FAIRWAY, Kan. — Daniel Harper has a decision to make.
"Sign for $20,000, forgo graduating," debated Harper. "Or maybe go back, graduate, maybe get $20,000, maybe get less (next year). It's pretty tough."
There's the rub for Harper, a Bishop Miege product and senior-to-be right-handed pitcher at Kentucky, and so many others like him. That's because of MLB's decision to drop the number of rounds in their Draft to just five.
Had Harper been able to complete his junior year, he was on pace to be a Top-15 round pick and sign for as much as $100,000. Instead, due to a shortfall of money in this coronavirus pandemic and the suspension of the baseball season, Harper likely won't get drafted in this five-round Draft.
Normally, baseball drafts 40 rounds. Any undrafted players can sign for no more than $20,000.
"Maybe there's still a chance that the draft is still 20 rounds," Harper was originally thinking. "Then a month and a half ago, they were like 'Nope, it's going to be five rounds because MLB doesn't even know if they're playing yet.'"
"So they had to save as much money as possible. It just happens to be that we're the ones that kind of have to pay," said Harper, who appeared in six games and went 1-0 with a 5.00 ERA in nine innings before his collegiate season got shut down.
Harper says he's pretty much made up his mind: If he doesn't get drafted (The first round of the MLB Draft is on Wednesday. Rounds 2-5 are on Thursday.), he'll be returning to Lexington to play his senior season.
But so will a lot of juniors who would have normally been drafted. The deleting of 35 rounds means over 1,000 players won't get drafted. Thus, next year his class, the class below him (NCAA players are eligible after three years of college for the Draft), members of the class ahead of him who took advantage of the NCAA waiver over the lost season, and all high school grads will be eligible for the 2021 Draft.
"There's going to be a big logjam," said Harper. "I think probably for at least five years. We're going to see the repercussions of the coronavirus in college baseball."
