The Yankees announced today that they’ve signed their first-round pick Blake Rutherford. Terms of the agreement weren’t included with the announcement, but MLB.com’s Jim Callis reports (on Twitter) that the No. 18 overall selection will receive a significantly over-slot bonus of $3,282,000. That sum is $840K more than Rutherford’s slot value of $2,441,600.
An over-slot deal figured to be a requirement for the high school outfielder out of Chaminade Prep in California, however, as he slipped down the draft board a bit from where some earlier projections had him landing. ESPN’s Keith Law rated Rutherford as the No. 6 prospect in the draft, while Callis and Jonathan Mayo ranked him eighth at MLB.com and Baseball America rated him ninth overall. Scouting reports on Rutherford praise his hit tool and potential for above-average power in a corner outfield spot. All three of the reports referenced here note that some scouts are a bit down on Rutherford because he’s already 19 years old, meaning he offers a bit less projection than the typical high school pick, and he’s yet to fully tap into his power potential.
Certainly, those concerns didn’t seem to exist within the Yankees’ front office, and they’ll land a talent that many pundits felt should’ve been off the board by the time they selected. The Yankees added in their announcement that they’ve now signed all of their picks from the Top 10 rounds of the draft, meaning the vast majority of their work on the draft front is in the books. New York went considerably over slot on Rutherford and third-rounder Nolan Martinez, but the Yanks saved a good deal of money on picks five through 10, including four straight $10K signings of college seniors to close out rounds seven through 10 (as can be seen in the draft trackers at MLB.com and Baseball America).
Yankees fans seeking to learn a bit more about their club’s top pick can check out a Q&A that MLBTR contributor Chuck Wasserstrom conducted with the highly touted Rutherford back in late April.
How do these bonuses work? When do they receive the money?
Steal of the draft! Future Hall of Famer!
please, for the love of god, tell me you’re being sarcastic
This made me laugh
I’m sorry but you can’t use a joke on one franchise (Red Sox prospects being future HOFers) and use it on another
And for those who don’t believe me , Google Mookie Betts HOF. One article has 5 Red Sox players that could make the HOF. 1 of those 5 was…..wait for it……Christian Vazquez
Great news that they were able to sign him early. I thought this was going to go down to the deadline on the 15th.
So the kid grew up a Yankee fan and wants to pattern his mental approach to the game after Derek Jeter?
Works for me!
I hope you make it to the Bronx soon.
This seems to be the only way (besides having an atrocious season) for the Yankees to ever get a draft pick worthy of a Top 10 ranking. ….and everyone wonders why they don’t have ‘Top 10″ talents on the farm.
(never get a chance to draft a top prospect…since Jeter anyway)
Welcome Blake !
We wish you the best !
Work hard !
Have fun !
Draft isn’t the only way players are signed. Mateo and Severino were international signings and they are on their way to becoming MVP & CY Young caliber players.
once again, you have to be kidding here. MVP and Cy Young caliber? please pass me whatever you’re smoking
I don’t smoke like a loser, I vape.
He’s a Red Sox fan trying to mock the Yankees. It isn’t working.
Dont feed the troll.
I’m not bashing because I’m a big Yankee fan and I like both these kids but they are FAR away from establishing anything. Severino especially needs to prove this year was the fluke and not last year first.
Mateo looks exciting but the best Yankee fans can hope for is he pans out like they are projecting him.
…any top 15 ranked players ever make it ?
…Yankees haven’t had a shot at any of these type of ranked players.
Thereby – free agency had to /has to be a more important route to get some better players.
Yes but they were both signed for less then $300,000
Yanks are not the Dodgers, Cubs,Rangers, Red Sox, and many other teams that have pillaged international players for decades. Under George Yanks didn’t touch international players until Irabu and George wasn’t a big fan calling fat toad. Yanks are learning that market can bring a bottom feeding farm right up to top.
Cue the typical over-saturated NYC media train constantly hyping this guy, pushing him into top 100 prospect lists he won’t belong on based off a “ceiling” no actual scout will verify, as he becomes trade bait and eventually pans out as a 5th OF at best before disappearing into obscurity!
Source: about 90% of top Yankees prospects starting with Brien Taylor.
yeah, you’re telling me. Slade Heathecott was supposed to be the next face of NY guess that one went over well too
to be fair this guy was talked about before the yankees drafted him he was a very strong UCLA commit most figured would not sign.
So says the idiot Red Socked fan
Lol. I love the irony of the Sox fans here attempting to mock Yankee fans saying their prospects are HOFers, MVP, etc
That joke is on YOUR team and its beat writers. You can find many articles on NESN. Boston.com and others listing Red Sox prospects who have HOF potential. Find me One article in any NY paper or website (which far outnumber Bostons) that puts Slade Heathcott or another former Yankee top prospect as a potential HOFer
I’ll wait….
Hey man, don’t blame the fans for the shitty writers they get. And try not to let the shitty writers influence your opinions on the region’s media as a whole. Just gotta wade through the garbage that’s thrown at us in every region to find the gems
Fair enough
Someone seriously sucks at reading and understanding that the “hype” happened before the draft.
Hey Steve, I’m sure you’re aware of this, but just a heads up, I keep getting 404 errors on mobile. Not sure what it is, but today the page loads about 75% and then displays the 404 error. Not sure what it is, but thought you should know.
404 is Atlanta. Thinks the info is way more valuable than it is and is causing it to crash. It’s common with Atlanta.
Actually was not aware of this issue. It’s working fine for me. What device/operating system are you running, and which browser are you using? I’ll get the issue in front of our development team. Thanks for the heads up!
It’s from my iPhone (whichever the most recent iOS is, not sure but my phone is up to date) and just from my common safari browser. Still getting the error here and there, takes a small handful of refreshes to get the page to load.
Slade Heathecott was a # 29 pick….the #25 pick was a kid named Mike Trout; the NYY’s primary target….never got a chance to pick him.
Slade wasn’t even a top 25 pick – and obviously not a top 10 ranked player.
You’re saying that all the Yankees needed was the #25 pick that year and they had Trout?
yes.
D’oh! They had it!
Listen Judge Mathis
Everyone knows or most die hard Yank fans know we lost the pick by signing Tex, but no reason to be sarcastic and a know it all!
I believe that the compensation to the LAA for signing Mark Teixeira was the #40 selection that year..