Posts
More on ubra-agent Scott Boros, with an actual positive spin on his services:
Notice the trend? Not a high school player in the bunch.
"We believe college is the best place for most players, unless you're an A-Rod," said Boras, who represented Alex Rodriguez since he was the No. 1 overall pick out of high school in 1993. "Most young agents won't do this -- they want to sign a kid out of high school -- but 99 percent of the players who call our office, we advise them to go to college."
While many teams don't appreciate Boras, accusing him of driving up the price of amateur talent, many players swear by him. Boras' staff provides families with data showing percentages of players who reach the majors -- for anywhere between a day and six years, when they'd be free agents -- out of high school vs. out of college, and the differences financially.
"They were glowing athletes when they were young," Boras said of high school players, "and a vast majority end up with no degree, no education and no career and get medial jobs, and most are married and have kids and can't afford to go to school."
Boras would advocate a draft overhaul in which college freshmen, sophomores and juniors would be eligible for only three rounds, which virtually would force the lesser developed players to stay in school longer. A separate draft would be held for college seniors.
High school players wouldn't be eligible, Boras said, unless teams paid a significant bonus (he proposed $2 million) to make it worth their while to put a college education on hold.
"They talk about age of entry in the NBA and NFL, but nobody's talking about it in baseball," Boras said. "I've seen 42 players released in one day, and it was a shock. I don't want young men to have that happen to them. Baseball owes them more."
Another example of why clients love him and clubs don't.