Baseball Freezing out Lower Income Children

[iacas]

Andrew McCutchen:

Quote:

Baseball used to be the sport where all you needed was a stick and a ball. It used to be a way out for poor kids. Now it’s a sport that increasingly freezes out kids whose parents don’t have the income to finance the travel baseball circuit.

Found it here: http://whygavs.com/february-2015/andrew-mccutchen-baseball-freezes-out-lower-income-kids.html

Linking to: http://www.theplayerstribune.com/left-out/

[saevel25]

I would agree with that.

What are the paths to the MLB.

1) Through college to the draft

2) Picked out of highschool and go to the minors

The problem with the college route is that there is no national branding for the MLB draft, and the players who ultimately end up in the MLB. NCAA football owns college sports. The recruiting process is just absurd.

Though with the increase in concussions in football. The NFL will have a serious problem if parents shy their kids away from football. So this might change in the next 5-10 years.

I don't see a way for the MLB to expand their branding. The high school baseball system isn't nearly as followed as football. The problem with college players is that they are 22-23 out of college. They basically have 1-2 years before they need to product MLB worthy numbers. Players do not develop well after the age of 27, by the age of 29 they are declining.

[billchao]

Good article, thanks for sharing.

I learned a lot about the youth baseball scene about five or six years ago. My boss back then had a son who was a very talented baseball player (I think he was right around 12 or 13 at the time). He played on his regular local team and with the travel team whenever that was going on. In addition to that, he attended some kind of special clinic place several nights a week where they trained and worked on skills with private coaches. Then of course there were all the skills clinics he attended in the summer that they needed to travel to.

Obviously, all of this adds up to a lot of money spent by the families. My boss said that all of the best kids were doing the same exact thing. I can't imagine how lower income families can possibly afford this.

[saevel25]

Good article, thanks for sharing.

I learned a lot about the youth baseball scene about five or six years ago. My boss back then had a son who was a very talented baseball player (I think he was right around 12 or 13 at the time). He played on his regular local team and with the travel team whenever that was going on. In addition to that, he attended some kind of special clinic place several nights a week where they trained and worked on skills with private coaches. Then of course there were all the skills clinics he attended in the summer that they needed to travel to.

Obviously, all of this adds up to a lot of money spent by the families. My boss said that all of the best kids were doing the same exact thing. I can't imagine how lower income families can possibly afford this.

I wonder how many kids get burned out doing that. That is a terrible system. I much prefer how kids get to the NFL. Highschool to college to the pro's. If you can't excel in college then you'd probably not excel in the minors.

Still it is hard to get kids to play baseball in college when there is no exposure. I think a lot of players play baseball just for something to do. Look at Winston at FSU, but he's going to the NFL this year.

[newtogolf]

With the exception of soccer, I believe baseball has the greatest number of players from other countries.  My understanding is the best baseball players today are coming from the Dominican Republic and Central America and they are much less costly for MLB teams to sign than players from the US.

The influx of non-American players into the minor and major leagues has reduced the number of opportunities kids here in the US have which has forced parents here in the States to throw money at the problem in an attempt to give their kids an edge.

The pressure on kids in the USA is much greater today as many geographical areas don't have climates that support playing baseball year round like they do in Central America.  Players here are forced to play in as many leagues as possible during the spring to fall season in order to garner local attention from scouts and even colleges.  In addition to participating in multiple leagues, performance enhancement clinics and  baseball camps, players who are not actively recruited must now have videos produced in their Junior year of H.S. to be sent to colleges in hopes of getting the coaches attention for a scholarship.

As MLB begins to tap other areas (Cuba and China) I expect this problem to get worse, not better.

[billchao]

I wonder how many kids get burned out doing that.

I agree it has the potential to burn out a lot of kids, but I'm pretty sure that's just the direction things are going nowadays. I don't want to get too much off-topic, but high level academics works the same way. Tiger-parenting is not just for Asians anymore.

That is a terrible system. I much prefer how kids get to the NFL. Highschool to college to the pro's.

It's not really a system, it's just what people are voluntarily doing to try to gain an advantage for their kids. @newtogolf articulated the problem pretty well.

I'm not sure football is much different in that respect. For example, there are a couple of high schools in NJ that are well known for their football programs. Kids come from all over to attend the school to be in the program. I remember reading a newspaper article once about a kid who traveled two hours every morning on several different buses just to go to school and be part of the football team. Still not really an option for a lower income family.

[jamo]

I'm with him that baseball is losing ground among lower-income Americans, but I've never heard anyone mention travel teams like that. I'm still not sure I buy it. AAU teams are arguably more key to basketball, and they have no problem getting poorer kids to play. Not saying he's wrong, but it's an interesting argument that I hadn't really heard before or considered. [SPOILER=Kinda OT][quote name="newtogolf" url="/t/80079/baseball-freezing-out-lower-income-children/0_30#post_1105460"]My understanding is the best baseball players today are coming from the Dominican Republic and Central America and they are much less costly for MLB teams to sign than players from the US.[/quote] http://sabr.org/bioproj/topic/baseball-demographics-1947-2012 Not exactly. The influx of hispanic baseball players peaked in the early-2000s and has been pretty steady since then. Over the past few years, the percentage of white players has actually gone up a tick while black American player levels have gone down. Asian players are growing, but it's very slow due to the posting system that Japanese NPL players have to go through. As for the cost ... it depends. American players taken after the first few rounds of the draft get next to nothing if they're even signed. Players in the minors in the US are paid on the order of hundreds per week, no matter their race or nationality. No one's making big salary money. Top draft picks and top international free agents can expect to get big bonuses no matter where they're from. Draft picks tend to have better leverage and have more consistent career outcomes than international free agents, so they do generally get bigger bonuses, but not by much. Lower income American baseball players are getting squeezed, I agree, but I wouldn't put the blame on any other nationality. I think it's more cultural and circumstantial. [quote name="newtogolf" url="/t/80079/baseball-freezing-out-lower-income-children/0_30#post_1105460"] As MLB begins to tap other areas (Cuba and China) I expect this problem to get worse, not better. [/quote] I don't see that as a huge problem. If baseball gets big enough in China to where they're sending a huge number of baseball players over here, MLB revenues will EXPLODE. If a lot of Chinese players start playing in MLB and there's a excess of skilled players, they'll expand the league. [/SPOILER] [SPOILER=More Kinda OT][quote name="saevel25" url="/t/80079/baseball-freezing-out-lower-income-children/0_30#post_1105459"] I wonder how many kids get burned out doing that. That is a terrible system. I much prefer how kids get to the NFL. Highschool to college to the pro's. If you can't excel in college then you'd probably not excel in the minors. Still it is hard to get kids to play baseball in college when there is no exposure. I think a lot of players play baseball just for something to do. Look at Winston at FSU, but he's going to the NFL this year.  [/quote] I disagree completely. ESPN baseball writer Keith Law writes about this a lot, specifically for pitchers. College programs have no incentive to treat pitchers well. Once you're there, they have every reason to throw good pitchers until their arms fall off. Pro teams, however, have an incentive to make sure you get the most out of your arm. If I'm a top-flight athlete, I don't want to spend three years playing football for a college that doesn't care about my long-term well being and doesn't pay me. No, I'd much rather be a baseball player where I can finish high school and immediately be drafted into a system that pays me for my efforts and has the incentives to ensure I'm healthy and getting the most out of my abilities. Athletes, particularly football players and pitchers, have expiration dates. I wouldn't want to give up three years like that for nothing. I also don't think exposure has much to do with it. If you're a great baseball player, you'll get paid well, just as if you were a great football player. (And maybe more so, because there's no salary cap.)[/SPOILER]

[InTheRough]

interesting that brings up some good points.  Baseball has definitely lost some ground in lower income America but i think that has more to do with sports like football and basketball getting more popular in those areas drawing the younger kids to those sports over baseball.  Because of this the MLB as decided to invest its money more into the central american countries where the kids have basically devoted their lives to the sport.  What is more likely to turn into a profit for the mlb?...the kid who likes baseball but may also decide to take a run at the nfl instead or the kid whose only real choice is to go for the MLB.

the MLB took a huge hit with the whole steroids era where parents no longer wanted their kids to participate in a sport that essentially encouraged the use of steroids and HGH.  Not sure if it will ever fully recover from that whole mess.

also @jamo you are 100% correct in your comments on college baseball.  It is a very dangerous route for a high school prospect to take because college baseball coaches will destroy your arm to win a few more games a season.  their jobs are dependent on winning, not saving arms for the big leagues. I played college baseball and have personally seen at least 3 professional level arms (more likely more than 3) be destroyed by being overworked in college.  College Baseball is a game of attrition (for pitchers at least);  A lot of pro teams like to draft college pitchers specifically because they have shown that their arms can hold up to that level of abuse.

[JonMA1]

A very well-written article by a player who I really admire.

I love sports. I love participating in them and as I gotten older, watching them at almost any level high school or above. It's always interesting to see how local kids can do when they get to the next level. And the idea that sports is a possible means for an underprivileged young person to pursue a college education is a good thing.

I'm going to get beat up for this, but I think our culture overemphasizes sports with our youth. I'm not talking about giving every one a fair share at pursuing HIS or HER dream of playing professionally. Or a kid who loves their sport so much that they want to continue participating long after high school (baseball and softball are nowhere near the same sport). I'm talking about putting so much emphasis on sports that we lose sight of things I think are far more important. When a local high school makes a bigger deal out of a football player who was selected all-district as opposed to the kid who obtains one of the highest ACT scores in the history of the school, it just seems backwards.

Bring in the parents who will dish out thousands of dollars for travel baseball because their child showed a little promise among other 12 year olds. They think it's the only way to get the edge in hopes that they will someday be the parents of a professional baseball player. To me, that's just nuts. I guess to each their own.

Andrew McCutchen knows more about what it takes to be a professional ball player and more about what it's like to grow up in a small town. It's important to him that more underprivileged American kids are given a better chance to compete against really, really poor kids from the Dominican Republic for a limited number of jobs in the major leagues. I don't have his perspective nor do I share his passion, but if he's able to help even a few kids escape a bad life, I'm all for it. I like the fact that he included underprivileged kids from all walks of life (cornfield in Nebraska, swampy field in Central Florida, inner-city).

As the parent of a talented high school baseball player from a small town, I have a bit of insight. In our area, the competition just isn't that good. So a player can look dominant until he or she faces competition from larger, metropolitan regions. In baseball (and probably all team sports), that's very important. My son never had the potential to go beyond D1 or D2 (and those schools just don't hand out that many baseball scholarships). But he did play American Legion ball against some D1 kids and did pretty well. For whatever reason, the American Legion fee was very cheap. The parents would help with the car pooling, food, etc. If not, I don't know what we would have done as parents. Fortunately, that was good enough for him. He has some great memories of playing well against some good competition. But that's all it was. He had enough common sense not to even consider playing sports while pursueing a degree in engineering - even if his Dad suggested otherwise .

With the price of travel baseball being what it is, instead of asking your child to choose between a "playstation or a baseball bat", the choices may be "do you want help with your college costs or do you want to play travel baseball".

I'm not sure how McCutchen wants to help these kids. If he's suggesting the effort and funds come from private parties or MLB, I'm all for it. Establishing something along the lines of the First Tee program in golf (I'm not very knowledgeable about the program, but it seems very worthwhile). Having ex- pro baseball players helping with coaching and mentoring would be huge.

[newtogolf]

@jamo The stats I saw were slightly more recent but the real key to the demographics is the minor leagues not the majors which I wasn't able to find

Quote:

25-­‐Man Major League rosters

• 2014 Opening Day, 25 Man Major League Rosters
  • The percentage of those who identified themselves as African-­‐American or black was approximately 8.2 percent, which was a decline from 8.3 percent in 2013 and 8.9 percent in 2012. This matched the all-­‐time low in the 2007 season. The first round of the 2013 First-­‐Year Player Draft featured the selections of six African-­‐American players (6-­‐of-­‐33, 18.2 percent). African-­‐ American players accounted for 14 of the 73 selections that were made on the first day of the 2013 MLB draft.
  • The  percentage  of  Latino  players  increased  from  28.2  percent  in  2013  to  28.4 percent  on  2014 opening day rosters.
  • The percentage of Asians decreased from 2.1 percent in 2013 to two percent in 2014.
  • The percentage of whites was 60.9 percent, down from the 61.2 percent in 2013.