Draft Signings: Marshall, Hillman, Blankenhorn, Davila
It’s time to get caught up on some draft signings. Slot values courtesy of Baseball America.
- The Giants have agreed to a well-above-slot, $750K bonus with fourth-round pick Mac Marshall, Chris Cotillo of SB Nation tweets. You might remember that Marshall was taken in the late rounds last year by the Astros, who fell short of a rumored last-minute attempt at a deal with him as they tried to work things out with Brady Aiken. Marshall had been set to play for LSU, but ultimately ended up in Junior College so that he could re-enter the draft.
- Second-rounder Juan Hillman inked with the Indians, the club announced. The deal is for $825K, per Paul Hoynes of the Plain Dealer (via Twitter). Cleveland also announced several other signings, including third-rounder Mark Mathias and fourth-round pick Tyler Krieger. MLB.com rated Hillman the 52nd-best player available, noting that the prep lefty is the son of long-time big leaguer Tom Gordon and half-brother of Dee Gordon. ESPN.com’s Keith Law had the highest grade on Hillman, ranking him 31st heading into the draft on the basis of his excellent feel and command at a young age.
- Twins third-rounder Travis Blankenhorn gets a $650K bonus, Callis tweets. The high school third baseman was taken 80th overall, which came with a $754K slot allotment. Baseball America rated Blankenhorn 75th on its board, citing his athleticism, nice swing, and overall solid tools. Minnesota also added fourth-round pick Trey Cabbage for an above-slot $760K bonus, also per a Callis tweet. His signing was previously reported, but not the bonus amount, which lands well above the slot value of $517,900.
- The Royals went over $300K above slot ($431,100) to sign high school lefty Garrett Davila, Callis tweets. He receives a $746K bonus after entering the draft rated within Law’s top 100 list. His fastball is not a very impressive offerin at present, but he has an above-average curve and still has some growing to do.
- Javier Medina, the third-round pick of the Rockies, gets $740K to forego his commitment to the University of Arizona, Callis reports on Twitter. The 77th overall pick came with a $789,700 allotment, so Colorado will pick up some savings to add a pitcher who shows more feel than pure stuff, per Baseball America.
- Pirates third-round selection Casey Hughston lands a $700K bonus that lands $107,300 above the slot value, per Callis (via Twitter). The Alabama outfielder has good all-around tools in addition to plus raw power, MLB.com wrote in raking him 95th among available players. Pittsburgh fourth-rounder Jacob Taylor, a righty from Pearl River Community College, has agreed to a $500K bonus, Callis tweets. That represents a $60.6K bump over the slot value for the 127th overall pick.
- The third-round pick of the Tigers, Dallas Baptist pitcher Drew Smith, announced that he has signed (h/t to MLB.com’s Jason Beck). Callis reports on Twitter that the live-armed college righty will take home the slot value of $575,800.
- The Braves have agreed to a $550K deal with third-round pick Anthony Guardado, Callis tweets. That signing saves the club $106,300 against the slot value of the 89th pick. Callis calls the high school righty a true pop-up prospect, and indeed he did not receive much pre-draft attention.
- Fourth round pick Demi Orimoloye will sign for a $450K bonus, according to Callis (on Twitter), just shy of the $456,600 allotment for the 121st pick. The Canadian outfielder (who was born in Nigeria) drew rave reviews from BA, which rated him 41st heading into the draft based upon his loud tools and tall ceiling. There’s a lot of polishing that needs to be done, it seems, but Orimoloye looks to be a nice risk for the Brewers at this price tag.
- Phillies fifth-round pick Bailey Falter, a projectable lefty, gets an above-slot $420K bonus, Callis tweets. Philly took him 144th overall, which came with a $373,100 slot value.
- The 11th-round pick of the Mets, lefty Jake Simon, has agreed to a $400K bonus, Callis tweets. $300K of that money will count against New York’s overall pool, as any amount over $100K does for players taken after the tenth round.
Minor Moves: Chien-Ming Wang, Joe Benson
We’ll track the day’s minor moves here:
- The Braves have released a pair of players from Triple-A Gwinnett, David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports on Twitter. Veteran Taiwanese righty Chien-Ming Wang will be looking for a new home after throwing 62 innings of 6.10 ERA ball, with 4.1 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9. He has not seen the big leagues since 2013, and it’s been some time since he was a durable and effective pitcher. Outfielder Joe Benson will also be on the move. The 27-year-old, who has seen only one brief call-up in his career, was slashing .246/.346/.331 over 137 plate appearances.
Padres Designate Eury De La Rosa
The Padres have designated lefty Eury De La Rosa for assignment, the club announced. San Diego selected the contract of corner infielder Brett Wallace in a corresponding move, necessitating a 40-man spot.
De La Rosa, 25, has pitched exclusively at Triple-A this year, working to a 4.03 ERA with 6.9 K/9 against 5.6 BB/9 over 22 1/3 frames. That represents a career-worst K:BB ratio in his professional career.
The southpaw spent time in the Diamondbacks bullpen over the past two seasons, putting up a 4.21 ERA in 51 1/3 total frames. De La Rosa bounced from the D’Backs to the Athletics and then to the Dodgers in recent months before reaching San Diego on a waiver claim.
The 28-year-old Wallace, a former top prospect, will make his first big league appearance for a team other than the Astros. He hasn’t seen the show since 2013, but owns a career .242/.313/.391 slash in just over 1,000 career plate appearances in the majors. Wallace has (as usual) hit Triple-A pitching well this year, slashing .305/.380/.460 while carrying a 21.1% strikeout rate.
Athletics Designate Andy Parrino
The Athletics have designated utilityman Andy Parrino for assignment, the club announced. Both Ike Davis and Edward Mujica are coming off the DL, creating a need for two roster spots (with the other created by the optioning of reliever Arnold Leon).
Parrino saw only eight turns at bat this year for Oakland. All said, he owns a .175/.280/.244 slash line in 288 big league plate appearances over parts of five seasons at the game’s highest level. In his 1,500 career trips to the plate at Triple-A, Parrino owns a .272/.353/.392 overall slash line.
The 29-year-old is, of course, valued for his defensive versatility first and foremost. As a big leaguer, he’s seen most of his time up the middle on the infield dirt while also filling in periodically at third and the corner outfield.
Rangers Designate Jake Smolinski
The Rangers have designated outfielder Jake Smolinski for assignment, executive VP of communications John Blake announced on Twitter. His 40-man and active roster spots were needed for the team to activate Ryan Rua from the 60-day DL.
Smolinski, 26, had hit just .133/.270/.200 in 74 plate appearances at the big league level this year. But he’s had plenty of success in other recent stints. Smolinski has obliterated Triple-A pitching in 2015, putting up a 1.280 OPS in 50 turns at bat, and slashed a strong .349/.391/.512 over 92 trips to the plate in his first run at the majors last year.
Both of those big state lines were fueled by huge BABIP numbers, however, and Smolinski’s history is more of sturdy reliability than significant pop. He has never finished a full campaign in the upper minors with an OPS over the .800 mark.
Rockies Sign Mike Nikorak, Tyler Nevin
JUNE 19: Nevin received an even $2MM bonus, tweets Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com. That places him about $373K over slot value.
JUNE 18, 2:49pm: Second-round selection Tyler Nevin has also agreed to terms, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports on Twitter. Like his father, veteran big leaguer Phil Nevin, the would-be UCLA commit is a third baseman. MLB.com rated Nevin just inside the top fifty available prospects.
Nevin’s bonus remains unreported at present. The 38th pick came with a $1,626,500 allocation.
2:23pm: The Rockies have announced the signing of righty Mike Nikorak, the 27th overall selection in the draft. He’ll receive a $2.3MM bonus, per MLB.com’s Jim Callis (via Twitter).
The slot value for the comp pick was $2,004,600, meaning that Colorado went nearly $300K over to draw him away from a commitment to the University of Alabama. That eats up a decent portion of the $723K that the team saved in signing its first selection, Brendan Rodgers.
Callis says that Nikorak has the highest ceiling of any prep arm in this year’s draft class, and indeed the MLB.com team rated him the 15th-best player available. His big fastball has lost steam at times, but MLB.com says that it has plenty of movement regardless. While he’ll need to keep developing his secondary offerings, Nikorak is said to have excellent athleticism and still has not filled into his sizable frame.
Baseball America agrees that Nikorak has top-of-the-rotation upside, rating him 16th among draft-eligible players. Meanwhile, ESPN.com’s Keith Law placed Nikorak in his 22nd slot, noting some control issues, and Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs put him in the 25th place on his board while pointing out that there were some velocity drops at times this year.
Braves Promote Matt Wisler
The Braves announced tonight that top right-handed pitching prospect Matt Wisler will be promoted tomorrow and make his big league debut against the Mets. Righty Sugar Ray Marimon will be sent back to Triple-A Gwinnett to clear room on the 25-man roster, and the team has an open spot on its 40-man roster. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s David O’Brien tweeted earlier this afternoon that he expected Wisler to get the call for tomorrow’s start.
Acquired from the Padres in the blockbuster trade that sent Craig Kimbrel and Melvin Upton Jr. to San Diego, Wisler entered the 2015 season ranked as the No. 34 prospect in the game, according to Baseball America. Baseball Prospectus ranked Wisler 53rd, while Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com ranked him 69th. Fangraphs’ Kiley McDaniel pegged Wisler 41st overall.
Wisler has pitched reasonably well at Triple-A this season, although his numbers don’t line up with the type of production one might expect from such a highly touted prospect. In 65 innings thus far, he’s worked to a 4.29 ERA with 6.8 K/9 and 1.8 BB/9. He’s been plagued by a 64 percent strand rate, which helps to explain why FIP credits Wisler with a much more favorable 3.33 mark.
Per BA, Wisler sits in the 92-94 mph range and tops out at 96 with a two-seam fastball that features above-average sink. He also has a lively four-seamer and control of his entire arsenal — a trait that has manifested itself in his stellar BB/9 rate. McDaniel notes that his slider is a plus pitch, while his changeup is average or better at times, and he can command the ball on both sides of the plate. BA noted that most scouts see Wisler as a No. 3 type of starter on a contending club, and all of the aforementioned scouting reports agreed heading into the season that he could be ready to join the rotation midway through this year.
Wisler will step into the rotation spot that was recently vacated when Atlanta optioned fellow promising righty Mike Foltynewicz to Triple-A. He’ll join Julio Teheran, Alex Wood, Shelby Miller and Williams Perez for the time being. Atlanta has experienced quite a bit of change in its rotation through the first portion of the season, with the jettisoning of struggling veterans Eric Stults and Trevor Cahill, the decision to option Foltynewicz, and a shoulder injury that ended Mike Minor‘s season before it began. Given all of that turnover, it would seem that Wisler may have an opportunity to carve out a long-term spot in the Braves’ starting five from this point forth.
If Wisler is indeed here to stay following Friday’s promotion, he’ll accrue 109 days of Major League service time in 2015, which should leave him comfortably shy of Super Two status as he works through the arbitration process. He’d be controllable through the 2021 season in the event that he remained at the big league level from this point forth.
Twins Release Jordan Schafer
The Twins have released outfielder Jordan Schafer, director of communications Dustin Morse announced on Twitter. He had been on the DL with a knee sprain.
Schafer, 28, had a nice run with the Twins last year after being claimed off waivers from the Braves. That led the team to tender him a contract through arbitration, ultimately agreeing upon a $1.55MM pact.
This year, however, has been a disappointment. Schafer owns a meager .217/.250/.261 slash over 74 plate appearances. The typically fleet runner has also gone 0-for-3 in stolen base attempts.
With top prospect Byron Buxton up to man center, Schafer did not seem to have a significant role going forward. Minnesota has also deployed Shane Robinson and the injure Aaron Hicks up the middle.
Royals Agree To Terms With Nolan Watson
The Royals have agreed to an at-slot, $1,825,200 bonus with 33rd overall selection Nolan Watson, Jim Callis of MLB.com tweets. That pick came to the club for losing James Shields in free agency after he declined a qualifying offer.
Kansas City has also put its other two highest selections in the books, with Ashe Russell‘s signing announced yesterday and second-round pick Josh Staumont also reportedly agreeing to terms. All said, K.C. is just $6K over its draft pool from those three signings, and it has locked in significant savings from several choices further down the line.
Watson earned the 36th spot on the board of Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs, the top slot awarded by a draft pundit. Something of a late-bloomer who played high school ball in Indiana, Watson impressed with a mid-90s fastball. MLB.com, which ranked him 61st among draft-eligible players, also noted that Watson owns three promising offspeed offerings.
ESPN.com’s Keith Law had Watson in the 50th overall spot, while Baseball America rated him 56th. Law likes Watson’s ceiling due to his quick arm, but notes that the youngster could ultimately end up as a pen piece if he can’t clean up his mechanics somewhat.
Marlins Sign Second-Rounder Brett Lilek
The Marlins have announced the signing of second-round pick Brett Lilek, a lefty out of Arizona State. Lilek will receive a $1MM bonus, according to MLB.com’s Jim Callis (via Twitter).
The 50th overall selection, with which Miami took Lilek, came with a $1,196,800 slot value. That means that the club saved $196.8K with the signing. The Marlins had already gone over slight by about half a million dollars to sign catcher Justin Cohen and righty Chris Paddack, so those savings were obviously needed to help the team manage its board.
Miami has now announced the signings of eight of its top ten picks. Surprise first-round pick Josh Naylor has yet to agree to terms, and the same holds true for ninth-rounder Reilly Hovis.
MLB.com was the only outlet that rated Lilek as a top-100 prospect, putting him in the 84th position on its draft board. His fastball reaches the mid-90s at times, but it is mostly an average pitch. But the MLB.com team likes his curve and change to become average-grade MLB offerings.
Lilek has had control issues at times, which Baseball America cited before the draft as the reason he had slid down some draft boards. But he still managed to rate just inside the top fifty on draft day.