Angels urged to skip their first-round MLB Draft pick in wild two-year strategy

Billy Heyen

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Angels urged to skip their first-round MLB Draft pick in wild two-year strategy image

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim almost certainly wouldn't try something this bold.

But considering the state of their performance in the last decade, maybe it's time to try something bold.

Angels writer Jared Tims has a wild idea: Don't sign the player they choose at the No. 2 overall pick, essentially skipping the pick.

Doing that results in a compensation pick next year at No. 3 overall, and the Angels would then likely get another early selection based off this season's results, too.

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This is a strategy that has never been tried.

There have been players who haven't signed, like when the Astros drafted Brady Aiken No. 1 overall but injuries kept him from signing, or the same thing with the Mets and Kumar Rocker more recently.

But to essentially punt on the first-round pick until next year would be brand new.

The upside of this plan is that you know for a fact that you get that compensation pick next year. That's an established rule.

The downside is, like Tims writes, the system might get set back and the turnaround could take even longer to come. There's also no way to know for sure that everyone develops the right way and actually makes the top of next year's draft better than this one.

But it's quite the thought. The Angels would certainly get noticed if they did this.

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Billy Heyen

Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who has written about many sports and fantasy sports for The Sporting News. Sports reporting work has also appeared in a number of newspapers, including the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle