The Rays signed their first-rounder to a significant bonus on Friday evening. We’ll round up a few other $2MM+ signings from the day. Pre-draft rankings and scouting reports are provided by Keith Law of the Athletic, Baseball America, FanGraphs and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel.
- The Astros have a $3.13MM deal with first-round pick Walker Janek, reports Chandler Rome of the Athletic (X link). That’s slot value for the 28th pick. A Sam Houston State product, Janek was the first catcher selected. Evaluators praise his arm strength and athleticism behind the dish. There’s not much question that he’ll be able to stick at the position. Janek feasted on mid-major pitching with a .364/.476/.709 slash as a junior, but his defense should drive the profile.
- Reds second-round pick Tyson Lewis received a well overslot $3.0475MM bonus, reports Jim Callis of MLB Pipeline (on X). That was necessary to keep the Nebraska high schooler from attending the University of Arkansas. Evaluators credit the 6’2″ shortstop with plus bat speed and athleticism. Lewis is a longer-term development play who didn’t face great competition in high school. There’s a fair amount of volatility with his hit tool but an intriguing toolset.
- The Brewers also went above slot on their second-rounder. Milwaukee has a $2.5MM agreement with 57th pick Bryce Meccage, according to Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (X link). A right-handed prep pitcher from New Jersey, he’s a Virginia commit. Meccage is a 6’4″ hurler who works in the low-mid 90s and shows a pair of promising breaking pitches. Law’s report notes that the young pitcher has subpar command at the moment but enough athleticism to develop in that regard. Meccage is regarded as a potential back-end starter.
I haven’t seen any mention of blue jays draft signings here. BlueBird banter has a draft signing table for them that shows slot value, actual bonus and money remaining. It has them with having signed everyone of note aside from there 1st pick with about 5M available if they go to the max 5% overage. If I’m not mistaken beside there 1st pick everyone but 2 high school later insurance type picks are the only ones not to sign, the type of picks you make at the back end in case something falls thru
Picks 1, 17, 19 and 20 are still unsigned by them. 17 is gaven smith a high school SS, pick 19 D’marion Terrel is a HS 1B and pick 20 is a JR SS. They have about 4.25M left in total to sign there 1st rounder Trey Yesavage with a slot value of about 4. Picks 17, 19 and 20 won’t be signing unless Yesavage doesn’t sign or they sign for about 150K. Picks after round 10 only have any bonus amount over 150K count towards the teams pool, so be it the guys can re enter the draft they won’t sign unless they get a high bonus. The jays signed a 12 round HS RHP named Carson Messina for 550K but only 400K counted towards the pool, this price range IMO is what it would take for these other late round picks to sign. Rowdy Tellez is a recent jays example of a end of draft insurance pick that teams make just in case. The jays had a pick fall thru and signed him for 850K
Thank you for explaining the way the draft signings work
Team work makes the dream work, guys. Good stuff
Reds got #6, #39, #45, #50, #73, & #77 of the top 100 draft prospects signed this draft. Not too shabby. I doubt they get #97 Mason Russell under contract- but we’ll see.