Widespread and sweeping changes affecting the landscape of collegiate athletics this time of year tend to be about football. In 2026, basketball even joined the fray with the new trend of signing foreign professionals via the transfer portal.
Baseball apparently didn’t want to miss out.
On Thursday, Major League Baseball proposed a change to their draft system. The CliffsNotes version is they want to cut signing bonuses by $150 million per year, shorten the draft from 20 to 12 rounds, and oh by the way – make high schoolers ineligible for the draft.
Whether or not this will pass is unknown, but it does spark some pretty wild possibilities.
Just 15 years ago the draft was 50 rounds. It later dropped to 40, and it wasn’t until 2021 that it dropped to 20. The advantage for MLB would actually coincide as an advantage for college baseball as well.
The rise in popularity of college baseball has skyrocketed over the last several years. The first six games of this year’s CWS each had over one million viewers, the most in history. It’s become a better product thanks to the resources and arms races that have transpired at some of the elite programs around the country and specifically the Southeastern Conference. There are 10,000 seat stadiums and future first rounders throwing 100 mph everywhere. But more importantly, there’s also been an incredible shift in the ability to consistently develop talent at the collegiate level.
The sport has come a long way since the days of 11.7 scholarships and three full-time salaried coaches per staff. Today, thanks to NIL, scholarship increases, facilities, analytics, nutrition, strength programs, TrackMan, biomechanics labs, and revenue sharing the sport is at the highest level it’s ever been. That’s especially the case in the SEC, and now some of these programs could get even deeper and more competitive if they are not losing high school recruits to the MLB Draft.
Imagine a 2023 LSU team with Paul Skenes and Jacob Misiorowski. Imagine a 2025 lineup with Derek Curiel and Konnor Griffin. It wouldn’t be farfetched if the MLB decides to choose this new path.
The SEC as a whole has dominated college baseball for years. Five different teams have won the last six Men’s College World Series titles and Oklahoma is currently playing for a potential sixth in seven. They’ve dominated recruiting rankings even more. According to Perfect Game, eight of the top ten recruiting classes in the 2027 cycle are from the SEC. The same was the case in 2026, and there were six top ten classes in 2025 and seven in 2024.
The rich may get richer in this league, and college baseball would essentially serve as a minor-minor league developmental system. No conference will benefit more than the SEC who already has the most NIL money, best facilities, most TV exposure, and highest revenue sharing opportunities.
