MLB Draft Problem # 3: No Trading Top Picks
Partly, this last MLB Draft issue is a continuation of the problem of name recognition. This issue is the fact that, unlike every other sport, MLB doesn’t allow you to trade draft picks.
Effectively meaning that only fans of perhaps five franchises are actually incentivized to care about the MLB Draft.
Whereas in the NFL, fans of every team from the Browns to the Patriots had reason to follow the draft process. At any point, a major trade can happen. For the right price, theoretically, every team in the NFL can acquire the next superstar prospect. That level of drama is entirely absent in the MLB Draft, be it the day of or even just during the season.
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So sure, 2019 MLB Draft? Fans of the Miami Marlins, Cincinnati Reds, and Detroit Tigers will have something to watch that night. Fans of everyone else? Not so much.
Changing this quite frankly outdated rule could do more than anything else to boost the appeal and marketability of the MLB Draft.
Change Needed
For the issue of draft picks, the solution is obvious- change the rule.
But even if that is too sacrilegious for baseball owners to consider, change of some kind needs to be implemented. With so much focus on making MLB more marketable to fans, more on a level with the NBA and the NFL, the draft looms as one of the biggest disconnects that something can actually be done about.
Next: MLB hitters setting strikeout records
While these may not make the draft “must-view”, they would certainly make it much more palatable to enjoy and even possibly reach a new generation!