Money and tech have closed gap between NCAA baseball, MLB

PHOENIX (AP) — There was a time in the not-so-distant past that many Major League Baseball teams looked at their college baseball counterparts with a degree of skepticism. There were the metal bats, the shorter schedule and a sense that nothing could replace the seasoning that came with years of grinding through professional baseball's minor leagues. Not anymore. Thanks to a variety of factors — especially money and technology — the MLB and NCAA versions of baseball have never been more similar. There's also been more movement between the two versions of the sport in recent years. It's part of the reason Tony Vitello is now the manager of the San Francisco Giants despite never working or playing for a professional organization before he was hired — a first in MLB history. It's also a factor in why Athletics slugger Nick Kurtz was the AL Rookie of the Year in 2025 barely one year after finishing a decorated college career at Wake Forest. "The college game has definitely taken a bigger step toward the pro game — mainly because of the almighty dollar," said Arizona State coach Willie Bloomquist, who played 14 big league seasons. "Essentially what's happened, the Power 4 Conferences are basically the minor leagues." Athletics general manager David Forst — who selected Kurtz with the No. 4 overall pick in the 2024 draft — said the first baseman's quick rise through the minors made him realize how good college baseball had become. Kurtz needed just 210 plate appearances in the minors before dominating MLB pitching, batting .290 with 36 homers and 86 RBIs over 117 games in 2025. "There's no doubt that top-level college baseball is High-A or Double-A now. It's really close," Forst said. "I never would have imagined a player like Nick Kurtz coming to the big leagues for us 11 months after he was drafted. "That was unthinkable when I first started doing this. The timeline is squashed because these guys are coming out of college so ready, so physically advanced. Some of them — frankly — don't need the minor league at-bats they used to need." One reason the college game has improved so much is an influx of cash. Coaching salaries have exploded over the past few decades: LSU's Jay Johnson is at the top of the scale at more than $3 million per year while Mississippi State's Brian O'Connor is second at $2.9 million. Those are outliers, but it's not uncommon for power conference coaches to make more than $1 million. The highest paid MLB managers make around $8 million per season, but top assistants like pitching and hitting coaches usually make six figures. The advent of NIL money has also made playing college baseball more lucrative, even if payouts lag well behind their football and basketball counterparts. There's also the fact that top-level NCAA programs are investing in technology. "We have one of the better pitching labs on the West Coast," Bloomquist said. "I think it would rival a lot of professional organizations. From a data standpoint, it's all trickled down to the college level." After retiring as a player, Bloomquist worked in the Arizona Diamondbacks' front office before getting hired by the Sun Devils. His pitching coach — Jeremy Accardo — spent 18 years in professional baseball as a player and coach. Bloomquist said that MLB teams have become more comfortable trusting NCAA programs to develop professional talent instead of taking the risk of drafting an unproven 18-year-old straight out of high school. He added that it's probably one of the reasons that MLB felt comfortable cutting 40 minor league affiliates back in 2020. In the 2025 MLB draft, 56 college players were selected in the top 90 picks. "These guys trust (college) programs," Bloomquist said. "They say, 'We'll just watch them in college in three years at a Power 4 program, see how they development and then we'll go get them.'" Georgia baseball coach Wes Johnson is another coach who has bounced between MLB and NCAA with success at both levels. He was hired as the pitching coach for the Minnesota Twins and had a strong 3 1/2-year run between 2019 and 2022 before going back to the college game. He helped develop 2025 NL Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes as LSU's pitching coach before landing the head job with the Bulldogs. Johnson said there's little doubt that the college and pro games have never been more similar, but added that there are still real differences for players and coaches. The biggest is the schedule. In college, the condensed schedule makes all 56 regular-season games feel huge. A three-game losing streak is the end of the world. In professional baseball, it's just a small bump in the road. "With the Twins, we played 33 spring games, then played 162 in the season and then made the playoffs," Johnson said. "It's every day there. That's the hardest challenge you have when you go from college to the big leagues. We won 101 games in 2019 (in the regular season). That means we only lost 61 games. "But that's the most I've ever lost in my life in one year." Bloomquist agreed that the schedule is much different. He said age is a factor as well. "There's a different style in college than there is in professional baseball — to an extent that's accurate," Bloomquist said. "There's an intensity in college, motivating 18 to 20 year olds, as opposed to guys who are making $20 million. Can you relate to those guys in pro ball?" San Francisco Giants third baseman Matt Chapman played in college at Cal State Fullerton before becoming a five-time Gold Glove winner the big leagues. Even though there are some differences — like many more native Spanish speakers in professional baseball — he wasn't worried about Vitello's transition. "Winning baseball looks the same," Chapman said. "It's pitching and defense, knowing how to run the bases and then managing personalities. He has a lot of experience with that. "There will be a learning curve in some areas. You just can't fully know how to run a Major League clubhouse unless you've been in one. But it's not foreign to him. He's a baseball guy." ___ AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb