Pirates Sign First-Rounder Termarr Johnson
The Pirates signed fourth overall pick Termarr Johnson this afternoon, the club announced. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports (Twitter link) he’ll receive a $7.219MM signing bonus that’s a bit above the $7.01MM accompanying slot value.
Top two selections Jackson Holliday and Druw Jones were the only players in the class to beat Johnson’s bonus. That’s no surprise, as the left-handed hitting infielder was a consensus top five talent available. FanGraphs and The Athletic each placed Johnson third on their pre-draft rankings. He placed fourth at Baseball America and second at ESPN.
Just as there’s little disagreement about the 18-year-old’s pedigree, reports of his skillset are similar across the board. All four outlets call Johnson a future plus or better hitter, praising both his bat-to-ball skills and surprising bat speed for a 5’8″ player. Keith Law of the Athletic notes that some scouts believe Johnson is the best high school hitter they’ve seen in more than a decade, while ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel indicated his profile is broadly reminiscent to that of José Ramírez or Rafael Devers.
It’d be unfair to expect any high school player to become a superstar of that caliber, but evaluators have been effusive in their praise of his offensive upside. Johnson doesn’t have a traditionally projectable frame given his stature, and all four outlets indicate he’s unlikely to stick at shortstop. There’s a general agreement the Atlanta native could be an impactful bat-first second baseman at his peak, with Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs pointing to Brandon Lowe as a general comp for this style of player.
With Johnson signed, each of the top ten overall selections have agreed to terms. It’s expected that everyone selected on the first day of the draft will sign before Monday’s deadline. Jim Callis of MLB.com wrote this morning that Mets third-round pick Brandon Sproat, a right-hander out of the University of Florida, looks to be the highest selection leaning towards foregoing pro ball this summer.
2022 MLB Draft, First Round Results
The 2022 MLB Draft is underway, and here is the full list of each team’s selections from the first round. The Dodgers are the only team without a first-rounder, as their top pick (originally 30th overall) was dropped 10 places to 40th overall (the first pick of the second round) as part of their punishment for exceeding the highest luxury-tax tier in 2021. However, there are still 30 picks in the first round proper since the Mets have both the 11th and 14th overall picks — for not signing 10th overall pick Kumar Rocker last year, New York was given a compensatory selection in the 11th overall spot this year.
This year’s draft will again be 20 rounds long, and split over three days. The first 80 picks will be made tonight — the first two official rounds, the two Competitive Balance Rounds, and the two sets of compensatory rounds (giving picks to teams who lost qualifying offer-rejecting free agents). Rounds 3-10 take place on Monday, and rounds 11-20 on Tuesday.
Under the terms of the new collective bargaining agreement, the 2023 draft will have several differences, including a lottery to determine the top six picks, a revamped process for deciding the Competitive Balance rounds, possible extra picks for teams due to the Prospect Promotion Incentive rules, and possibly the end of the qualifying offer system as we know it should an international draft be implemented.
For one final year under this draft format, however, let’s dive into the picks. More details and scouting reports on all these young players are available in pre-draft rankings from Baseball America, Fangraphs, MLB Pipeline, The Athletic’s Keith Law, and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel. As well, Pipeline has the breakdown of the slot values assigned to each pick in the first 10 rounds, as well as the bonus pool money available to all 30 teams.
The selections….
- Baltimore Orioles: Jackson Holliday, SS, Stillwater High School (OK)
- Arizona Diamondbacks: Druw Jones, OF, Wesleyan High School (GA)
- Texas Rangers: Kumar Rocker, RHP, Vanderbilt (played in independent Frontier League in 2021)
- Pittsburgh Pirates: Termarr Johnson, SS, Benjamin E. Mays High School (GA)
- Washington Nationals: Elijah Green, OF, IMG Academy (FL)
- Miami Marlins: Jacob Berry, 3B/OF, LSU
- Chicago Cubs: Cade Horton, RHP, University of Oklahoma
- Minnesota Twins: Brooks Lee, SS, Cal Poly
- Kansas City Royals: Gavin Cross, OF, Virginia Tech
- Colorado Rockies: Gabriel Hughes, RHP, Gonzaga
- New York Mets: Kevin Parada, C, Georgia Tech
- Detroit Tigers: Jace Jung, 2B, Texas Tech
- Los Angeles Angels: Zach Neto, SS, Campbell University
- New York Mets: Jett Williams, SS/OF, Rockwall-Heath High School (TX)
- San Diego Padres: Dylan Lesko, RHP, Buford High School (GA)
- Cleveland Guardians: Chase DeLauter, OF, James Madison University
- Philadelphia Phillies: Justin Crawford, OF, Bishop Gorman High School (NV)
- Cincinnati Reds: Cam Collier, 3B, Chipola JC (FL)
- Oakland Athletics: Daniel Susac, C, University of Arizona
- Atlanta Braves: Owen Murphy, RHP, Riverside-Brookfield High School (IL)
- Seattle Mariners: Cole Young, SS, North Allegheny High School (PA)
- St. Louis Cardinals: Cooper Hjerpe, LHP, Oregon State University
- Toronto Blue Jays: Brandon Barriera, LHP, American Heritage High School (FL)
- Boston Red Sox: Mikey Romero, SS, Orange Lutheran High School (CA)
- New York Yankees: Spencer Jones, OF, Vanderbilt University
- Chicago White Sox: Noah Schultz, LHP, Oswego East High School (IL)
- Milwaukee Brewers: Eric Brown Jr., SS, Coastal Carolina University
- Houston Astros: Drew Gilbert, OF, University of Tennessee
- Tampa Bay Rays: Xavier Isaac, 1B, East Forsyth High School (NC)
- San Francisco Giants: Reggie Crawford, LHP/1B, University of Connecticut
Quick Hits: Assistant GMs, Kjerstad, 2022 Draft
There’s plenty of ambition to be found within baseball’s front offices, and yet for an increasing number of executives, remaining in a secondary role is a nice place to be, The Athletic’s Brittany Ghiroli and Eno Sarris write. Whether in an assistant GM role or as a general manager working under a president of baseball operations, these “top lieutenant” positions tend to involve more job security, increased pay in recent years as teams try to prevent other clubs from poaching employees, and a lot less public pressure than being the head of a baseball ops department. As one former GM put it, “there’s so much scrutiny on it that people are like, ‘Screw it, I’m happy making a nice living and can be around my kids and go out to dinner without being recognized.’ ”
On the other hand, if there is relatively less movement amongst front office personnel, that can also lead to a stagnation of hiring practices. This makes it harder for minority candidates to get opportunities for a notable front office position, let alone consideration for a PBO or GM job. As White Sox executive VP Kenny Williams has observed, teams are increasingly hiring front office personnel lacking in baseball-related experience, and yet that same lack of experience is often cited as a reason why women or minority candidates aren’t given promotions to larger roles.
More from around the baseball world…
- Heston Kjerstad might receive an invitation to the Orioles‘ big league Spring Training camp, according to Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. It is a welcome bit of good news for Kjerstad, who is now fully recovered from the myocarditis that has thus far kept the second overall pick of the 2020 draft from beginning his professional career. Kjerstad has gotten in some work at Orioles minicamps and in the fall instructional league, with the early returns against live pitching already impressing team coaches and evaluators.
- Speaking of high draft picks, the top of the 2022 draft class figures to be heavy with position players, with MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis predicting that “at least eight hitters will go in the first 10 selections.” This seems due to both a lack of standout college pitchers and an above-average group of hitters at both the collegiate and prep levels. High schoolers Druw Jones (son of former Braves star Andruw Jones) and Termarr Johnson rate particularly well with Callis, who puts Jones and Johnson behind only Bobby Witt Jr. as the best position player prospects of the 2019-22 draft classes.