Anybody drafted after 65 or so, I would say go to school. Only go pro if your bonus is enough to sock away and be able to buy a house, pay for school and grad school if your pro career doesn’t work out. Commit to Kansas. Play Big XII ball and stand out on a lesser squad and get a good education.

I always wanted a bubble gum card of Joe Shlabotnick. I bought hundreds of packs trying to get one.

Then my “friend” Lucy bought one pack and got a Joe. She wouldn’t trade me Joe’s card, though. Good grief!

It would depend a bit on the money. I’d probably lean toward the money and getting into a farm system. Proper development by a Major League Team could make a big different down the road in term of future salary. Sure, Joe MIGHT move up in the draft in future years, but it’s also possible that he’d down or suffer an injury.

As you of course know, Iowa does have summer high school baseball, so Joe would get a chance to shows his skills up to and after the draft, which could give him more leverage in negotiations. It’s not as if his senior season never happens - it’s just delayed a few months.

You can get good money as a third round pick. If you develop in the minors, great. You may be passing up the funds from being drafted highly after 3 years of college, but if you’ve got serious ability you’ll likely be ready more quickly as a HS draftee than a college draftee. Thus you’ll start making ML money earlier on.
 Go for it.

He’d be an easier sell as a “polished college hitter, medium ceiling”-type than a “raw HSer w/ a medium ceiling”-type, and if he’s worth it, he’ll get his money and will have something academic to fall back on in case his career goes awry.

… even at the risk that he might not know what he wants to major in, and the risk that he might end up wasting his education on something he doesn’t really want in life. He’ll have at least two years to figure out what he wants from school, and he can always turn pro in a couple years if he’s still projected in the 1st-3rd round range and/or he still doesn’t really know what to get his degree in.

Otherwise, it’s a good move to get a degree (at least a business degree or something that can parlay into a decent career) and have that in case the longshot MLB career never happens. If he goes pro and is a projected 3rd round pick with average-ish skills, chances are likely that signing bonus is all the serious money he ever sees from playing.

Nobody seems to want to mention the possibility that going pro IS this kid’s College money. As a 3rd round pick doesn’t the signing bonus alone guarantee his future to a degree? I guess it really depends on A) How bad he wants a career in pro ball B) How bad he wants to go to college C) How much he needs the money at this time.

Something to keep in mind, of course - a quick glance at the history of 3rd round draft picks show that more than half never play in the big leagues, let alone get rich there.

Since we’re looking at this with the lens of a parent, I’m pushing school 100%, and that’s for reasons beyond the economic. If we’re talking about a kid that really struggles in school and hates it, that’s one thing, but I have to assume that this kid would love the college experience. That alone pushes me to remind him that if he makes decisions based purely on money for the rest of his life, his self-worth is going to be destroyed the minute his baseball career is over.

As for the school, I’d probably prefer Kansas. He’d get plenty of exposure against quality arms, would have a natural link to quality summer leagues, and he’d get to play right away. I have no idea about the academics, but if the baseball minds that have come from there are a good example, then I assume they’re quality (yay for John and Bill James).

This is one of those situations where I think “Joe” should go to school. The bonus might be good but unless there is a way he can get a team to agree to pay for his tuition (in case it doesn’t work out), he needs to play it safe. We are not talking about first round money here. If he improves his stock in college, great. However, if he doesn’t, he will still have an education in which he can earn more than his bonus would have paid.

Given that he needs the playing time, I’d say head to KU. Pretty good school overall and he will still get attention from scouts. If he wants even more attention, he could head over to Nebraska. Good school, good program. Unfortuantely, he won’t get as much playing time.

College is not age-limited - if the pro career doesn’t work out, he’ll have an opportunity to get his degree. It seems to me that the reason to go to college for baseball is to improve your draft stock, and the odds that he does so versus significantly better pitching seem small. Coupled with the potential risk of injury, under-performance, etc., it seems like there’s a very real chance not going pro now could end his aspirations.

More to the point, however, the 3rd round pick tells me that teams likely view this as his ceiling and feel that is high enough to ensure he signs. High upside picks that they gamble on signability tend to come later in the draft.

From the description, it sounds like a guy who would go in the first few rounds, especially if he gave indications that he would be willing to sign for close to slot money. That’s enough cash to make it worth your while. It would be too bad if he went to college and either had a major injury that decreased his value in the draft or had a college coach try to tinker with his swing and mess him up. Theoretically he’s the kind that could come back in a few years and be a no doubt about it first round pick, but a bird in the hand and all that. Everything has to go just right for that to happen.

Take the cash now, college will be there.

am i the only one that looked up 3rd round money? you’re talking $360,000 - $560,000.

what is the point of going to college? to prepare you for a job and to help you gain access to job markets. now, what jobs could college prepare for you to make that type of money as soon as you graduate? none.

worse case scenario if he goes pro: kid flames out, walks with his $400,000 grand, goes to college, and starts his real life in a better financial situation than people who have worked for 20-30 years.

worse case if he goes to school: gets hurt, neve rgoes pro. the kid is also more liekly to hurt his draft status than he is to improve it. haven’t we learned from the hundreds of stories of people who should have taken the money?

Basically, if this were my son, if he really did get drafted in the third round I would advise him to sign and save the money as a nestegg…no fancy cars. If he washes out in pro ball, he can go to college then.

If he falls too much in the draft, then I would advise him to go to college most likely.