Jim Callis announced the bonus signing for eighth round draft pick Blake Weiman on Wednesday morning. He was the last signed top ten pick for the Pittsburgh Pirates, who we didn’t have a bonus for last night. Weiman received a $150,000 bonus, which is $10,700 under his slot amount. Our draft tracker has been updated and I wanted to take a quick look at where the Pirates stand right now.
The Pirates have three remaining picks in the top ten round who aren’t signed yet. That group includes 42nd overall pick, Steven Jennings, who has a $1,635,500 slot amount. There is also 3rd round pick Dylan Busby ($626,600) and sixth rounder Cody Bolton ($255,900).
Bolton and Jennings have indicated that they will sign, and Busby is in the College World Series right now, so we won’t hear about his signing for about a week after that tournament ends for FSU. Jennings is in fact on his way to Pittsburgh today, so we should hear about his signing tonight or tomorrow.
Right now the Pirates have spent $7,257,300 of their bonus pool, which leaves them with $2,878,600 for those three remaining picks. That also leaves them with $360,600 for over-slot deals. Bolton should receive an over-slot deal, while Jennings and Busby should be around slot. That total doesn’t include the 5% teams are allowed to go over their pool before receiving a severe penalty, which includes loss of future draft picks. If you include that money, then the Pirates have $867,395 left.
We have heard about players like 19th round pick Jake Webb agreeing to sign, as well as 16th round pick Hunter Stratton. Webb is a prep player, so he would likely require more than $125,000 to sign, though that might be enough for him to sign when you include the fact the Pirates would cover his college costs if he decides to go that route once baseball is over. Stratton as a JuCo player also had some leverage in his negotiations, so he could be in the same category.
We will have a better idea once the bonus for Jennings is announced, and possibly anyone else today. We haven’t heard any over-slot bonuses after the tenth round yet, but it’s possible 12th round pick Tristan Gray required more to sign. Sit tight and we should find out more later today.
+ postsJohn started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball.
When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.
Brian Peloza reporting Meadows getting an MRI on his hammy.
i just hope we have enough to sign mason martin
And, Dylan Busby was in the Top 25 at one time earlier in the Spring and then had a middling regular season at Fla St. He has shown well in the CWS, and if he has another good game or two at that level, the price would naturally increase. Important to get Jennings and Bolton signed before the end of the CWS. Then Busby and Mason Martin would be nice power bookends. We have not signed a HS Power bat like Martin since Meadows? He could be one of the real “sleepers” in this Draft.
Calvin Mitchell can thump, and he’s signed. So can Uselton. This draft could well be one of the best the Pirates have had when we look back on it in 10 years.
I don’t know how much it can increase though. His leverage is minimal in terms of getting much over slot.
I’m a fan from Germany and not familiar with the smallprint details of the draft, bonus pools etc.
So plse explain this to me: After the first ten rounds, right through round 40 the slot amount for each player is now 125k, right ? (Used to be 100k I believe).
Once you go over slot that money will have to come from the bonus pool.
However, in theory, could you spend 125k each on players from rounds 11-40 which would be $3.750.000 in total and sign them all ?
If they are all willing to sign for $125,000 then yes you could. It’s only the amount over $125,000 that counts towards the bonus pool.
If you are under slot for 11-40 you do not get to use the extra money elsewhere though, right? Otherwise, you could pick a bunch of seniors and sign them for each $5K then have a ton to spend.
Exactly. Just everything over counts against the pool, anything under is just less money you spend
Cheers for clearing this up. It’s obvious not everyone would sign for 125k, especially those who have a committed to join a renowned college. So in that respect some of those late picks are gambles of course who are unlikely to sign.