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The Major League draft is unlike any other among professional sports. Due to the tremendous size of baseballs farm system there are 40 rounds of action and 1,238 players picked. The existence of a farm system itself negates the need for colleges help train players.
This is far too many players to lean solely on the NCAA so while very often the high picks do come from colleges both in the US and abroad there are a number of High School prospects picked. Last years fist pick, Carlos Correa, came from the "Puerto Rico Baseball Academy and High School" where I presume he majored in Short Stop. By contrast sometimes college athletes who never played baseball at the NCAA level get drafted, like Turner Gill.
Another wrinkle is that it happens right in the middle of the season, so fans are really tuned in even though it's easy to lose enthusiasm after player 500. Last season Buffalo's Thomas Murphy was picked in the 3rd round to and ended up as the only UB player drafted. This season UB's success might help more UB players get drafted.
The most likely prospect is Jason Kanzler, who tied broke a good number of Murphy's UB records. Kanzler's set or tied UB single season records for home runs (13) and RBIs (53). He also was in the top ten in triples, hits, total bases and stolen bases. He is also in the books for each of those categories for his career at UB.
In 57 games Kanzler had just one error for a .994 fielding percent which shows that the outfielder is more than just a bat.
| Year | G | AB | R | H | Avg | 2B | 3B | HR | TB | Slug % | RBI | SB | SBA | BB | SO | HBP | SH | SF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009-10 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 0.200 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.200 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 2010-11 | 38 | 125 | 22 | 34 | 0.272 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 53 | 0.424 | 19 | 11 | 14 | 11 | 41 | 6 | 3 | 0 |
| 2011-12 | 55 | 223 | 50 | 77 | 0.345 | 13 | 5 | 8 | 124 | 0.556 | 40 | 17 | 21 | 16 | 47 | 5 | 6 | 4 |
| 2012-13 | 57 | 227 | 46 | 75 | 0.330 | 14 | 6 | 12 | 137 | 0.604 | 53 | 21 | 25 | 19 | 49 | 12 | 4 | 4 |
| - | 160 | 585 | 125 | 188 | 0.321 | 37 | 14 | 21 | 316 | 0.540 | 112 | 49 | 60 | 46 | 141 | 25 | 13 | 8 |
Players who get selected in the top 10 rounds get a bonus which is expressed as a percentage of the number one picks signing bonus. 10 rounds is about 338 picks and last season several Mocks had the Junior Kanzler going in the mid 400's.
After not only matching his 2012 performance but in many ways exceeding it Kanzler could go somewhere between round 5 and 10.