Two quick site announcements this afternoon:

• We've updated the draft data to include results from earlier this month.
• Short-season minor leagues like the Appalachian, Arizona, Gulf Coast, and Pioneer Leagues (in addition to the Dominican & Venezuelan summer leagues) will now be updated daily.

A fascinating list from David Schoenfield of ESPN's SweetSpot blog. I posted the link at Stathead, but I knew I needed to post it here as well, because it's a great discussion starter and all-around trip down memory lane.

In honor of Mr. Hamilton winning the A.L. MVP Award this season,, here's a list of players to be chosen #1 overall in the draft out of High School.

Last night was the amateur draft signing deadline and lots and lots of "over slot" deals came through at the end. Leading to gnashing of teeth and complaints about money going to unproven players.

One of the things that seems likely in the next collective bargaining agreement is that the players and teams will clear the way for hard slotting in the amateur draft--meaning a system where draft pick #1 gets $Y and draft pick #2 gets slightly less than $Y, etc. etc. with the commissioner's office setting Y. Some argue that the MLBPA (player's union) won't let this happen, but they are wrong.

1) The MLBPA does not and can not care one iota for players not on the 40-man and does not in any way shape or form represent them. They are the major league baseball players association. Their responsibility is to guys who have made (or will soon) make the show--full stop.

2) As such, they would love hard slotting (assuming it isn't a backdoor to the cap) that frees up money for major league vets, and they would love the removal of FA compensation, which only increases the value of existing major league free agents. I can freely sign Bengie Molina as he won't cost me any draft picks.

3) The league could possibly set a draconian slot system, but as someone else pointed out, they then will face issues with:
a) players saying screw you and going to play in Japan or the Frontier League or some such thing. "If I'm going to be riding a bus for three years, I'm going to do it with double the signing bonus." This is not as much of an issue as it is for the NBA and NHL with Euro leagues. in the NFL, I'm guessing the NFLPA represents those players, so the issues with slotting would need to be collectively bargained (I'm guessing).
b) legal challenges (IANAL, so I can't speak to the issues here) from the players whose value in the marketplace is being grossly distorted.
c) You'll never sign the two-sport athletes then as you can't buy them away from football.

I also suspect a slotting system would have some perverse effects.

Would there be more pressure on high schoolers to go to college since they have less leverage now and might increase their slot payment later?

What would the world of signability guys be like? and what would the effect be on them? Would teams draft them higher to give them a higher slot or lower to since you can't now throw money at them to get them to sign and who can risk not signing a third round pick?

Would money pour (and I mean really pout) into the latin markets as big market clubs can no longer use the draft as an opportunity for competitive advantage?

Would teams have to offer slot and be required to sign every player?

Any thoughts?

[ed. note] this originally started as a comment in this thread on BaseballThinkFactory.org.

2010 Draft Picks now in Database

Sorry for the 10 days of delay, but we now have all of the picks from the 2010 draft entered along with their biographical info. As the players debut we'll be linking to their minor league stats, so you can get stats for all of your team's draftees in one place.

I think we have matched up school names, but there are always some we'll miss so let us know about those.

As the last installment of this series, here are a few more things you can do with Baseball-Reference's draft search tool:

• Search by Player Name - For instance, where was Ken Griffey (Sr. or Jr.) drafted? ... Or how about Jim Rice?
• Search by School Drafted From - This can apply to Colleges, High Schools, or States

With Bryce Harper going #1 to the Nationals in this year's draft, let's take a look at the history of catchers going in the first round. See the very long list after the jump, followed by some notes and discussion.

Picking up where yesterday's post left off, here are some more features of Baseball-Reference's draft search tool:

• Search by Type of School Drafted From - For instance: JuCo 1st-rounders in 2008 ... 1st Overall Picks from 4-year colleges ... High Schoolers drafted by the A's in the 1st round ... etc.
• Search by Position and Draft Round - 3rd Basemen drafted in the 2nd round ... 7th-round Pitchers ... Catchers taken in the 1st round of the January-phase draft ... etc.
• Expansion Drafts - 1997 ... 1976 ... 1961 ... etc.

In honor of the 2010 MLB Amateur Draft starting today, here are some things you can do with Baseball-Reference's Draft Search Tool:

• Search by Overall Pick# - For instance: Every #1 overall pick in the June draft ... Every #50 pick ... #2 picks in the (now-defunct) January draft ... Top picks in the June secondary phase draft ... etc.
• Search by Round and Year - 2007 1st-round picks ... 1997 5th-rounders ... the 3rd round of the 1976 June secondary draft ... etc.
• Search by Franchise and Year - All Nationals picks in 2009 ... 2000 Braves picks ... 1972 Red Sox January picks ... etc.
• Search by Franchise and Round - Yankees 4th-round picks ... Giants second-rounders ... January-phase 1st-rounders by Oakland ... etc.
• Search by Position and Year - All Catchers drafted in 2009 ... OF drafted in 1991 ... SS drafted in 1969 ... 1974 January-phase Pitchers ... etc.

2010 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft Preview

The draft is fast approaching, and we just updated our annual draft preview with this year's draft order.

The page shows the:

**first three rounds of the draft,
**links to all previous selections in that round by selecting team,
**links to all of the overall picks at that slot,
**total WAR earned by players at that slot,
**the number who made the majors, and
**the five best players at that draft slot.

Invariably this tends to dampen fans' enthusiasm about the draft. Even picking first there are no sure things in the draft as our list points out. For example, the median career for the first overall pick has a career somewhere between Kris Benson's and Jeff King's.