College baseball players might stay in school longer

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) - Last year, California catcher Chadd Krist turned down close to $50,000 to return for his senior season in college rather than sign with the Chicago White Sox as a 13th-round draft pick. Cal closer Matt Flemer did the same thing, walking away from $50,000 after Kansas City selected him in the 19th round. University of San Francisco left-hander Jordan Remer, a 25th-round selection by the Texas Rangers last year, took a similar route and passed up the money.

They all know they took a chance: In the baseball business, college seniors who want to keep playing have little choice but to accept whatever money major league teams will offer once their eligibility is used up.

"For seniors it's still the same thing: You still have to prove yourself again," Flemer said. "The leverage is still minimal for seniors."

Yet more might follow suit this year and stay in school.

As the college season and spring training begin, players, coaches and executives alike all are curious how this year might shape up for prospects of varying talent levels. The 2012 amateur draft this June could be like none before thanks to radical changes in baseball's collective bargaining agreement aimed at slowing spending on players with no professional experience.

With the new restraints on signing bonuses major league clubs give amateur picks, the days of the two-sport high school star choosing to jump straight to pro baseball and pass up the chance to play major college football could be over.

Why? Because monster, multimillion-dollar signing bonus will no longer be available in the lower rounds.

That means more college players selected beyond the early rounds might just opt to stay in school. And greater numbers of high school athletes are expected to choose to take the college and junior college routes rather than receive smaller bonuses than the norm in recent years.

"We're all speculating how it's going to affect guys and how it's not going to affect guys. The kid who is both mentally and physically ready to go out, I think he still goes out," said John Barr, a Giants special assistant to general manager Brian Sabean who handles much of the club's draft preparations. For other players, it won't be such an easy decision.

Still, many seniors know they will have little choice but to accept the "senior discount" after college.

"The new collective bargaining, I think it's good for college baseball," said longtime Stanford coach Mark Marquess. "I don't think kids will get offered the enormous amount of money, which is good for college baseball and for professional baseball because it saves them money. I think it'll help more out of high school, that young man who's not going to get $6 million or $7 million."

That player won't face the pressure of playing for money - and will get to work on a college degree for however long he stays in school, Marquess said.

Under the new labor contract, the signing deadline has been moved from Aug. 15 last season to July 13 this year. Considering how bonuses are slotted, players should have a good idea of the financial parameters going in. Some baseball executives believe that could lead to swifter post-draft negotiations, but others think the usual wait for deadline night will continue.

Some 400 players could be affected in the first 10 rounds alone.

Teams will have a total pool of money from which to sign players. That number comes from the sum of set figures in the latest labor deal - $7.2 million for the No. 1 overall pick, expected to be Stanford ace Mark Appel; $6.2 million for No. 2; $5.2 million for the third pick; $4.2 million for No. 4, and so on. The 50th overall choice, for example, is slated for a $1 million bonus, while it's $500,000 for No. 95. Picks 300 through the end of the 10th round of the draft will be due $125,000. There is some wiggle room.

If a player doesn't sign, the team loses the amount for that slot. And if a player signs for less than the slot, the team could shift that money to other picks, even in lower rounds. For players selected in the 11th round and beyond, portions of signing bonuses above $100,000 would count against the bonus pool.

Whether that sways college juniors, time will tell.

"I felt I wasn't missing out by not signing," said Krist, part of a Cal team that reached the College World Series last season after the program was cut and later reinstated. His stock dropped in a pitching-heavy 2011 draft, so he believes this year might be different. Krist will walk in graduation this June with only his thesis left to complete toward a degree in American Studies with a business and marketing emphasis.

There seems to be some varying of opinion between the college coaches and baseball brass on what might happen, because college seniors do lose leverage.

"It's something they have to embrace and think about from a career standpoint," University of San Francisco coach Nino Giarratano said.

Cal junior second baseman Tony Renda, expected to be taken in the early rounds this year, doesn't envision much change from the previous format. Though as a high pick, Renda realizes he would still be among those set to receive a nice signing bonus.

The seniors, he says, will still have a tough go getting paid big money.

"Baseball's kind of a tricky sport with the draft," Renda said. "It's in the player's best interest if he goes his junior year even though the rules have changed, because once he goes into his senior year they don't have to give him that slot money, they can give him lower than that because what are you going to do, get a job? You can play baseball or get a job. It hasn't changed how people will go about the draft, but what it will change is high school players. You won't have the high school player go in the 20th round and get a million dollars. That kid will go to school."

The Minnesota Twins are only a few months away from perhaps their most important draft in franchise history. Minnesota picks second - the club's highest selection since choosing Joe Mauer No. 1 in 2001 - and has four more selections among the first 73, including Nos. 32 and 42.

"We just don't know how it's going to go, how teams are going to try to get creative," said Sean Johnson, the Twins' West Coast scouting supervisor. "You might see more high school kids getting to college. Before, kids who were not worth $1 million wanted $500,000 or $600,000 and teams would give them what they wanted because they saw this coming. You're going to see the college game improve. And the Cape (Cod) League will be better to scout. ... It will just depend on the kids. Some will take what they can get."

For the seniors who have returned to school, it's tough to guess what that amount might be.

In Remer's case, he decided to go back for his final season at USF with the defending West Coast Conference champion Dons and reigning conference coach of the year Giarratano. Remer also could wind up benefiting from the attention on top starter Kyle Zimmer and get more notice than he would otherwise.

"It's never a no-brainer. It's what you've been dreaming of since you were 6, so I don't know if it's ever an easy decision to skip out on something," Remer said. "You could get hurt this year and you might have just lost the opportunity. The decision came down to looking into the future: Do I want to play professional baseball? Yes. Do I want to play as long as I can? Yes. That one year separation between signing this year over last year, is it going to be a huge difference? Maybe not."

Saint Mary's pitcher Kyle Barraclough was a 40th-round draft pick by Minnesota last year but wasn't offered a contract. He sought a six-figure signing bonus and the Twins didn't have that kind of money to spend for that spot. So, Barraclough returned for his senior college season and to work toward his degree - not to mention play in a sparkling new on-campus ballpark. Coach Jedd Soto said another team was interested in taking Barraclough in the top 10 rounds but the 6-foot-2 right-hander also wanted more money than that team was willing to commit.

Soto, a former scout in his ninth season as Gaels head coach, expects his pitcher to be picked in the first five rounds in the June draft. "It's pretty easy to explain to families about coming back to get a degree," he said.