I am curious to see what owners think about going entirely for college or HS scouting (20/0 or something close to that).  It seems like the benefits of going towards college are obvious - easier to use current ratings to estimate accuracy of projections, less time until the majors after the draft, less time to get hurt, etc.  Are HS players typically higher ceiling?  If not, college is almost always a better bet.

The problem is that if everyone slants towards college then HS becomes more attractive.  What does everyone think?

I have gone 20/0 most seasons in one world, and 0/20 in another since I inherited that budget and did not think it was worth switching over.

In a good world, when you're drafting after about position 20, either is a really strong strategy.  I almost never miss out on a player much better than the guy I draft in the first round.  I slightly prefer college, because there are more college players than high school players by far in the draft, and you have a slightly less remote chance of getting a useful player in the third round-- but then, 22 year old former HS players tend to have higher projections they'll never achieve than 25 year old former college players and are therefore more tradeable.  It's really a push.

I have one team each way and my 3rd is headed towards all college.  I like having it in college over HS because I am seeing 500 prospects every year with 20/0 college (usually about 4 or 5 HS prospects with the rest college) and I have only seen like 280 total prospects with 0/20 in HS... which was pretty frustrating, particularly considering there were a lot of high school prospects that I didn't have ratings for.

Some college players are JUCO's that are 19 so they have a little more time to grow.

Wow, really did not realize there were so many more college prospects.  Seems like it doesn't make much sense to go the HS route, unless you plan to trade your draft picks later.  They get to the majors faster, they are easier to project because their current ratings are higher, and there is less injury risk (less time in the minors).  My main concern is that it is such a dominant strategy that too many owners will choose it, making HS more appealing.

Posted by kahrtmen on 11/3/2010 1:34:00 AM (view original):
Wow, really did not realize there were so many more college prospects.  Seems like it doesn't make much sense to go the HS route, unless you plan to trade your draft picks later.  They get to the majors faster, they are easier to project because their current ratings are higher, and there is less injury risk (less time in the minors).  My main concern is that it is such a dominant strategy that too many owners will choose it, making HS more appealing.

BINGO!!

I find more guys go the route of HS than college. It's mostly veteran owners who employ this strategy because they feel they can more accurately predict where a college prospect will end up based on his current ratings. I understand the thinking, I personally don't do it, but I understand it. I don't know if either is the best strategy  because I haven't witnessed the difference but I am going to use each strategy in my different worlds to compare.