Here are the day’s significant draft signings of less than $1MM, with slot values via Baseball America. All signing links to Twitter.
- Royals second-rounder Josh Staumont will receive the 64th selection’s full $964,600 slot value, Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com reports. The MLB.com prospect team was highest among evaluators on Staumont, listing the collegiate righty as the 65th-best player available and crediting his top-of-class arm strength. Though he has issues with hitting the zone, Staumont has flashed enough easy velocity and promise with his secondary offerings to have a lofty ceiling.
- The Yankees will pay third-round choice Drew Finley an above-slot $950K bonus, Mayo reports. That’s $323,400 above the 92nd pick’s alloted pool space. ESPN.com’s Keith Law likes Finley quite a bit, explaining that the prep righty combines the projection and control to profile as a future starter. New York also agreed to an at-slot $456,800 payday for fourth-round choice Jeff Hendrix, also via Mayo.
- The Angels have agreed to an above-slot bonus for second-rounder Jahmai Jones, Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times reports. The precise bonus value remains unreported, but Jones was taken with the 70th pick in the draft, which had a $880K allocation. Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs listed the high schooler as the 50th player on his board, crediting his advanced bat and solid power. The question is whether Jones can play an up-the-middle position defensively, but McDaniel says there is enough of a track record to suggest he can. Los Angeles has also agreed to a slot-value, $548,600 bonus for third-rounder Grayson Long, according to Mike DiGiovanna of MLB.com.
- Pirates second-rounder Kevin Kramer will take home a $850K bonus, according to Jim Callis of MLB.com. The team will save $144,800 against the pool space afforded by the 62nd overall selection. Law had the highest rating on the UCLA shorstop among pundits, calling him the 71st-best prospect and praising his overall skillset (while noting long-term questions about Kramer’s ability to stick at short and general lack of impact tools).
- The Nationals have reached agreement with high school outfielder Blake Perkins, who May says took home a $800K bonus, $93,100 under his slot value at 69th overall. Bryan Webb tweeted this morning that a deal was done. Only Law placed Perkins within his top-100 draft prospects, with Baseball America explaining that he has five-tool potential but has plenty of development ahead of him. Fourth-rounder Mariano Rivera Jr. has agreed to a slot-value ($410,700) bonus, also per Mayo. (You might remember his father, who had a lengthy MLB career for some good clubs.)
- The Diamondbacks announced a host of signings, including third-rounder Taylor Clarke, fourth-round pick Breckin Williams, and fifth-rounder Ryan Burr. The 76th choice was valued at $801,900, while the 106th pick came with a $538,200 allotment, though bonuses remain unreported. Per BA, Clarke’s future may depend upon his ability to harness his change-up, as the collegiate senior has a useful fastball and well-commanded slider. bArizona will pay Burr the slot value of $403K, Mayo adds.
- Likewise, the Mariners say they’ve formally signed a number of players to undisclosed bonuses, among them third-rounder Braden Bishop ($607,700 slot value) and fourth-round choice Dylan Thompson ($448K slot value). Bishop, a University of Washington outfielder, drew the 81st position on the MLB.com pre-draft list, which cited his big speed.
- The Marlins went well above slot to nab eight-round choice Chris Paddack, with Callis reporting that he’ll get an even $400K. The 236th slot in the draft was worth just $173,100.
- Athletics fourth-round pick Skye Bolt lands a $650K bonus, per Callis. That’s a nice bump up over the 128th choice’s $453,300 allotted value. MLB.com had the highest grade on the UNC outfielder, rating him 67th overall based upon Bolt’s four plus tools. The question is with the bat, which the switch-hitter has failed to show over the last two seasons.
I made an account for the sole reason to say that this new commenting system is completely atrocious. This is horrible and disappointing to see this happen. Hopefully you will return to using Disqus as your commenting system.
Definitely horrible commenting system.
But I like how they say that it’s funny the writer said that Mariano Rivery played for “some good clubs”…. plural… lol.
#NeedANewWriter.
Do you have any specific feedback on the commenting system?
It is terribly inconvenient. Harder to be notified, makes discussions harder, you can only get alerts by email when someone gives you feedback, you cant upvote or downvote a comment, limited to names, you cant even use a capital letter, everything is just atrocious. Honestly the only good thing about the commenting system is that you can talk to other people, even though it’s now been made terribly inconvenient. Disqus was far better and I’m disappointed it is no longer being used on here.
We’re still kicking around ideas on notifications. Upvoting is in the works, although we may leave out downvoting for now. If you click on your profile up top you can change your display name and use capital letters and such. I am sorry about the terrible inconvenience, but please understand that we intend to improve the system now that we have it under our roof.
But why change a system that was already excellent?
I wrote about that a bit here:
link to mlbtraderumors.com
I want to have a good commenting system and to be able to modify it as needed. I think it can be done and missing a couple of features will be a short-term thing.
It still doesn’t explain why you changed it though. It was perfectly satisfying and showed you when you had a reply on your post by showing “one new reply” under it. Everything was easy and convenient. Now you have to refresh your page to see new comments, and the page is refreshed when you do comment
It does explain it. It is about gaining the ability to customize and removing the risk of leaving Disqus as the caretaker of all the site’s comments. I’m thinking big picture here.
It’s a rocky start but the fact you have more customization leaves the door open for improvement. It’s new. People don’t adapt to change well any more. We’ll adjust.
Very hard to be notified. Also with Discus LOVED that I could see a notification icon next to my name when I had an unread reply and I could see my most recent threads in list form.
Jeff, by the way, meant a lot of good Yankees clubs. #Don’tNeedANewWriterJeffToddIsAwesome
Wait, so I’m not fired? Yesss!
Jeff is a good writer, don’t need a new one. But I do appreciate the articles being the same
Glad you were able to battle through the commenting system to offer your constructive criticism.
That construction is commonly used to refer to various iterations of the same organization. As in, “the great Yankees teams of the 1950s,” for example.
Very glad to see NY get Finley signed, really thought the pick was a great value for where they landed him.