The Indians have agreed to a $2.5MM bonus with first-round choice Daniel Espino, according to Paul Hoynes of the Plain Dealer (via Twitter). He was selected with the 24th overall pick, which came with a $2.83MM slot allocation.
Espino is a right-handed hurler who’ll launch his pro career after wrapping up his high school tenure in Georgia. He was selected just about where most pundits valued him. MLB.com and ESPN.com’s Keith Law both placed him in the 23rd slot, while Baseball America had him at #25.
Many see limitless upside in Espino’s powerful right arm, particularly since he shows promising secondary stuff. But there’s also quite a lot of risk in his profile: an exceptionally hard-throwing high-schooler who lacks a big frame or pristine mechanics. The Fangraphs prospect crew rated him 33rd overall, even while acknowledging the potentially massive value.
The Indians just have to have a discount. It’s in their DNA.
Soooo… are you suggesting they should have given him more money than he was willing to sign for?
Signing a guy under the slot value isn’t all that uncommon. Some guys go under, some go over. At the end, you end up spending roughly your entire pool available to you.
It’s all a part of the mlb draft process, guys don’t solely get picked on talent as signability has a role too. You take a guy a few slots earlier than he should go because you have a rapport and know he’ll sign, but you pay him what he would’ve gotten a few picks later and apply the extra to a different draft pick that needs extra to entice him.
I hope he didn’t hurt himself signing. Just something about the tribe and pitching this year.
“But there’s also quite a lot of risk in his profile: an exceptionally hard-throwing high-schooler who lacks a big frame or pristine mechanics.”
Geez, the kid is a high schooler, for crying out loud. Just stop it.
Yeah, it sucks to talk injuries about a kid when the ink on the contract hasn’t even had a chance to dry yet.
There is a legitimate change on how teams view high school pitchers though. A few years ago, Espino would probably have a legitimate chance of being a Top-5 pick. Hopefully the Indians end up with a steal.
Am curious to see if Benson pans out to be the Gallo type they projected.
I believe most not if all projections had him compared to Jason Heyward.