Diamondbacks To Sign First-Rounder Blake Walston

The Diamondbacks have reached an agreement with first-round left-hander Blake Walston, the team announced. Walston received $2.45MM, just below the $2,653,400 slot value, Jim Callis of MLB.com tweets.

The Walston agreement brings the Diamondbacks closer to finishing their heavy lifting with respect to this year’s draft. They already signed fellow top 60 picks Corbin Carroll, Brennan Malone, Drey Jamison and Ryne Nelson before reaching a deal with Walston. That group helped comprise quite a 2019 haul for the Diamondbacks, who entered this draft with a league-high $16,093,700 to spend on their selections.

Arizona received the pick it used on Walston because it failed to sign 2018 first-rounder Matt McClain a year ago. In Walston, the team’s getting a prospect whom FanGraphs, Baseball America, ESPN’s Keith Law and MLB.com each ranked in or near the top 50 players available entering the draft. Law (subscription required) noted the high school hurler from North Carolina could be difficult to sign, but the Diamondbacks now have the 17-year-old under wraps.