Prior to last Friday, high school players who committed to playing in college weren't allowed to hire an agent if they happened to be drafted by an MLB team. That changed after the NCAA ruled in favor of a new measure.
High school draftees are now permitted to hire an agent without it affecting their NCAA eligibility, according to Teddy Cahill of Baseball America. The proposal was passed with overwhelming support after a 75-2 vote (with three abstentions) and will immediately into effect for the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, PAC 12, and SEC conferences.
Other Division I conferences are not required to adopt the rule, which was sponsored by the Big 12, but can do so if they please.
"According to the new rules, in order to receive the benefit of an agent, the drafted high school player will be required to pay the agent his standard fee for services," writes Gregg E. Clifton of The National Law Review. "However, a student athlete is not permitted to receive any other benefits from the agent beyond negotiating services. In addition, if the student athlete decides to forego a professional baseball career and retain his college eligibility, he must sever all ties with the agent before formally enrolling and beginning his college academic and athletic experience."
The overhaul of the previous rule now gives these aspiring baseball players a sense of security and, perhaps more importantly, better guidance. In the past, high school players that committed to play baseball in college were only permitted to have an "adviser" and the player and his family were responsible for conducting negotiations with an MLB team if the player was drafted. The adviser was not allowed to participate in negotiations, organize workouts with MLB clubs, or be present for meetings with MLB clubs, according to Mark Townsend of Yahoo! Sports.
That created a huge disadvantage for the high school player since, in an overwhelming majority of instances, neither the player nor his family are privy to negotiating contracts or organizing meetings with MLB teams. An agent can now give a high school player a better idea of where he stands and what decision he should make.
However, this rule only applies to incoming high school students. College students that still possess eligibility cannot hire an agent, and if they do, they can be penalized by the NCAA (unless, obviously, they opt to sign with the MLB team that drafts them).
