MLB recently proposed a new set of Draft rules that included changing eligibility guidelines that would make high school prospects ineligible and basically force them to college baseball before turning pro. If approved, prospects would have to be at least two years removed from high school and at least 20 years old.
Right now, players can go straight from high school to pro ball without ever stepping on a college field. And the best of the best do exactly that, even now when they could make more money through NIL than during the grind of the minor leagues.
That's left Skip Johnson and coaches of the Oklahoma Sooners' past out-recruiting other college programs for top prospects, only to lose them to the MLB Draft. It's happened time and time again in Norman. The possibility of the change, though, prompted some fans to start thinking, 'What if this was always the case?' There were some prospects destined to be Sooner legends before heading to the MLB instead.
Top players committed to Sooners before heading to MLB instead
Sooner bred in Oklahoma and still an OU fan today, Archie Bradley had committed to play both football as a quarterback and baseball as a pitcher for the Sooners out of Broken Arrow High School in 2011. But then he was the seventh overall pick by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2011 MLB Draft and that was too much to resist, even while having to give up football.
It's hard to argue Bradley didn't make the right move after a nine-year MLB career, most of which was spent with the Diamondbacks. At his peak, Bradley was the closer in Arizona and had a career ERA of 4.03 with 32 saves after initially being in the starting rotation. Topping out at 98 MPH with junk to go with it, Bradley would have immediately been one of the best starting pitchers in college baseball as a Sooner.
Adrian Houser would have been in the same OU signing class as Bradley before going in the second round to the Houston Astros. Those two would have joined a starting rotation that already included future Big Leaguer Jonathan Gray. That weekend rotation would have been the best in the country and likely would have won Sunny Golloway a national title in one of those two years with that much pitching talent.
Instead, Houser is now in the midst of his 10th MLB season and first year with the San Francisco Giants. He's coming off the best season of his career with a 3.31 ERA between the Chicago White Sox and Tampa Bay Rays.
It could be national champion Eli Willits. Brother of Men's College World Series Most Outstanding Player Jaxon and son of associate head coach Reggie, Willits has OU DNA and could have shared a middle infield with his older brother during the Sooners' championship run.
But less than a year ago during the 2025 MLB Draft, he became the third-youngest player ever to be selected with the top overall pick out of Fort Cobb-Broxton High School. He's already been promoted to High-A this season and is ranked by MLB Pipeline as the No. 3 prospect in baseball.
Son of a former Sooner and Big Leaguer who he shares a name with, Bobby Witt Jr. was committed to continue the family legacy before going second overall in the 2019 MLB Draft. There's no doubt he would have been a Golden Spikes Award winner in two years at OU. And had he stayed until his junior season, he would have been part of the OU team that lost to Ole Miss in the MCWS final, but it might have been a different result with Witt at shortstop.
Witt has been one of the best players in MLB since debuting in 2022 as a two-time All-Star and joining the 30-30 club with 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases in 2023 and 2025.
had to swing by and see our guy @BwittJr otw to Omaha ☝️ pic.twitter.com/G3Z164whVt
— Oklahoma Baseball (@OU_Baseball) June 10, 2026
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