One of the funniest things about pro sports’ drafts is when experts all over the country try to issue grades based on a team’s haul. I find it to be incredibly ridiculous because, in most cases, a player’s impact cannot be felt for two, three, four years down the line.

With baseball, few, if any, dole out grades based on draft day and with good reason. First, there are over 1,500 young men chosen in the draft. Some will sign as early as this week and report to towns across the country like Albuquerque, Bakersfield and Colorado Springs. Some, like the No. 2 overall pick Dustin Ackley and his UNC teammates are getting ready for a College World Series appearance and cannot begin to think about the next level this week. Finally, there are players – mainly high schoolers – who will say ‘to heck with it’ and report to a college campus this fall instead in the hope of raising their stock for the 2011 or 2012 draft.

The likes of Gordon Beckham, David Price, Rick Porcello and Daniel Schlereth who make it to the big leagues within a year of being chosen are few and far between. It’s easy to say that you like a player and that you think he’ll fit well within his rights-holding organization is fine, but to say, today, that the Atlanta Braves deserve a ‘B+’ and the Oakland A’s deserve a ‘C-’ for their 2009 drafts is unfair.

What we can judge today is the MLB Network’s inaugural draft day coverage. The network, which launched on Januray 1st, had June 9th circled on it’s calendar since the inception. A live draft, televised in prime time, was a coup for the fledgling network. For their first go-around, I’d give it a ‘C.’

A ‘C’ is average and that’s just what they delivered. Bud Selig came across as dull as ever. He stumbled at the mic a few times:

“With the 11th pick in the 19…2009 …” – Hey Bud we’re halfway through 2009, it’s almost 2010, wake up”

“from Stanford University, Stanford, California.” – Last time I checked, Stanford is in Palo Alto, Calif.

In fairness, I did not watch the whole thing start to finish. I was flipping channels, but I got a good enough impression to be able to call it average, at best. I wish more players accepted the network’s invitation to come to the studip and be part of the coverage live. Kudos to Mike Trout, chosen with the 25th pick by the Angels, for being the only one to accept (though, in fairness, he is from Millville, NJ which is only a little over 100 miles from Secacus). It would have been great to see Stephen Strasburg’s reaction live and sit down for a few minutes with Harold Reynolds.

I do believe that, in time, MLB Network will polish it’s coverage of the draft. Maybe expand beyond the first round. I can only imagine how hard it must be to prepare for an event like that with so many players to choose from, so I give them a lot of credit. It will get better. It has to.