My hs scouting is 20 and college 5. I understand my hs guys I will see more of and ratings more accurate. My question is , the college guys I do see, their ratings are likely very inaccurate only having 5 on college correct ?

For any of you with 20 hs and low college, how do you rank the college guys? Do you not even attempt to rank any high or assume some are studs and rank them somewhere ?

Your assumption is correct; the ratings are very inaccurate. I've never had that kind of balance so can't answer the other question.

If you're putting $5 mil in college you might as well put $0 in college. The minimum I'd put into any scouting budget, HS/College/International when I'm hoping to actually find real prospects would be $12 mil. With a $5 mil budget your ratings will be too skewed to accurately determine which players have potential. You'd be better off putting that money in your coaching budget to help the development of your HS draftees, or your International budget to supplement your draft.

If you have $5 million in there because you're
working your way up, then I’d ignore the college players until you’re over $10 million. If $5 million is in there just because, then cut it to $0 next season and redeploy the funds.

yes previous owner had college up at 15. I was planning to go on the way down to 0, thus the 5.

A poll questions for the masses. Do you prefer focusing on college or high school recruits?

I've done the opposite and had 20 college and zero HS. As im progressing i have that year of only 5 in HS. I then take all 18 year old to the bottom of the board. From my experience HS has fewer players but better overalls.

I’ve always been a college guy myself. Older, more developed, more minor league ready. I’m usually signing serviceable players through the 8th up to the 10th round. However, I just took over a struggling franchise with the 3rd overall pick. I’m going HS with this team as I can get to 20 scouting this season while it would take me a few seasons to do so for college. I could target a Mom agent pick but got burned once. Instead I’m opting to play it a little safer and try to HS approach this time around.

I almost never draft higher than 16th. Usually have a veteran team, sign free agents instead of IFAs, trade to improve when I can. So I run 20M College/0 HS for two reasons. First that my prospects reach the majors faster; second that I mine those third-through-tenth round picks for possible RPs and role players who might maybe till out my major league roster in the future. It's much harder to dig up late rounders in HS.

Many people will recommend to do the opposite of whatever your league is doing. So, if the league overall leans strongly towards college, go the other way, hoping to get a future ML player in Round 2. Trouble is, with 31 other teams, most leagues are pretty close to evenly split HS/College. If yours isn't even, take advantage of it.

Personally, I go towards HS, because those players are more tradeable. People will be skeptical of a 25 yr-old prospect already having 3 years of development. The same 21 yr-old looks like he has higher upside.

Posted by mg050369 on 11/16/2025 5:15:00 PM (view original):
A poll questions for the masses. Do you prefer focusing on college or high school recruits?

If I'm putting money into scouting - I tend to focus more on college and hope that they are closer to ready...promote thru the minors quicker and have a better idea of what they might be. Or at least that's what I tell myself.