Major League Draft 2016: Will Buffalo Bulls OF Vinny Mallaro Get Drafted

The Buffalo Bulls are losing four seniors this season but there is also a chance that Junior Outfielder Vinny Mallaro will have his name called during the Major League Baseball Draft, early next month. If Mallaro is drafted and he leaves school early, he will be the sixth Bull drafted since 2012. If he left he would be the third to leave school for the pros before their senior season.

For a program which does not use all available scholarships due to title XI, losing your best juniors nearly every year helps keep you down. It's a double-edged sword when you look at it as a UB fan. You love when players like Nick Sinay, Tyler Mautner, and Tom Murphy are good enough to catch the eyes of scouts; but at the same time how much would Nick Sinay's speed have helped this season?

Why Mallaro Might Get Drafted

Mallaro's season this year rivals that of the UB alumnus and top Rockies prospect Tom Murphy. After hitting just five home runs through his first two years at UB, the Syracuse native crushed 13 home runs this season. That mark tied Murphy's single-season record and brought Mallaro to 7th all time for Buffalo.

The highlight may have been hitting the cycle against UT-Martin back the early weeks of the season.

When you hit the ball out of the park 13 times you're bound to put up solid RBI numbers as Mallaro's ties him for the second-most productive season in school history. He is currently tied with Tyler Mautner, one ahead of Murphy's 2012 season and one behind Jason Kanzler's 2013 season in that respect. As we mentioned above, two of these three Bulls were drafted as Juniors.

In his final week of the season, Mallaro batted .450 with 5 home runs and 11 RBI's. That gave him his second consecutive conference player of the week award and his third of the season. He also had a .984 fielding percentage this year with 58 put outs.

Why Mallaro Might Not Get Drafted

There is no denying that Mallaro's junior year is the equal of previously drafted UB juniors. The problem is that Murphy, Mautner, and Kanzler had better sophomore seasons than Vinny did. As sophomores, Nick Sinay was already a proficient bag thief, Murphy was one of the MAC's best hitters, and Mautner was a Louisville Slugger All-American and second team all-conference.

Should he stay or should he go?

The Major League draft is set up in a way that gives a lot more bargaining power to Juniors than it does to Seniors, but the history of the Major League draft is really quite interesting and too long and convoluted to go in to any real detail here. A junior who is drafted and does not sign with the club that selected him may be drafted again the following season. A club may not select a player again in a subsequent year, unless the player has consented to the re-selection. Basically if a player really does not like the team that drafts him, or their signing bonus offer, he may go back and finish his college career and take another bite out of the apple the following season.

Each major league club is allocated a "bonus pool" that it can use for the initial contracts and bonuses offered to the players that they draft. The pool size is based on the clubs draft position and number of picks, plus the amount spent in the previous year's draft.

A junior tends to get bigger bonus offers than a senior because the junior has the option to pass up your offer if they think they can command a higher one next season. A Junior is also aware that unless their following season greatly improves their draft stock that they can find themselves at a disadvantage the following season.

This may be why Sinay, and Mautner left early. Tom Murphy was drafted in the early rounds and he commanded a $454,000 bonus from Colorado. Guys taken toward the back of the draft, especially Seniors, are usually looking at bonuses smaller than 10K and salaries between 1,000 and 1,500 a month (for six months of the year).

So do you not finish your education for 1,500 a month and a small chance you'll climb through the farm system to make it to the Bigs, or do you go back, get your degree and be at a disadvantage the next season?

The only one who knows if Mallaro will stay or go is himself. And though we will wish him well either way if his name is called it would be great to see him back next season to anchor the lineup.