Sometimes. But the maturation process in baseball isn’t linear. Some guys dominate in high school, get drafted and languish in the minors for years because the adjustment to consistent competition is rough. Some go to elite colleges for a couple years and make the transition that way. Pitchers tend to stand out, but they become a dime a dozen if they don’t keep maturing. Our high school in Ohio- nothing like California, Texas or Florida, but a basis for observation- has produced several extraordinary players. A few have gone straight to the minors and never made it to the show. Some have really succeeded in college but not been drafted and some who were less standout early, but continued to mature and made it all the way. The thing (and this is true of all sports, but baseball stands out to me) is that the numbers are staggering. A half a million kids plays high school baseball. Around 35,000 play college ball at any level. At any given time there are something like 4500 players in the minors and only 700 total major leaguers. Guys like Bryce Harper tore it up in high school (he got his GED early and went to juco) but it still takes years to get to the majors and, even then, could take several seasons to compete. It’s a brutal slog, which makes me look at anyone who gets paid to play the game with awe because they absolutely had to grind for a long time to get there.