Today’s notable signings of Day Two draftees:
- The Reds have signed second-rounder Andrew Abbott to a $1.3MM deal, reports Carlos Collazo of Baseball America (Twitter link). That’s just a bit below the slot value that accompanies the 53rd overall pick. Abbott, a senior left-hander from the University of Virginia, gets good life on his low-mid 90’s fastball and missed plenty of bats in one of college baseball’s top conferences. Abbott’s 162 strikeouts this season trailed only top ten draftees Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker in Division I baseball.
- The Rangers have agreed to a $1MM deal with third-rounder Cameron Cauley, reports Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link). That’s a bit north of the $857.4K slot value associated with the 73rd selection. A high school shortstop from Texas, the right-handed hitting Cauley was ranked #84 on Baseball America’s pre-draft rankings. BA writes that the Texas Tech commit is a good athlete with advanced bat-to-ball skills but limited power projection.
- The Cardinals have signed Competitive Balance Round B selection Ryan Holgate for $875K, reports Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com (Twitter link). That’s a bit below the slot value that comes with the #70 selection. A power-hitting corner outfielder from the University of Arizona, Holgate checked in at #107 on BA’s rankings.
- The Padres inked Competitive Balance Round B selection Robert Gasser for $884.2K, reports Jim Callis of MLB.com (Twitter link). That’s full slot value for the #71 overall pick. A left-handed pitcher from the University of Houston, Gasser checked in at #63 on BA’s rankings. He attracted attention from evaluators after experiencing a velocity spike into the mid-90’s this year to accompany a solid slider.
- The Braves went well overslot to sign seventh-rounder A.J. Smith-Shawver. The righty from a Texas high school received a $997.5K bonus, reports Callis. That’s nearly $800K above slot to convince him to pass on a two-sport commitment (baseball and football) to Texas Tech. Smith-Shawver landed at #318 in BA’s rankings, drawing praise for a mid-90’s fastball and solid curveball.
Cards have signed everyone but their second rounder for under slot. Wonder if they will get their 20th round high schooler,they reached for, signed with the left over money? Could be a very good draft for them if that happens
The max a team can give someone outside the first 10 rounds and not get penalized is $100k. If the Cards’ total bonus spending is less than their allotment, they’re just being cheap.
Cheap, thrifty. Tomato, Tomaaaaaato.
I’m not sure where you get the $100,000 max because I just looked at Spotrac’s list of draft signings and the allotment for all picks from round 11-20 is $125,000 and a few guys got more than the $125,000. The Cubs gave their 18th round pick $200,000 to sign.
@Joe – My bad, that may be pre-COVID signing rules. From mlb.com:
“Any bonus greater than $125,000 for a player taken after the 10th round is also applied to the bonus pool total.”
https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-draft-overview-and-schedule-2021
Only the amount that exceeds 125K counts towards the team’s pool, there is technically no max for a player taken in the later rounds. If you sign your 1st round pick for 1$ you can use all the savings and sign a 20th rounder for 3M$ if you wanted too, though that’s obviously not feasible unless you’re throwing away your 1st round pick. But you get the point, lot of $ amounts in between 1$ and slot.
That’s just not true. They signed their 2nd pick Baez for well above slot value of 1.335m for over 2 million in fact.
Putmein – I think you’re replying to bighiggy, who said:
Cards have signed everyone *but their second rounder* for under slot.
After signing ABBOTT, Reds are making it a priority to also sign COSTELLO !!
Who’s on first, What’s on second and I Don’t Know’s on third.