On July 21 of last year, two longtime teammates each took their turn sitting down at a table adorned in Los Angels Angels red, the team’s logo plastered on the wall behind them.In Instagram photos posted from that day, they’re smiling. It was another joint milestone for Jakob Guardado and Alec Gomez — two Orange County kids living their baseball dream. They’d played together in high school and college. And now, they were making the leap together into professional baseball as undrafted free agents.It’s the kind of story, however, that can be viewed in two different ways.The signings can be seen as joyful low-stakes moment, the shared start of a journey that they hope ends in the major leagues.They can also be seen as the byproduct, at least in part, of nepotism – the granting of a chance to certain players because of their connections, while others might never be afforded the same opportunity.Once an extremely common practice in baseball, these types of signings are now drawing more scrutiny.Jakob is the son of Angels executive Eddie Guardado, who was also a longtime closer for the Minnesota Twins, enshrined in that team’s Hall of Fame. Gomez is Jakob’s longtime teammate.Players with big-league bloodlines do have a long history of performing well. Still, neither of these two were particularly productive college players. Gomez played in only five Division I games following a successful season at the Division II level. Guardado’s collegiate ERA was 6.22, his fastball averaged 88.8 miles per hour, and he struck out just 5.3 batters per nine innings.One college head coach whose team faced Guardado said that he thought it was a stretch to sign him to a pro contract. The coach, along with most of the people The Athletic spoke to for this article, spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to provide a candid perspective and preserve relationships across the sport.Both Guardado and Gomez declined comment through an Angels spokesperson, and the team declined to make Eddie Guardado available for comment.Jakob Guardado, shown pitching at University of the Pacific in 2024. (AP Photo/Amanda Loman)Drafting family members or signing them to free agent contracts is as much a part of baseball history as sunflower seeds and the seventh inning stretch. For years, teams often used the later rounds of the draft for these selections, because the stakes were low and roster spots were considered plentiful.In 2015, the Phillies drafted the sons of four organizational employees in the 35th round or later. The Padres drafted Rick Renteria’s son twice, in 2007 and 2012, while Rick was a coach in the organization. In 2005, the Mariners drafted Rufus Lumry III out of Princeton; his father owned part of the team.All of those examples were in line with the norm at the time.However, the elimination of 40 minor league teams in 2021, the subsequent elimination of 20 draft rounds, and the league’s institution of a hard 165-player domestic organizational cap in 2023 have changed the entire dynamic of minor league roster decisions.There was a time when teams employed well over 200 minor leaguers. Now, clubs are far more judicious about every uniformed athlete, and signings that may smack of nepotism stand out for their rarity.“It’s much different today,” said one current big league scouting director. “It’s almost non-existent because you can’t waste picks. Period. … You can’t afford to waste roster spots.”Baseball has long accepted nepotism picks because the stakes were so low. Many of these picks never play in a professional game. Why would fans care?Within the game, however, with roster spots now at a premium, every player and every signing is scrutinized.“It’s just not fair anymore,” one baseball agent, who represents mostly minor league players, said of nepotism signings. “You’re going to have guys either not move up and get the development they need, or get cut. And it’s so easy to get cut now.”That’s what makes Guardado and Gomez stand out in today’s game. Gomez’s entire D-I experience was going 1-of-14 at the plate while playing at University of Pacific in Stockton, California. Guardado, also at Pacific, posted a 1.660 WHIP and allowed 19 homers over his two seasons.Director of player development Joey Prebynski, who has overseen an Angels system that annually ranks among the lowest in MLB, told The Athletic the signings were rooted in believing the players’ abilities and their specific fits for necessary roles in the organization.