There were some fascinating articles and decisions made by Baseball America today.

First, BA is not going to rank this class:

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/why-were-not-ranking-the-top-july-2-prospects/

And it's largely because of this:

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/trainers-mlb-teams-unhappy-with-current-international-signing-system/

So if not a subscriber, teams are signing players earlier and earlier, basically indicating the class of 2021 is being worked on now. As soon as a player signs, he stops working out for other teams, so Badler cannot get up to date reports on how players that were 14 when signed have progressed (they are now 16!)

excerpt:

"

So from a practical standpoint, it doesn't make much sense to write up our usual reports and rankings. I don't want to put my name or Baseball America's name on a list just for the sake of having a list. I don't think that's the right thing to do, especially when we're writing about kids who are 15 and 16 years old. I don't think it's fair to the players, I don't think it's fair to the teams and I don't think it's responsible for us mislead our readers by publishing surface-level information that would be heavy on uncertainty.

That's why we have a new plan for how we're going to cover the top 2019 international signings that's different from what we typically do. Normally, we review each team's international signing class the following year beginning in March, with scouting reports on every player who signed for at least $125,000. Those International Reviews end up containing around 300 scouting reports on international signings.

Instead, we are going to move those International Reviews earlier in the calendar to publish them later this year, after the end of the 2019 season. That gives us the opportunity to give you better information on these players. The reports will account for how players look in the Tricky League (an informal league for July 2 signings), U.S. instructional league and Dominican instructs. That means our July 2 coverage will be delayed a few months, but the end result will be more comprehensive coverage earlier and better quality information that, I hope, adds more value for our readers and is fair to everyone involved in the international baseball community."

First, I respect the hell out of Cooper and BAdler for doing this, they may be losing a lot of readership for the list which I know I subscribed to get.

Second, this is crazy. This is taking something that's already a crapshoot, and making it an even crazier crapshoot.

Soft

13 minutes ago, ChiSoxJon said:

Soft

Hmm?

Great article.  Now I understand why Sox are signing that Cuban guy.  JR is skittish about sinking millions into an 18 year old high school kid whose probability of making an impact is risky.  So a 16 year old would be more so. Now, in the DR they’ve moved on to 13 year olds.  Talk about a lottery ticket.  I am against an international draft, but mlb has to start enforcing the signing rules.  This stuff is ridiculous.  It’s essentially child labor.  When you’re encouraging 10 year olds to leave home for a baseball career, something is terribly wrong.