Beede was drafted 21st overall out of HS by the Blue Jays and turned down over $2 million (reportedly $2.5 mill at one point). He was just drafted 14th overall...the slot allotment at #14 this year is $2.6 million. So really, if he actually gets that full slot value he will have made little monetary gain by going to college. He also lost out on 3 years of development by an MLB team (versus College development which is inferior). He didn't gain anything in terms of getting to the MLB any quicker because he would have been 3-years into Pro minor league baseball by now had he signed out of HS.
This is just nuts. Everything about this is crazy. Beede chose to take a 2.4 million dollar risk to better his future. That alone deserves more respect that this statement gives, regardless of any reasoning behind it. The education he received was worth about 180K, and Vanderbilt has a fantastic track record with working with the awful schedules of their professional baseball alumni to get them to graduate, so you can add another 60K to that as well.
Now lets look at the high school arms in the 2011 draft.
4. Dylan Bundy - RHP Owasso High School (OK)
-- Bundy made his MLB debut in 2012 and threw 1.2 innings that year. He had Tommy John and sat out all of 2013.
7. Archie Bradley - RHP - Broken Arrow (Okla.) HS
-- Bradley has now made it to AAA, but has not yet pitched in the bigs. He's 1-4 5.18 in 5 starts at AAA Reno this year.
14. Jose Fernandez - RHP - Braulio Alonso High School (FL)
--Fernandez made is MLB debut in 2013 and was named NL Rookie of the year that year.
21. Tyler Beede - RHP - Lawrence Academy (MA)
-- Did not sign.
24. Taylor Guerrieri - RHP - Spring Valley High School (SC)
-- Guerrieri did not even start his professional career until 2012. He has not made it past Low A. He is currently not playing due to an arm injury (Tommy John) and an irrelevant substance abuse suspension. He signed for a reported $1.6M.
25. Joe Ross - RHP - Bishop O'Dowd High School (CA)
-- Ross has bounced around the lower tiers of minor league baseball for the past 3 years. He is currently at High A Lake Elsinore and is 6-3 2.70 in 13 starts. He signed for a reported $2.75M.
27. Robert Stephenson - RHP - Alhambra High School (CA)
--Stephenson has also bounced around the lower tiers of MiLB and has made it as high as AA. He is currently at AA Pensacola and is 2-5 3.39 in 11 starts. He signed for a reported $2M.
33. Kevin Matthews - LHP - Richmond Hill High School (GA)
-- Matthews has not made it past Low A. He is seemingly still in recovery from a shoulder surgery in 2013. He signed for 936K.
So we have 7 HS arms to compare Beede to. Of these 7 arms, 2 have even made it to the big leagues for an appearance, and Bundy's was only for 1.2 innings. Obviously Fernandez is a badass and beat Beede fair and sqaure to the Show. I feel pretty good about Tyler beating most of the rest of these kids to the big leagues, even after playing 3 years of college.
The idea that a kid could get better coaching in the minors is, in this situation, insane. At the time when Beede made his decision to go to school, Vanderbilt had easily one of the highest regarded pitching minds in all of baseball serving there under Coach Corbin. Derek Johnson is now serving as the Minor League pitching coordinator for the Chicago Cubs. There are great minds in both places (college and Minors) but facilities and attention are vastly different between the two. The lower tiers of minor league baseball are exhaustively terrible. It's all long bus rides on crappy buses. Crappy hotels. Playing in dilapidated old stadiums or even just on chain link spring training fields.
Going to college gives a kid a chance to be a kid for a little longer. He get to have one on one instruction year round from very talented coaches. He gets to play at places like Alex Box, Dudy Noble, Carolina Stadium. Weight rooms, training tables, education, locker rooms, stadiums and playing surfaces are almost across the board better at major college institutions than in the lower tiers of the minors.
Did you go to college? Was it fun? Were you the best player on a championship caliber team? Do you think that could have made it more fun?
College is an experience that helps a person grow in so many different ways. Its also a blast. That is something I don't know that you could put a price tag on.
