Columnist Ron Kantowski: Baseball’s draft simply lacks appeal

Thursday, June 7, 2001 | 11:31 a.m.

Ron Kantowski's column appears Thursday. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or 259-4088.

Nobody cares about the major league baseball draft.

Because if we did care about who came out of the baseball talent pool you could have watched them towel off on TV Tuesday, rather than take Baseball America's word for it. In fact, were it not for the internet website devoted to America's Pastime (and this newspaper's reports), there might not be any evidence the draft actually happened.

To wit:

For reasons known only to Peter Gammons, the baseball draft just hasn't caught on like its football and basketball counterparts. I mean, is it any less important than the football and basketball ones?

I used to think that the reason the football and basketball drafts received so much media attention is that the media (and thus the general public) knew so much more about the players. College baseball, unlike its football and basketball brethren, is played in relative obscurity (even its World Series is relegated to Omaha, which is as obscure as it gets), and so it's doubtful fans would pay much attention to a lottery of players they don't know.

But then how do you explain the NHL draft being televised? Or the myriad internet web sites that are devoted to college recruiting? Why do fans seem to be more interested in a point guard or small forward they've never seen play than a left-handed pitcher or a second baseman?

The only reason that I can come up with is that the point guard or small forward is expected to make an immediate impact on State U's won-loss record. Ditto for the guys who are picked in the NFL and NBA drafts by the home teams, probably the biggest reason those exercises have been reduced to seven and two rounds, respectively.

But the baseball draft, which lasts forever, is more inexact than Don King's calculator. Because nearly half of the players selected are still in high school (of the 30 players tabbed in Tuesday's first round, only 17 had played college baseball), they may not be heard from again for three or four years. If at all.

How many times does the first guy picked in the draft bomb out in football or basketball? Well, not since LaRue Martin (first player picked in 1972 NBA draft by the Trailblazers) or maybe Tom Cousineau (Browns, '79).

In baseball, for every Ken Griffey Jr. or Chipper Jones selected first there have been two Steve Chilcotts, Danny Goodwins, David Clydes, Bill Almons or Brien Taylors.

On second thought, forget the sage Mr. Gammons. If you needed a reason not to pay attention to the baseball draft, I just gave you five.