Introduction
Part I : Aluminum Bats

OK, I’m back on this baseball discussion that I dropped two weeks ago.  Basically, my premise was that college baseball was relatively unpopular, especially considering the popularity of professional baseball, and I was curious as to why.  One theory, posted by reader bowlbasaur, was that no one cares about college baseball because all the best players go directly from high school to the pros, usually to toil in the minors for a number of years.  If this is going to be our answer, we have to discuss two things: first, DO all the best players skip college baseball?  And second, is this really the reason we don’t pay attention to college baseball?

Let’s run some numbers.  Our theory is that we pay to watch MLB games because we’re watching the best of the best.  We want to see the All-Stars get their game on.  Nobody buys a ticket because they want to see middle relievers and utility infielders (well, besides their families).  So, let’s  get together a list of the best of the best and see how many actually played college ball.  I’ve compiled just such a list here.

My list of 85 players includes everyone who finished in the top 10 in either MVP or Cy Young voting any year between 2003-2006 (yeah, some surprising names there.  Shannon Stewart?  Russ Ortiz?  Really).  Of the players on the list eligible for the draft (those from the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico), 46% played D1 college baseball, and 62% played some sort of college ball.  Only 38% were signed directly out of high school.  Despite the talent drain, plenty of stars do play college baseball on their way through the ranks.  Now, what really drags down all these numbers is the large number of foreign stars, mostly from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela.  Still, out of all of the groups I’ve identified, US-born former college stars still make up the largest group (33%).  Not a majority, but still a plurality.  We can say that, yes, lots of future stars DO skip college to go directly the the pros, but we can hardly say the the college ranks are devoid of talent.  There’s plenty to watch on campus, and the tickets are cheap, too.

And anyway, so what if not everyone goes to college?  I would say that most of us who follow college sports watch because we love the amateur competition, and many of us feel more of a connection to our alma mater than we do to a professional sports franchise that continually threatens to move to Florida or Las Vegas or wherever.  Sure, quality competition is important, but hardly the only factor in play.  Honestly, were we any less excited watching Steve Levy quarterback Cal to a Big Game victory because we knew he’d never make it in pro football?  Did it matter to anyone at all once he’d hoisted The Axe above his shoulders?

Finally, I have one more question:  how many of you even know the names of the best high school players this year?  There may be some good ones, but no one has the notoriety of a LeBron James, or even a Sebastian Telfair.  The American sporting public, heck, even most hardcore baseball fans have no idea who the best amateur baseball players are, so when they skip college to sign with a pro team, how many of us are honestly turned off of college baseball because of that?  No, our collective apathy towards college baseball has to be coming from somewhere else.  Don’t worry, I’ve got a few ideas…