The Diamondbacks have agreed to a below-slot bonus with competitive balance round B selection Isan Diaz, reports MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo (via Twitter). Diaz gets $750K, meaning that Arizona will save about $58.6K as against the slot assignment for the 70th overall choice.
Diaz, a high school middle infielder who had been committed to Vanderbilt, was viewed as a fifth-round talent by observers like Baseball America and MLB.com. The latter outlet’s Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis explained that he is expected to shift to second base, but has an excellent left-handed bat and solid defensive skills. But ESPN.com’s Keith Law placed Diaz within his top 100 available prospects (at the 90th slot).
The club has also added fourth-round pick, Brent Jones, for $350K, tweets Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com. That falls $82.3K below the assigned slot for the 120th overall selection, which combines with the savings on Diaz to free about $141K to put towards other selections.
