Making it to the MLB: What Are the Odds?

Little boys all over the country have a dream. They have a dream of becoming a professional baseball player or they want to grow up playing the sport they love and eventually make lots of money because of it. Who are we to crush the dreams of those little boys that want to make it to the big time? The fact is, as they get older, they start to realize that not every young baseball player can make it to a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. More and more young kids start to grow up and focus on school and grades in order to get into a good college. However, there are those few that stick with their dream of becoming a professional baseball player. For those few still hanging onto the dream, what are the actual numerical odds that these few will actually make it to the MLB?

Around 1 in 200 of high school senior boys that play interscholastic baseball will be drafted by a professional baseball team. Less than 11 in 100 (about 10.5%) of NCAA senior male baseball players will get drafted by an MLB team. As you can see, the odds are pretty slim. Also you also can see, slim does not mean impossible.

Once you get drafted by an MLB team, what some people don’t realize is that almost always, the players go to a minor league team first. There are about 150 minor league teams. Let’s compare this to the actual number of major league teams that add up to 30 teams, meaning 750 player positions. It makes you wonder why in 2004, in the draft, they took 1,500 players. It’s probably there way of giving themselves more options, even though in reality only about 33 minor leaguers will ever make it to the MLB.

From a numbers standpoint, the best chance of making to the MLB would have to be if you continue to play in college once you graduate high school. Said differently, 10.5 percent of college players get drafted or signed as a free agent by one of the major league teams. While these odds are still not great, they’re higher than if you were to quit playing right out of high school.

Making the MLB is all about working hard and not giving up. It’s about your mindset and how you think you can get there. If you are going to be negative and think that it’s impossible, then it will be impossible. In the same token, if you spend your time working hard and making yourself into the best player you can be, then you have a chance of achieving your dream.

*Section Photo credit to Jim Rogash, Getty Images; Featured Photo (above) credit to Daniel Shirey, USA Today Sports

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