MLB network with 5 minutes on Luke and his draft prospects

Unfairly or not (that is up to one's own opinion) Luke is damaged goods. 

I think that OSU sticking with him, a year removed from the news, and more information coming out has made him much less damaged... but he still is damaged goods. 

I think it would be sad if he is not drafted from a huge number of perspectives. The long and short is he is a pitcher with the talent to be drafted early and he has done nothing but do everything he can to try and show he is a good person. 

I hope for the best for him.

Unlike a university, which is in the business of developing people to be contributors to society, the MLB is not. It's purely in the entertainment business, and that means PR is key to their business.

The only way a team takes Luke is if they are dedicated to investing in PR for Luke. Specifically:

- They would need to accept as an organization Luke's position that he is the victim of either a terrible misunderstanding and/or a vicious family feud.
- They'd need to the sell his plea agreement as lawyer giving him the choice of giving the prosecutor their required pound of flesh or face the risk of prison time in a trial where anything can happen (where a prison outcome risks to surviving would be in question, let alone any decent chance at life thereafter). Given that backdrop vs. a confession that could be sealed for his adult life, the plea deal he took is going to be much more palatable to any teenager. They would have to sell aggressively then that they accept this as what really happened, and would be helped by the lack of any recollection by the case's victim.

There's no 'reformed' PR path for them, because Luke is maintaining innocence outside of the plea deal.

They're may be teams willing to take that on, but there will be plenty of press that will challenge it, so it's plenty risky even they plan for a significant PR budget to counter.

In the current world of click-bait, desperate publications, I just can't see many teams - if any - willing to take this on. We'll know soon.

I wonder if he might have a better chance in a place like Japan, where culturally things might work more favorably for him (I have no idea how it would play out for any options there).

The minor league system isn't as insulated from the fan abuse. Could be a rough couple years 

"Jumped by teammates" doesn't seem likely in a literal sense....but if he were to enter a professional (MLB) organization, as he moves up through A, AA and AAA, he is increasingly likely to have teammates who are fathers (unlike any of his OSU teammates, to my knowledge).  Fairly, or perhaps very unfairly, the tensions/elephant-in-the-room in that situation could potentially become a serious distraction. 

In the baseball world, it's my 'take' that Luke will never again experience the ideal situation (given the circumstances that emerged in June 2017) that he's been immersed in during the past 12 months.  The road gets considerably more difficult going forward.  These are my opinions, as someone who is rooting for Luke and truly believes in the quality of his character. 

Literally this is old news but it has recirculated with the big press picking it up recently.  Eventually this will fade, and any success Luke has will help to make it not so interesting as his career progresses.  Public opinion has a short attention span. If the sports world continues to hear Luke this and Luke that it will be for his excellent pitching performances and then eventually even the most vindictive press people will tire of dredging up the "story".  Patience and steady improvement will see him through to the future i believe.