Amateurs' hour now a years-long process

On Monday night, Major League Baseball held the 50th iteration of the First-Year Player Draft, and it's come a long way since the first. The process is as involved as ever for the players, scouts, front-office employees and media. In particular, the Draft has evolved remarkably in the past 30 years. As a way to highlight what's changed, MiLB.com talked with four players -- two from past generations of selected ballplayers, and two from the 2015 crop -- about a range of topics.

First, let's introduce our four, with a little background on their path to the Draft:

Infielder Delino DeShields, taken 12th overall in the 1987 Draft by the Montreal Expos

DeShields had his eyes on a pro sports career, but by his sophomore year of high school, he was certain his future was on the hardwood. It was his dream to play hoops for coach Rollie Massimino at Villanova, and after spending his summers at Five Star Basketball camps and other major basketball events, he signed a letter of intent to join the Wildcats as a point guard. That all changed when a gaggle of television cameras greeted him one day with the shocking news that Montreal had made him a first-round pick. As DeShields learned years later when his son, Delino DeShields Jr. went through the Draft process, it's now impossible for a player to be in contention for a first-round pick and have no idea.

Catcher Brandon Snyder, taken 13th overall in the 2005 Draft by the Baltimore Orioles

By the time Snyder's Draft year came around, the showcase circuit and AAU baseball had taken hold of the amateur game. Baseball America rated Snyder the third best prospect from the state of Virginia that year, behind only Justin Upton and Ryan Zimmerman. Snyder had the chance to play at all the major showcases, which at the time included the East Coast Professional Showcase and the Area Code Games. Instead, he decided to stick with his travel team, the Midland Redskins, which also featured '05 first-rounder Cameron Maybin.

Outfielder Garrett Whitley, Niskayuna High School (New York)

Whitley comes into the Draft ranked 17th by MLB.com as a right-handed-hitting outfielder with a chance to hit and hit for power. Whitley's stock has soared over the past calendar year. Prior to attending the East Coast Pro and Area Code Games in 2014, he was more or less unknown on a national level. Now he's ranked as a likely first-round pick by almost every Draft prognosticator and has even had his name tied to Arizona at the No. 1 spot this spring. As with DeShields, Whitley was among the more under-the-radar players heading into his senior season at Niskayuna, but as he'll tell it, being under the radar in 2015 is a very different experience than it was 28 years ago.

Right-hander Mike Nikorak, Stroudsburg High School (Pennsylvania)

Nikorak is among the most touted high school arms in the country, coming in at No. 15 on MLB.com's Top 200 Draft list. The 6-foot-5 righty is a veteran of the modern showcase circuit, playing at tournaments and showcases presented by Perfect Game, Under Armour, East Coast Pro, the Area Code Games and more. The small-town Pennsylvanian had never even been on an airplane before he began playing on the showcase circuit, but now he's a veteran of at least 50 flights.

 

Now that you know the players, here's their perspective regarding the showcase circuit, dealing with scouts and agents, negotiating with teams and more.

On showcases, travel teams and the necessity to travel to be seen by scouts:

DeShields: I didn't play summer ball after I was 15. I played high school baseball, played 20 games, then four or five more in the tournament. That was it. I signed a letter of intent to go to Villanova in September of my senior year to play basketball. I had no intentions of playing baseball whatsoever. Baseball -- I had always played the game, but I really hadn't been talked to by scouts. I hadn't had home visits and things of that nature. I noticed some scouts at my games, I could see they were showing up and stuff, but I really had no intention on playing pro baseball at the time.

Snyder: My last year, I played with a really good team [the Midland Redskins] with Cameron Maybin and a couple of other guys. I had the opportunity to go play showcases, but I chose to stay with [the Redskins]. I felt if we played well enough, I thought I'd be seen. I didn't have to do the other things.

It kind of increased as I went. My last summer playing with Midland, we played like 70, 80 games and mixed in a couple of tournaments in the fall. It wasn't close to what kids are playing now. Then, I played with the Junior Olympic team in Taiwan, on the 18U team in '04. I was able to do that. I just felt like I had a lot of pull from every way to get me to play the East Coast Showcase, Area Codes. I was more focused on when I was with a team, see that out and play well. I was fortunate to be with other good players, and that brought scouts to the games. I didn't have to go everywhere. There are so many teams now -- it's so diluted that you have to go to the tournaments because you're not seeing multiple first-rounders on one team. But with Midland, we had a couple first-round guys, plus everybody went D-1 or got drafted. The scouts were coming to us.

Whitley: Well, the interesting thing to me is I didn't actually play for those teams. I played local ball up until I was 15 years old, I played for my Babe Ruth travel team and then my 16-, 17-age summers I played American Legion, but still local. So my first exposure really out doing that circuit was at East Coast Pro and Area Codes last summer. That was really my coming out. That was when pro scouts first got to see me. I got to go out and play that top quality of high school competition. That was really cool, because -- and I don't know how it is for other guys, if they get sick of all the travel -- but for me, that was the first time I got to do it. So I love going out to California and went to Citi Field and played the [Metropolitan Baseball Classic]. I had a great time. I thought it was really cool.

If I hadn't gotten to those, there's no way I would've been noticed. There's only one or two guys who even knew about me before.

Nikorak: I got introduced to the tournaments my junior year and played only a handful of tournaments in Florida. It wasn't until my senior year that I got on the circuit and did the Under Armours and the Area Codes and the East Coast Pros.

You need to have a lot of dedication for it. I think it's a huge time-consumer and that you really have to dedicate yourself, because it's going to be a job and it's a lot on yourself and your body and your mind, and it's just something you really have to be prepared for.

To put it in perspective, I left last year for the circuit five days before graduation. I was a junior -- I obviously wasn't graduating. I returned three days before we went back to school the following year. … I wasn't at my house once. I was constantly on a plane, constantly in a hotel, adapting to the food, obviously. Haven't had a home-cooked meal in a couple months. Before that, like I said, I wasn't into travel ball. I hadn't been on an airplane. In the past two years, I must have been on at least 50 airplanes.

My mom and my uncle, they supported me the whole way. It's not cheap to fly around and stay in hotels and everything along those lines, so, definitely -- huge thank-you to them. Like I said before, it's a time-consumer. If you're not going to dedicate yourself 100 percent, you might as well not even do it.

On talking to scouts:

DeShields: I think I talked with three scouts. … They asked if I was interested in signing. I reiterated to them, every last one, it was maybe three I talked to, that I was going to Villanova. There was no getting around that.

Snyder: It seemed like every day I had a scout or agent or somebody at the dining room table, giving me different questionnaires, surveys and all kinds of stuff. I was talking to different guys -- talking about what I was thinking, where I wanted to go.

I was talking with teams. I talked with a bunch of teams. I did a bunch of workouts, going to big league parks and going to different places. I actually thought I would go either to the Marlins or the Braves later in the Draft, or the Reds. That's where we had me slotted. Those were the teams I had the most contact with. I had spoken to pretty much every team. The Orioles, funny enough, they were the closest to me in Virginia, and I spoke to them probably the least. I talked with their scouts and stuff, and then coming down the last day before the Draft, we picked up talking with them."

Whitley: I've talked to all 30 teams and, if I had estimate a number of scouts, probably more than 100.

[After being asked if that's common] I feel like for the guys in this room [including Whitley, Nikorak, Brendan Rodgers and Ashe Russell]. I'm not sure about everybody else.

Nikorak: I have spoken to around 30 teams. … I think it's really laid back. I like the fact that the scouts, they come up to you and it's just like any other person. It's easy to have a conversation with them. Obviously they don't want to show their cards to you or toward any of the other scouts. You get a little anxious worrying about what team you're going to go to or things along those lines, but I think it's a great experience. It's definitely a lot different from [DeShields' time] because of the fact that we didn't have the Perfect Games, we didn't have the Baseball Factories like we do now, so I think that those are definitely very beneficial for us.

On choosing an agent or adviser:

DeShields: I spent a lot of time at Villanova my senior year [of high school]. I was up there every weekend that I was off. I was up at Villanova playing pickup, hanging with the guys. I got to really know Rollie and the staff really well. They introduced me to a lawyer who went to Villanova, Ron Stanko. He was my first agent. I didn't reach out to nobody. The phone wasn't ringing. There weren't a lot of calls from big-time agents. It's just that's the way it happened.

Snyder: I think, obviously, it was extremely important, knowing how everything works. Having somebody explain the process to you, explain the ins and outs of contracts. As far as meetings go, those are the ones I wasn't too fond of, just for the fact that, all the talk about money and different kinds of stuff. I remember, I picked my agent because when he walked in the door, he felt like family. He came in, gave me a hug. At the time, I signed with Reynolds Sports Management. … I met with [Scott] Boras and a couple other big agencies. I felt like they were all good, but for me, I was more laid back and not as much business forward.

Whitley: We were approached starting out in Area Codes, a few guys came up to talk to us. That's actually where I met Jeff Randazzo, who is my adviser. It was the same kind of process as picking a school or anything. We had meetings with, we narrowed it down to guys we wanted to have meetings with and spend some time with that we liked. With Jeff, we just hit it off. He's a great guy. I liked him and then when he switched companies, I liked his new company even more than the old company, so it was perfect. It wasn't that hard of a choice.

It's helped a lot. ... He has so much contact with teams that … he gave me information there's no way I would have had. He has advised me what things to do, what not to do, how to go about stuff. It's really helped a lot.

Nikorak: I made my decision real early on, so I'd say [I talked to] 5-10 agencies, maybe. … I met with the adviser I have now, Jeff Randazzo, toward the end of my sophomore year, and he's honestly been a blessing to our family. He's done so much for us and the new agency that he's with, Ballengee, is definitely at the top of the list. I think that I'm extremely grateful to be a part of them. He would do anything for me as I would for him.

On when they committed to college:

DeShields: I signed a letter of intent to go to Villanova in September of my senior year to play basketball.

Snyder: I didn't have to commit until my senior year. … I signed to go to LSU, and I was very set on going there.

Whitley: I made my verbal in August of 2013, so that was before my junior year. I picked Wake Forest because it kind of just had everything I was looking for in a college. It had really good academics. It's in the South, where there's really good baseball. I wanted to go down south because that's where the good baseball is. It was just perfect for me.

Nikorak: I committed toward the end of my sophomore year, beginning of my junior year. I committed to the University of Alabama. They were one of the first teams that really scouted me.

On being asked for autographs:

DeShields: I don't think I ever signed an autograph until I got to pro baseball.

Snyder: Not as much as after I was drafted, but people used to follow our high school around, or tournaments and stuff, especially with Midland. Playing with Maybin and the other highly touted guys, too, we got asked to sign stuff. At that point, I thought it was funny.

Whitley: I haven't actually signed that many autographs. I couldn't give you a number, but I've signed things for kids. Younger kids in my baseball program, or people will show up to my away games and like, younger kids usually, and ask if I can sign something for them. I've had a couple dudes ask me to sign pictures of myself.

Nikorak: It pretty much started off at the All American Games, I think. There's a lot of grownups at the All American Games. Obviously the kids are shy coming up to you. There's a couple kids that came up to you I think that, as the spring arose, I think more people started showing up and signing more autographs. … I would say I've signed hundreds of autographs.

On media exposure:

DeShields: It was just the local guys. There weren't a lot of outlets in Delaware, to be honest. … The scrutiny these kids go under today is mind-blowing at times. The way they pick kids apart. Like I said, I was blessed to grow up in an era before social media. That's really changed the game a lot. The biggest thing is the scrutiny that these kids go through. I feel sorry for these kids at times.

I was blessed to go through what I went through and to play and become more familiar with the process and be able to keep a lot of anxiety out of our situation. Kids get really anxious and things start to happen. I was able to keep that anxiety to a minimum.

Snyder: Honestly, I wish it wouldn't have gotten to me as much. Being in high school, getting the chance to see yourself in a major media outlet or something was pretty cool. I remember driving around to all the magazine shops to see Baseball America, see what they were saying. I don't do that anymore. Obviously, you try to ignore what the media are saying, but it's cool to see what they're saying. In high school, it's mostly all positive. I always kind of kept an eye on it.

Whitley: The things that get written about me that I didn't contribute to, sometimes I read them -- I don't really go out looking for them. My friends will send me links or screenshots or stuff, but I'm not out looking for them and stuff.

Nikorak: It's fun to look at. I mean, everybody wants to know where they're at, even though everybody has their own opinion, this isn't what the teams are thinking. If the teams were dishing out what they thought, then everybody would know who's picking who. It's fun to look at, but I try to avoid it as much as I can. I think it's cooler that my friends can look at it, my family members can look at it. That way they can get a little more experience out of the process. They're not playing. They're just kind of watching. I'm happy they could enjoy reading all that stuff.