MLBTR Chat Transcript: Abreu, Hamels, Rosario, Shields

No, they don’t lose or retain rights to that player in regards to future drafts, they just don’t get them in that specific draft. In most of those cases for the situation you describe, it’s just a very late-round drafting around rounds 25-40 where it’s purely made as a sign that the team has future interest in them, as there’s no penalty for not signing players you draft after round 10. For a team that fails to sign a player they draft within the first two rounds, though (doesn’t matter if they’re a high school or college player), they get a pick in next year’s draft that’s one pick after the one used on the player that didn’t sign. For example, the Rays didn’t sign Drew Rasmussen when they used the 31st pick on him in last year’s draft, so they got the 32nd pick of this year’s draft as compensation. If they fail to sign someone they draft in the third round, though, they get a pick after the third round ends in the following year’s draft.

Additionally, it’s worth noting that teams try to make sure that they can sign the person they choose for that slot in rounds 1-10, as if they are unable to sign that player, then the draft pool money associated with that pick is also lost. For example, the Braves drafted Carter Stewart 8th, and that pick has a value of just under $5 million. If they somehow can’t sign him away from his college commitment, then they kiss that money goodbye, which is especially painful since that associated money makes up more than half of the bonus pool money that they have available to use for this draft.