At the stroke of midnight last night teams forfeited their rights to negotiate with unsigned picks, which is a fancy way of saying the kid is going to/back to college. A lot of young men received a life changing amount of money in exchange for agreeing to play a game for a living, and I envy every single on of them.
As expected the Yankees didn’t sign their top pick, SoCal high schooler Gerrit Cole, who instead choose to attend to UCLA. Apparently it wasn’t so much the money that was a problem, rather Cole and his family just really wanted him to go to college. So be it, it’s his right to choose. The Yanks also didn’t come to terms with their second round pick, RHP Scott Bittle out of Ole Miss. He had some shoulder issues, but refused to cut a deal. I hate too see kids turn down ridiculously large amounts of money like this, for their sake it hope it works out for them.
Sandwich rounder and ex-Stanford ace Jeremy Bleich agreed to a $700,000 signing bonus, which is actually below slot by about $160,000. He did miss time with the elbow strain this spring, but he came back to pitch well in the NCAA postseason. That said, he is a Boras client, and those guys never sign for below slot. That’s a good indication that the elbow might still be an issue.
On to the good news. The Yanks cut a deal with 27th round pick Garrison Lassiter yesterday, forking over $675,000 to sign the talented prep shortstop. Lassiter might have the highest ceiling of any player the Yanks drafted thanks to his picturesque swing and electric bat speed, but just about every aspect of his game needs to be refined. He’s an extremely high ceiling player, but also a very low probability guy.
The Yanks will receive compensation picks for their failure to sign Cole and Bittle, officially dubbed picks #28A and 75A in next year’s draft. Since the Nationals were unable to agree to terms with their top pick, Missouri RHP Aaron Crow, they will receive pick #9A as compensation. The Mariners haven’t signed their top pick, Georgia closer Josh Fields, yet, but because he is a senior with no college eligibility remaining the deadline does not apply to him, and he is free to sign at any point until next year’s draft. He will certainly do that at some point. So what all this means is that pick #28A will essentially be the 30th overall pick. We won’t know the actual spot of the 75A pick until the length of the sandwich round is settled via free agency this winter. It could get pushed back as far as #90-100 overall. The compensation picks are protected, and can not be lost as the result of signing Type-A free agents.
When it was all said and done, the Yanks inked 26 of their first 30 selections, at least five of which received over-slot bonuses. The highest bonus paid was the $850,000 given to 6th rounder Brett Marshall, and this marks the first time since 2002 that the Yankees did not hand out a seven-figure bonus. Overall, it’s a rather mediocre draft class, and a lot is hinging on the status of Bleich’s elbow. You can see all of the Yankees picks here, while BA’s Draft Blog has you covered on all fronts.
Damon Oppenheimer & Co. have had finer moments.
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