ATLANTA -- The back section of the Coca-Cola Roxy, a small concert venue that hosted the first round of Major League Baseball's draft, was cordoned off with stanchions Sunday night. Gray couches had been arranged for draft hopefuls to lounge alongside their traveling parties while waiting for their names to be called by MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, but there was one distinct problem:
Nobody was in them.
Four years ago, MLB pushed its draft back, paired it with the rest of its All-Star Game festivities and envisioned a grander affair, with fans in attendance, a national audience watching and players, outfitted with lavish suits, approaching the stage to don their first professional caps and jerseys. But between only six and eight players showed each year from 2021 to 2024. And this year, with the Atlanta Braves and Truist Park serving as hosts, player attendance was reduced to nothing. One or two amateurs expressed interest in going and were told not to bother.
In MLB's mind, one or two was worse than zero.
Two days later, while fielding questions from members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America, Manfred touted the "progress" of MLB's draft product, praising both the broadcast and the atmosphere of its most recent version, but acknowledged that player attendance is "obviously an important part."
"Some of it is luck of the draw," Manfred said Tuesday. "Some agencies take the position that they don't want their players there for reasons they'll have to explain to you. I can't. Because I believe it's an important step in terms of marketing a player and making him a star when he gets to the big leagues. Having said that, they give the advice they give."
Three agencies in particular that have been identified by league officials as dissuading clients from attending MLB's draft are The Boras Corporation, Excel Sports Management and Wasserman, which combined to represent 18 of this year's top 30 picks.
Representatives from each of the three agencies denied possessing a hard-and-fast rule preventing players from attending the draft, stating that those decisions ultimately rest with their clients. But those agencies, as well as other agents throughout the industry, did identify two key reasons why some of their clients ultimately don't attend.
One is that amateurs, particularly those who just graduated high school, don't want to subject themselves to the public shame of potentially seeing their names fall in the draft, preferring instead to host draft parties surrounded by friends and family members from home. Another, more prominent reason is that the MLB draft's economic landscape disincentivizes it.
Each selection within the first 10 rounds comes with an assigned value, but teams are free to divide their total draft bonus pools however they would like. Signing bonuses, then, are subject to negotiations. And those talks often take place minutes before players are selected, potentially influencing whether teams take them at certain spots. After that, deals still need to be finalized. Scott Boras, baseball's most influential agent, believes attending a draft can hinder leverage.
"I have players that are drafted, and they still have to negotiate their contracts," Boras said. "You can't go out there and parade in front of a live audience saying, 'I am with the team,' without knowing that they are going to be with the team. We still have other options."
High school players can choose to attend the universities they are already committed to, a bigger draw with the money generated through name, image and likeness deals. College juniors can opt to return for their senior years. All of them can decline the bonuses offered by teams.
"The nature of our unique draft system and the culture of the amateur players is the reason why they mostly choose not to attend," Joel Wolfe, an executive vice president on the baseball side at Wasserman, wrote in a text message. "Our first round is so unpredictable -- there's probably 50 to 80 kids that think they might get taken. Players aren't selected simply in order of their highest value or ranking. There's a lot more that happens leading right up to the moment they're selected."
Last year, three of the top 12 and six of the top 24 players selected were present at the draft. In each of the previous three years, one of the players in attendance was taken within the first six picks, including two Pittsburgh Pirates selections, Henry Davis and Termarr Johnson, who went first and fourth, respectively. This year, even though 12 of the first 30 players drafted were either from Georgia or a neighboring state, none showed up.
"Sad," said a player rep who is not affiliated with any of the aforementioned agencies.
"Embarrassing," said another.
But outside of sizable economic changes that would trigger hard slots in the draft -- one that would have to wait until negotiations restart for a new collective bargaining agreement, with the current one expiring after the 2026 season -- the league doesn't seem to possess many options.
This year, MLB upped its incentive package in hopes of luring more draft hopefuls. They offered six round-trip flights, three hotel rooms and six tickets to the Home Run Derby and All-Star Game, along with the opportunity to chat with players during batting practice, attend the Red Carpet Show, meet Hall of Famers and celebrities and be featured on the league's social media channels, among other perks. Clearly, it wasn't enough.
Manfred said he has had conversations with representatives from some of the more prominent agencies "in an effort to create an understanding that this is part of a broader player-marketing effort that starts with the combine, continues through the draft, continues through adding minor league baseball games to MLB.TV so people can see these young players, and then making a big deal out of it when they get their chance in the big leagues."
The path from the amateur ranks to the major leagues can be long and arduous, with few exceptions. It will probably be at least three years before the vast majority of the 615 players drafted Sunday and Monday reach the highest level of their profession, if they make it at all.
That lack of instant gratification is among the obvious reasons why the MLB draft will never come close to reaching the popularity of the NFL and NBA versions, two sports that also give teams less flexibility with draft signing bonuses. College basketball and college football are also far more popular than college baseball, making fans more invested in players leading up to when their names are called.
The MLB draft drew 863,000 viewers across ESPN and MLB Network in 2024, its second-largest audience and roughly three times greater than what it typically attracted in prior decades. But even its best ratings are dwarfed by the NFL and NBA, which drew 13.6 and 3.8 million viewers to its 2025 drafts, respectively. MLB officials have no illusions of someday reaching those numbers. What they would like, though, is for the players, and their reps, to be more invested in making the draft feel important.
One agent suggested paying players for attending, like they do major leaguers who take part in the Home Run Derby. Another suggested cutting off communication between teams and their agents once a draft starts, eliminating a lot of the chaos before picks are made.
Otherwise, in the words of another agent, "It makes more sense for them to be home with their family around them when calls are rolling in. It's very stressful."
ESPN's Kiley McDaniel contributed to this report.