77.4% of the entire draft class played in PG events

Once again PG set a new record for the seventh consecutive year. 1.164 players who attended Perfect Game events were picked among the 1,504 players selected in the 2008 Draft.

This adds up to a total of 77.4 % of the entire draft class of 2008 who were players that attended Perfect Game events.

46 players were drafted in the first round and first round comp. 41 of those players had attended a Perfect Game event. Several of those players had attended many Perfect Game events.

In the past seven years 5,293 players who attended Perfect Game events have been selected/drafted by Major League clubs.

By the numbers
In 2002 – 364 Draft Picks were Perfect Game Participants
In 2003 – 409 Draft Picks were Perfect Game Participants
In 2004 – 533 Draft Picks were Perfect Game Participants
In 2005 – 823 Draft Picks were Perfect Game Participants
In 2006 – 952 Draft Picks were Perfect Game Participants
In 2007 – 1.048 Draft Picks were Perfect Game Participants
In 2008 – 1,164 Draft Picks were Perfect Game Participants

2008 Quick Facts
First 30 Picks – 27 of 30 players had attended Perfect Game events
First 100 Picks – 87 of 100 players had attended Perfect Game events
First 10 Rounds – 273 of 322 players had attended Perfect Game events
Nearly 82% of all players picked in the first 10 rounds had attended Perfect Game events.
Total for 50 Rounds – 1,164 of 1,504 players drafted had attended Perfect Game events
77.4% of all players drafted in 2008 had attended Perfect Game events.

It had been estimated by the year 2009 over half of all the players on Major League rosters will have attended Perfect Game events. The current total is well over 200 at this time, so there is a long way to go to reach that goal. However, over the past three years, over 70% of all the players drafted have attended PG events. The percentages are much higher than that for the early rounds. These figures do not account for the many free agents from Latin America and other places who attend PG events and then sign with MLB clubs. One can imagine what things might look like down the road.

Once again these are just numbers. Perfect Game does not take any credit for the many outstanding players who get selected in the draft or the even larger number that go on to play college baseball. All we do is provide a place for talented players to be identified, watch them closely and evaluate them as they compete with and against the best competition possible. Then we let the entire baseball world know about those players.

It is the draft and college recruiting that by far counts the most. We identify the players, give our opinions and then Major League scouts and college coaches form their opinions. It is their opinion that means everything. They have to place a value on the players they are most interested in. Of course, it does make us feel good that the majority of the time college recruiters and MLB scouts agree, for the most part, with our opinions about players.

It’s time to get to work on the 2009 class and it looks like a good one. Here is a prediction, the next three draft classes which will include the 2008 players headed to college, will be three of the best back to back to back classes, in a very long time.