The Astros are close to a deal with top overall draft pick Brady Aiken, Mark Berman of FOX Houston reports. Aiken’s father Jim says his son will soon travel to Houston to make the deal official.
“I would say we have a verbal agreement in place,” says Jim Aiken. “Next thing is to hammer out the details of the contract and hopefully that’ll be done in the next week or two.”
The pool value of Aiken’s pick is about $7.92MM. There has been some speculation about the possibility that Aiken will take less, which would allow the Astros to spread some of that money to later picks. Aiken, who hails from Cathedral Catholic High School in California, is committed to UCLA.
Aiken’s stock rose this spring, and he gradually emerged as the top overall talent in the draft. As MLBTR’s Steve Adams noted when the Astros picked Aiken, Aiken already has good velocity for a lefty, and he has the potential to have a plus curveball and changeup to go along with a plus fastball. He also has outstanding command for a high school pitcher.
