JUNE 19: Nevin received an even $2MM bonus, tweets Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com. That places him about $373K over slot value.
JUNE 18, 2:49pm: Second-round selection Tyler Nevin has also agreed to terms, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports on Twitter. Like his father, veteran big leaguer Phil Nevin, the would-be UCLA commit is a third baseman. MLB.com rated Nevin just inside the top fifty available prospects.
Nevin’s bonus remains unreported at present. The 38th pick came with a $1,626,500 allocation.
2:23pm: The Rockies have announced the signing of righty Mike Nikorak, the 27th overall selection in the draft. He’ll receive a $2.3MM bonus, per MLB.com’s Jim Callis (via Twitter).
The slot value for the comp pick was $2,004,600, meaning that Colorado went nearly $300K over to draw him away from a commitment to the University of Alabama. That eats up a decent portion of the $723K that the team saved in signing its first selection, Brendan Rodgers.
Callis says that Nikorak has the highest ceiling of any prep arm in this year’s draft class, and indeed the MLB.com team rated him the 15th-best player available. His big fastball has lost steam at times, but MLB.com says that it has plenty of movement regardless. While he’ll need to keep developing his secondary offerings, Nikorak is said to have excellent athleticism and still has not filled into his sizable frame.
Baseball America agrees that Nikorak has top-of-the-rotation upside, rating him 16th among draft-eligible players. Meanwhile, ESPN.com’s Keith Law placed Nikorak in his 22nd slot, noting some control issues, and Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs put him in the 25th place on his board while pointing out that there were some velocity drops at times this year.
