MLB Draft Another Sign of Boston College Baseball Issues

The Major League Baseball Entry Draft wrapped up on Saturday over 1,000 picks across 40 rounds.  It marked a return for the Boston College Eagles of sorts, as Andrew Chin became the first current Eagle drafted in two years and the highest pick since Anthony Melchionda went with the 450th pick two years ago.  Melchionda was picked in the 14th round by the St. Louis Cardinals in that draft.

But after Chin's name was called, the picks continued to rattle off with nary a sign of another Boston College athlete.  John Gorman, who some scouts had rated as high as a round in the teens and others didn't have on their board, was not picked.  Graduated senior Tom Bourdon was not picked, and Blake Butera, another player rated lower on some draft board, did not receive a phone call or hear an announcement.

In fact, only one other Eagle heard their name called, and he's not even enrolled in the school yet.  Kyle Dunster, an incoming freshman from Greenwich, CT, was picked in the 38th round (1,135th overall) by the New York Mets.

Compare to local area schools.  Bryant University had four players taken, including Kevin McAvoy in the fourth round.  They had two players go back-to-back in the 19th round, with a fourth drafted in the 27th round.  That marks seven players taken from the young Division I program over the past two seasons, including its first two underclassmen at the Division I level.

Prior to 2014, only 13 players from the entire Hartford Hawks baseball program had ever been drafted or signed as a free agent.  Only one had been taken within the first 10 rounds of the draft, and that was Jeff Bagwell in 1989 by the Boston Red Sox (fourth round).  Only one player from the Hartford program had been takent since the start of the 21st century - Scott Roy, a 21st round pick by Toronto in the 2004 draft.

Three Hawks were selected, including Sean Newcomb, the 2014 America East Pitcher of the Year and the 16th overall selection by the Los Angeles Angels.  Their other pick came inside the first 10 rounds - Brian Hunter to Cincinnati with the ninth round, 275th overall selection.  BC had three guys in the last three years, none earlier than Melchionda's 14th round pick.

In addition, seven Massachusetts high school kids were drafted over the course of the entire draft, including a second round pick out of Springfield Cathedral HS, an 11th round pick out of St. Sebastian's school, and a 13th round pick out of Joseph R. Case High School in Swansea, MA.  Of those seven, none are committed to BC.

The Boston College Eagles had as many guys on the current roster drafted as the Cleveland Browns.

Last week, I spoke of Mike Gambino's inability to develop talent.  He has a great ability to recruit, evidenced by the resumes of some of the players who have been brought in throughout the years.  But by the third year of their stops along the BC bandwagon, they fall off, get hurt, and, as commented in our comment section throughout the last week, potentially get deep-sixed by their own coach.

If all of this is true, there's no question in the indictment of the program's inability to develop the talent they have.  I don't place any of this on the players, but it continues a stark trend.  Based off of last year's recruiting class, I said at the beginning of the year, over and over, that I was willing to put a coach to his words and back it up.  I was willing to sit and listen and let him prove to me that the naysayers were wrong.  Unfortunately, the more and more I've looked at it, the more and more it's just not showing itself to me.  There's something wrong in the water here, and it's someone at BC has to be asking why.

Baseball in Massachusetts is starting to boom, and local programs are starting to get better.  But BC isn't even on the radar, and they're clearly well behind some of the other programs, especially Bryant, who would've been an at-large bid to the national tournament this year if they hadn't won the NEC Tournament.  Maryland, a doormat a couple of years ago, is one away from going to Omaha with half of their roster not draft eligible.  It's not about the facilities since the recruits are coming in.  It's about something greater, something somebody in Chestnut Hill has to start taking stock of.