6:04pm: Law tweets that Allard will receive a bonus of $3,042,000, about $200K above the recommended pool value for the No. 14 pick. Such a bonus would not cause the Braves to lose a pick next year.
5:40pm: A tweet from California high school lefty and Braves top pick Kolby Allard strongly implies that he and the team have agreed to terms. “Headin’ out to Braves Country in a couple days, let the journey begin!” Allard writes.
Earlier this week, it appeared that Allard might spurn the Braves and instead head to UCLA. Allard was the No. 14 overall pick in the draft, and that pick comes with a pool value of $2,842,400. He would likely have been selected earlier and potentially gotten a bigger bonus, however, were it not for a stress reaction in his back. The Braves have signed all their other picks in the first ten rounds, mostly tracking fairly closely with MLB’s pool values for each pick, so they didn’t save a significant amount against their pool on those picks. MLBTR’s Steve Adams noted earlier this week, however, that since the Braves don’t lose a pick next year unless they go more than 5% beyond their pool, they could give Allard a bonus of up to about $3.47MM.
MLB.com ranked Allard the No. 16 prospect in the draft, praising his fastball (which sits at 92-94 MPH), curveball and low-effort delivery. Baseball America (subscription only) ranked Allard No. 18, while ESPN’s Keith Law rated Allard quite highly at No. 6, writing that, pre-injury, Allard ranked as the best high school pitcher in a weak draft for that player category.
Well, this should give us a little more flexibility and security if we are contending at the trade deadline.
This has literally no bearing on the major league club in 2015.