MLB Drafts More Interest…

It is the only major sport that does the picks for its future while its present is going on, and is also the only sport that still only drafts those athletes who are from North America as opposed to the world, but the MLB Draft continues to come of age as a property.  Taking place over three days without any international players, the Draft had been somewhat of an afterthought for the casual baseball fan amidst all the goings-on in the MLB season. Like the NHL, the players selected usually take years to mature and reach the Majors, so much of the fanfare and immediate gratification that comes with the NBA or NFL Drafts, where players go from the board to the teams, is missing. However MLB continues to find ways to make the Draft more relevant to the casual fan, and even improve the Q level for the diehard follower.

Using the social space and the power of MLB Network, Sirius MLB Radio and MLB.com, the league moved the Draft a few years ago to their studios in Secaucus to create more relevancy to the process. They have also engaged actively with the projected top picks, giving those players immediate opportunities to get time in the spotlight and with the fans, and have now taken a page from the NFL and the NBA Draft Lottery by having teams bring in some luminaries from their past glory to help select the first picks and give some analysis about the current draftees, their experience going through the process, and thoughts about the organization they represent. From Hall of Famers to former executives, the studio will be chock full of relevant names that a casual fan may flip to just to hear from, and that will help move the draft picks to be more top of mind as each organization builds.

Thursday will feature the use of a Twitter Mirror celebrity photo station within the network’s Studio 42. The Twitter Mirror was tried during Spring Training, with a tablet will be stationed along the third base line of the miniature infield of Studio 42 where draft picks, club reps and other celebrities can take photographs to be posted on Twitter. MLBAM and the network will also be encouraging each of the seven prospects slated to attend the Draft in person to take further pictures with the Twitter Mirror following their selections.

Now those in the room will still not have the uniqueness of other sports, who now shop that seat to elite fans, some brand contest winner or even celebrities, but the step towards other faces brings much better relevance to an event which is big on mystery and long on time for today’s get it done now sports fan. Baseball is still long on tradition more so than other sports, and the draft’s length and uncertainty doesn’t really lend itself to the hysteria and fan interest of other leagues, but all in all another solid effort by MLB to find a way to make its future stars and the process behind picking them  much more front and center than ever before.