The Diamondbacks agreed to sign high school right-hander Felipe Perez for a reported bonus of $400K, Eric Sondheimer of the Los Angeles Times reports. Perez, who was about to start his college career at UCLA, went undrafted this year, so he became eligible to sign as a professional on the first day of school.
The Diamondbacks could have spent over $404K without losing a 2013 first round pick, Jim Callis of Baseball America reports (Twitter links). Perez was the top undrafted player from Baseball America’s pre-draft list of the 500 best prospects available, Callis notes. The publication ranked him 129th, noting his projectable three-pitch mix and 88-91 mph fastball. ESPN.com’s Keith Law suggests Perez went undrafted because of signability questions (Twitter link).
First round draft picks Max Fried and Lucas Giolito were also headed to UCLA until they signed professional contracts.
nice move by the dbacks
This helps on multiple fronts. Not only does this help the MLB Club with pitching depth, this also helps the local Universities ASU and UofA. Nice job Dbacks!
Honest question – If he is good enough to be worth 400k, why wasn’t he drafted?
I can only imagine it had to do with the fear that he wouldnt sign so it would be a wasted pick, but even thats a pretty weak guess sense tons of teams sign guys in later rounds they arent sure will sign,
yup
A Baseball America article from July says he was ranked 129th out of 500 before the draft but wasn’t drafted because of signability. I can’t help but think that something must’ve happened between then and now, but I can’t fathom what, since another BA article posted today says his stuff actually improved in the West Coast League this summer.
!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS, Felipe!!!!! We are very proud of you & all of your ACCOMPLISHMENTS!!!!!