The Blue Jays have agreed to terms with first-round pick Gunnar Hoglund, reports Baseball America’s Carlos Collazo (via Twitter). The former Ole Miss righty will receive a $3,247,500 bonus that clocks in about $111K south of his slot value at No. 19 overall. Hoglund is represented by Nate Heisler of Rep 1 Baseball.
That slightly under-slot price point is likely due in large part to the fact that Hoglund underwent Tommy John surgery about two months before the draft. Prior to that elbow injury, Hoglund was regarded as one of the top college arms on the board and considered a potential top 10 pick. While he’ll miss the remainder of the 2021 season and won’t be able to begin pitching for a Jays affiliate until sometime next summer, at the earliest, Hoglund nevertheless adds a high-profile arm to an already strong Jays system.
Hoglund, 21, pitched 62 2/3 innings with the Rebels in 2021 before sustaining the elbow injury that necessitated his surgery. In that time, he pitched to a 2.87 ERA while striking out 38.9 percent of his opponents against a 6.8 percent walk rate. Dating back to the shortened 2020 season, in which he tossed 23 1/3 frames, Hoglund carries a 2.41 ERA with a sensational 133-to-21 K/BB ratio in 86 total innings.
Even with that injury, Hoglund landed 14th on FanGraphs’ final draft rankings, 19th at Baseball America, 20th at ESPN, 22nd at MLB.com and 30th at The Athletic. Scouting reports on Hoglund credited him with the best command in the draft and a plus slider. The Athletic’s Keith Law noted that Hoglund’s ceiling might not be as high as that of the draft’s top college arms (Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker), but the consensus was there’s a “high probability that he’d at least develop into a fourth starter.” ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel adds that Hoglund was “locked in” as a top 10 pick prior to his elbow injury.
and he even went underslot. DD, cmon man.
By the time Hoglund is ready to pitch in the majors, DD will be running the New Orleans Devil Rays-Pelicans.
Not a fan of Painter? He sounds super intriguing to me. But I’m pretty happy with what Toronto landed given the small pool they were working with.
Who is DD?
Daniel Descalso.
David Duchovny, star of “Moneyball 2, Boston Ain’t All That.”
@dock
Wheres the clap emoji, rarely does a comment make me actually lol
I believe he is an attorney by day and a vigilante at night…
Good on the Jay’s FO, they have done a good job signing the players they dafted over the past several seasons
What a fantastic name.
so wish he was a Razorback tho.
Here’s hoping the Jays will be back at Rogers center soon.
July 30th!!!
I see these idiots keep closing comments
Where did they close comments?
basballfanno1, There was a poll done asking MLBTR’s commentor’s what topics they wanted comments available on and those they did not want comments on, Domestic violence was one chosen by a majority on here not to have comments on!
MLBTR actually polled the site users a few months ago and a large majority of users preferred to keep comments closed on matters such as domestic violence and covid.
There are plenty of other places on the internet to discuss those topics.
This kid turned down 2 million from the Pirates in 2018 to go back to school for 3 years to sign for 3.2.. Not sure if he ends up getting the best out of that deal. It’s very possible despite the difference in the signing bonus that he ends up making less than if he would have taken the Pirates offer in 2018.
Considering he may never draw an major league paycheck, he might have done quite well.
And that is anyone who plays pro baseball though. With the Pirates ability to draft well with HS pitchers in the past and develop them well (albeit only in the minor league levels prior to NH’s departure, BC’s development team is still TBD) I think he would have reached the majors faster than his current path.
Hopefully he heals from his surgery well and is able to have a long prosperous career. I was super hopeful to see him with the Bucs in 2018. His college numbers were off the charts.
He lost out big time if he is smart. Whether he put that 2 million in stocks, crypto, collectibles, the returns were huge to gigantic. Now if he gets to the majors he gets to hit free agency 3 years older. Now if he would have bought a house cars cloths jewelry etc then it was best he got the 3 million.
Getting drafted 3 years earlier and younger definitely doesn’t mean you are a free agent 3 years sooner.
Just means you spend 3 years in the minors instead of college.
If he’s smart, he’s more interested in having a good life than in buying an extra few million dollars of jewelry. I trust he enjoyed his time in college and met interesting people and learned something that’ll give him ideas for how he wants to use the remaining ~50 years of his life after his baseball career ends. Or for how he wants to use/donate some of the money he’s swimming in before then, too.
If the only thing you understand or value is $$$ though, you can think of it this way: university may have taught him how to manage his wealth which as an 18 year old he might’ve immediately squandered.
Yea and if he never doest he has a college education so he can get a career
He must’ve thought that he HAD signed with the Bucs. Hence the TJ which seems to be standard for Pirate pitching prospects.
Factor the full scholarship and free education his baseball talent provided him. That adds to the current $$ amount.
In case anyone is interested, current success rates for Tommy John surgery depending on circumstances are between 80% and 90%. The kid has a good chance of something in professional ball.
The trouble is the success rate for a second Tommy John is much lower, so he may have say a 5 year career instead of a 10 year career if he’s not lucky enough to avoid having another.