“Getting back on track before I’m reminded that I’m old again,” Joe said, showing he had a sense of humor. “Based on what I saw today, I would rate you a top 100 prospect for this year’s draft without a doubt. If you dominate the competition this year, you could rise as high as a first-rounder.”
“The Cubs said they were concerned that no one would draft me because of my movie commitments,” I said.
“It’s not ideal and will cause a lot of teams to shy away. You want your top-round draft picks to contribute as soon as possible. Normally, even a first-rounder rarely jumps straight to the big leagues. They play a year or two in the minors until they’re ready unless they played college ball,” Joe said.
“My mother would love you for saying that,” I said.
“Here’s my advice. Put the word out that you’re seriously considering playing baseball professionally. By the end of your baseball season, you’ll know whether or not the movie commitment is going to push you out of the first round. If it does, go to college. It’s not worth it for you to sign a lower-round contract.
“What you have to realize is that in ten rounds of the Major League Baseball draft, each team will spend between two and fifteen million on bonuses and starting assignments. We estimate that the top player taken will be given a contract in the seven million range over three to four years. The top pick in the second round will be offered under two million. And money offered at the top of the third round will be around 750 thousand,” Joe enlightened us.
I knew that in theory, but to have it laid out like that hammered home what I would be giving up by signing a much-lower-level contract offer. The kicker was that the average contract locked you in for a minimum of at least three years. This was due to a rule in the collective bargaining agreement, calling this period ‘pre-arb.’
Major League Baseball categorized your ability to negotiate contracts into three phases. Those phases were based on how long you had played professionally. Years one through three were pre-arbitration, four through six were eligible for salary arbitration, and everything after that fell into the free-agent category.
What that meant for someone new to the league was that under the collective bargaining agreement between the teams and the players union, your initial contract couldn’t be renegotiated. Of course, there were loopholes in the complicated agreement. But in essence, I would be stuck with my initial contract for a minimum of three years. That was why climbing up to the top tier of the draft was so important, money-wise.
“What does David need to work on?” Moose asked.
“Just continue working hard and improve in all phases of your game. You don’t have any glaring weaknesses. You battled a high-level minor-league pitcher, and you more than held your own. I can’t imagine that very many high school pitchers will be much of a problem for you. Most of them won’t be any trouble at all.
“I would armor up because even in high school ball, they will throw at you to get you off your game. I would hate to see you injured in a meaningless game,” Joe offered.
With that last piece of advice, Joe had to get running. I thanked him for taking the time to talk to me, and I thanked Coach Haskins for arranging it.
◊◊◊
I arrived home to find Scarlet and Fritz in the kitchen, talking to my parents; we were catching a flight to LA tonight. I’d made Frank a promise to do the whole press routine this weekend if he’d managed to hold them off until just before the big event on Sunday.
“How did it go?” Dad asked.
I caught them up on all things baseball. Mom had a little smile when she heard the comment about college. Wise woman that she was, she didn’t offer her opinion. I suspected she knew I would go to college, even if I played baseball.
“Paddy stopped by and said that it was taken care of.” When my parents glared at me, I quickly added, “And no one got hurt.”
“The State’s Attorney decided not to charge Deputy Sheriff Park,” Dad said.
“That’s probably for the best if you want this all to go away,” Fritz said to offer his opinion.
He was right. If this became a bigger news story, the press would dig into
Scarlet became my bossy PA when she reminded me that we still had to drive to Chicago to catch our flight. I quickly ate and ran up to my apartment to grab my bags.
The thought of going to LA this weekend filled me with equal portions of excitement and dread. I was excited because I’d been nominated for an Oscar. That was a rare honor, something that no one could ever take away from me. I didn’t even want to think about actually winning.
