The Seattle Mariners have already addressed numerous areas on their roster during the first two days of the 2012 MLB Draft, and now they will look to identify the potential superstars on the third and final day. Unlike the NFL Draft where teams typically expect to pick filler and practice players in the later rounds, baseball teams spend their late round picks on up-and-coming high school players who have huge upside despite being raw at this stage in their career.
Most of the players selected on Wednesday (rounds 16 through 40) will consist of prep players signed on with a college or college players who have multiple years of eligibility remaining. These players typically do not sign with their teams because their stock is not as high as it could be in a few years, but teams do sometimes get lucky should they offer enough money to satisfy the prospect's wants.
At the same time, it is important to remember TINSTAAP: There Is No Such Thing As A Proven Prospect.
For as much potential and raw talent as these guys have, many of them won't even come close to sniffing the Major Leagues in their careers. You certainly do not want to start handing out thousands of dollars to someone who won't do much of anything in his career. At the same time, you do see a few of these guys taken in the late rounds go in the first round a year or two later, which is a tough pill for the organization to swallow.
That makes for a sticky situation for the Mariners, a team that lacks excessive spending money most years. It's all about identifying the diamonds in the rough, and then determining which ones are worth the cash.
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