I keep a similar imbalance, and don't touch any HS players in the first several rounds, ie when it matters. You'll probably find that those players have wildly inflated ratings.

It's risky but I've drafted the low scouting players before.    Hardball Dynasty – Fantasy Baseball Sim Games - Player Profile: Randy Gagne comes to mind.   0 in HS, picking 8th.    The ONLY reason I did it was because I didn't see any college players(20m) that had higher current ratings than Gagne.    Gagne was already a "bad" BL pitcher before development.    I did another, 0 college, but I can't recall the player/world.   He worked out well enough but, again, he had very good current ratings.

The quality of the projections is related to the budget.  So your projections may be wildly high.  Look only at current ratings when deciding to draft or not draft a HS player if you have only $2M in scouting there.

In general, do HS players start out with lower ratings anyway? How would you compare a group of 18 year old's current ratings to a more developed group of 22 year old's current ratings?

Use Gagne as a guideline.   His make-up was 86 and that's important.   He gained 18-20 in splits/control.   12-15 in pitches.    That's about all you're going to get.   But, as I said, his currents were very good.    If you're looking a HS player, estimate he's only going to improve by 15 in the important ratings.   Is that BL-material?

Based on that logic, would you say someone like Jon Fielder is an outlier?<br />
<br />
http://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=3561204

He got a tiny medical bug bump after his S29 injury but, yeah, you don't see 29-30 point improvements in splits very often.

Hardball Dynasty – Fantasy Baseball Sim Games - Player Profile: Jimmy Powell is the best pitcher I've ever had and he went off the charts with improvements.   Not normal or something I would count on.  15-20 is normal, 25-28 is fantastic, 30+ is unusual. 

I just did a quick check of my teams.  I have one other P who exceeded 25 pt improvement in splits. 

I have a lot who improved 10 or less.

These jumps do not account for the jump between that first half season and the start of their first full season, correct? Also, would you say those development ranges are also applicable for hitting ratings?

The first half season generally sees only 1-3 points.    That's why I was using ranges of 15-20, 25-28 and 30+ in order for you to get a feel for where the player you're looking at is now and where you can reasonably expect him to be.

Pretty much for hitting splits, contact and eye. 

What kind of improvement ranges do you see with college prospects? Is there a difference between 19 years old vs. 22?

The over all numbers are close but the individual category numbers will be off in the lower scouting vs the higher scouting. I see it when I draft a player and have a higher scouting budget be it hs or college vs my advance scouting budget which is often much lower in funding. 

Does a player's make also come into play with regards to development? If his make up is in the 90's do you normally see more improvement in the splits (hitters and pitchers) and pitch improvement?