Baseball America's Jim Callis tweets that the Cardinals and first-round pick Rob Kaminsky have agreed to a $1,785,300 signing bonus. The prep left-hander out of New Jersey receives a signing bonus that matches the assigned pick value for his No. 28 overall selection that was reported by Baseball America earlier this year.
Kaminsky, who is advised by Excel Sports Management, ranked 21st on Baseball America's list of Top 500 draft prospects, ranked 33rd according to ESPN's Keith Law and ranked 38th according to Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com. BA called him the "most advanced prep arm" in the draft, noting that his fastball sits 88-92 mph and touches 93-94. Kaminsky is just 5'11" and weighs 190 pounds, however, leading Mayo and to raise questions about his durability.
The Cardinals selected Kaminsky with the compensation pick they received for losing Kyle Lohse to the division-rival Brewers as a free agent, so his development will likely carry extra narrative within the NL Central. Interestingly, the Cardinals hadn't selected a left-handed pitcher in the first round since drafting Bret Wagner in 1994. In 2013, however, they took two within a span of nine picks, grabbing Gonzaga lefty Marco Gonzales with the 19th pick. Both southpaws have now signed, bumping the total of first-rounders to sign up to eight.
