The Reds have agreed to a slightly-above-slot $1.35MM bonus with second-round pick Antonio Santillan, Jim Callis of MLB.com reports on Twitter. He was taken 49th overall, which came with a $1,227,800 pool allocation.
Santillan rated as high as 63rd on pre-draft boards, with MLB.com giving him that slot. His fastball can reach the upper nineties at times and he possesses a big breaking ball, giving the high school righty plenty of upside. But MLB.com says Santillan has a long way to go in smoothing and repeating his delivery, as well as adding a legitimate third pitch.
The big hurler ranked somewhere within the top 100 on all major draft pundits’ lists, but only barely: Baseball America pegged him right at the century mark. Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs had Santillan at 69th overall while ESPN.com’s Keith Law rated him 84th, noting the high ceiling but adding that Santillan is most likely to end up a reliever.
Santillan was committed to Texas Tech, but Cincinnati reached a bit over $100K over slot to nab him. The Reds had racked up some savings with lower-round choices, and still appears to have some additional space to work after signing its first four picks. Fifth-rounder Miles Gordon and sixth-rounder Ian Kahaloa — both high schoolers — are the highest Cinci picks whose bonus agreements remain unreported.
Glad to hear it!