The Diamondbacks have agreed to terms with No. 36 overall pick Aaron Blair for a signing bonus of $1.435MM, tweets Kendall Rogers of perfectgame.org. According to Baseball America's list of pick values, the deal will be well below the assigned slot of $1,547,700. The Diamondbacks received that selection in the draft as the result of a competitive balance pick.
The right-handed pitcher was highly regarded by Baseball America (Subscription Required), Keith Law of ESPN (Subscription Required), and MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo, ranking 41st, 32nd, and 35th respectively in the pre-draft listings.
According to BA, the 6-foot-5, 220-pounder throws a heavy fastball and plus changeup that have been inconsistent thus far in his career, but might best move forward with the slider. The PSI Sports Management advisee spent his college days as a member of the Marshall Thundering Herd.
