round-level prospects with remaining college eligibility will choose between returning to college or signing professionally for less than they’d bargained for.
“For me, the best thing for our college players that are not drafted in the top five rounds is to come back to college,” Bieser said. “Play another year of college and hopefully we can get through the pandemic and things start to settle in a little better.”
Some current Mizzou players are projected to be drafted. Junior pitcher Ian Bedell is likely to go within the first three rounds. Incoming recruit Isaiah Greene is in a similar situation. But this year’s draft format is a blow for players on the cusp as potential sixth- to eighth-rounders — pitchers Konnor Ash and Trey Dillard and catcher Chad McDaniel, Bieser noted.
And then there’s the uncertainty of the minor-league season itself. There might not be one at all this year.
Fortunately, spring athletes whose senior seasons were wiped out by pandemic shutdowns were recently granted an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA. Of course, that leaves teams like Mizzou with little player turnover: Bieser estimated the Tigers will likely return 90% of this year’s roster in 2020-21.
Mizzou has five seniors who could return for the 2020 season. Four of them have already said they will. Austin James is transferring to a Division II school to finish out his career.
“They want to continue their professional careers and the only way for that to happen for them was to go out and have a great senior year,” Bieser said. “Hope to get drafted or hope to get picked up as a free agent and continue to play.”
Bieser said his team depth will be as strong as it’s ever been next spring. Some players might transfer out if there’s no path to playing time in Columbia.
“You’re adding professional players back to your roster,” he said. “They should be heading off to their professional careers. The depth of our roster just got much stronger, as well as everyone else in our conference.”
Border War
While the Border War is returning on both the basketball court and football field, a resumption of the rivalry on the diamond could be nearing,too. Bieser said he’s wanted to start playing Kansas again, and now he has a clear path for doing so.
“Looks like the 2022 season with the first go-around with us hopefully playing a home-and-home with KU,” Bieser said. “If something happened and both of us had to drop something, I would definitely be open in playing in 2021 with a mid-week game.”
Postseason ban
Mizzou still has not heard a decision from the NCAA on its postseason ban for baseball and softball. An internal belief around MU is that the Tigers have already served the ban through the 2020 postseason, but the NCAA hasn’t rendered a final decision yet.
Bieser said he’s staying hopeful.
“All of us on campus are very confident that we kind of served our suspension,” Bieser said. “For those same players who had nothing to do with what we got our sanctions for, to have to go through that for a second year, I think that would be really difficult for anyone to handle.”