Has any player gone straight to MLB?

Baseball is the oldest purely American sport that is also widely watched. It is also a unique sport in the way it handles its transition of amateur players transition to the pro ranks. The different levels and layers of minor leagues is one of a kind. For this reason it is almost impossible for a player to skip the minor league process and head straight to the pros.

Out of the many thousands of players that have come through Major League Baseball, only 103 went straight to the big leagues and skipped the minors. About half of these players were forced directly to the majors because of something called the “bonus rule” which existed from 1947 to 1965.

If you’re unaware of the bonus rule, which created “bonus babies” then here is what that means: between 1947 and 1965 any player signed to a contract of $4,000 or more was required by the league to be on the signing team’s 25-man roster.  If the player were to be demoted to the minor leagues, they would be listed on the waiver wire and another team would have a shot at them. So, teams were forced to keep these “bonus babies” on the 25-man roster to keep them from going elsewhere.  Once the player had been on the 25-man roster for at least two seasons he could be then be demoted without penalty. The bonus rule was deactivated in 1965 when Major League Baseball instituted a draft.

Only five of these “bonus babies” eventually made it to the hall of fame. Those players are; Al Kaline, Harmon Killebrew, Sandy Koufax, Roberto Clemente and Catfish Hunter.

Rookie of the Year

Only one player in baseball history was able to go directly to the big leagues and also when rookie player of the year. That player was Bob Horner.  He went on to play 10 total seasons in the majors, almost completely for the Atlanta Braves, and was an All-Star only once. He had a career 277 batting average with 218 home runs.

Below is a list of all the players that were able to skip the minors and head directly to the pros.