After the first round of the 2010 draft, there was speculation that the Los Angeles Dodgers selected two sport star Zach Lee without the intention of signing him.  Lee was considered a difficult sign because of his strong commitment to LSU to play football.  The thinking went that if Lee did not sign, the Dodgers would get around the 29th pick in the 2011 and Los Angeles is strapped for money amidst the ownership struggle.

However, the Dodgers surprised everyone by signing Lee to a $5.25M contract.  More importantly, perhaps it debunked the theory that the Dodgers were just throwing draft picks. 

Though the Dodgers and Lee were fortunate to get a deal done, three clubs in the first round were not.  As such, in 2011, they will receive the pick after what they had in 2010 as compensation for failure to sign their draft pick.  Here's a list of who failed to sign and what pick the teams will be compensated with.

• Barret Loux, 2010 #6, Diamondbacks: Loux failed a physical and instead of taking a risk, the Diamondbacks chose to pass on signing the pitcher from Texas A&M and tak the #7 pick in the 2011 draft.  Loux will be granted unrestricted free agency as of September 1st.  
• Karsten Whitson, 2010 #9, Padres: Whitson was unable to come to terms with the Padres and instead will play baseball for the University of Florida starting this fall.  The Padres will receive the #10 pick in 2011.

• Dylan Covey, 2010 #14, Brewers: Similar to Loux, the Brewers discovered a medical condition, diabetes, during Covey's physical.  It's unclear exactly why contract negotiations broke down after this illumination, but many suspect Covey chose to attend San Diego University instead of going to Milwaukee so he could be closer to home and have family assistance dealing with the diagnosis.  The Brewers will receive the 15th pick in 2011. 
• Ryne Stanek: 2010 3rd round pick, Mariners: Stanek did not reach an agreement and will attend Arkansas.  The Mariners compensation pick will be in the third round, pick number to be determined.

When it comes to draft signings, a lot of emphasis is placed on how much money certain picks got and why.  With good reason, too - it can often explain why a draft pick went as high as he did or why another slid to the later rounds despite being a top talent.

However, another important indicator of a draft haul is the total amount of money a team spends on its draft class and its percentage above slot bonus.  The Red Sox, for one, did not hand out any extremely large contracts such as those given to Zach Lee of the Dodgers or Nick Castellanos of the Tigers, but spent the 3rd most money of any team in 2010, behind the Pirates and Nationals who each had a large chunk of their draft budget go to the #2 and #1 picks, respectively. 

Nick Castellanos got a record $3.45M signing bonus for a supplemental round pick from the Tigers

Similarly, the Yankees spent "only" $5.126M on their 2020 draft class, which would put them in the middle of the pack, but were 188% over slot value, good for fourth. 

The draft signing numbers are courtesy of Baseball America's Jim Callis who compiled the team numbers and plenty more.   For those of you who love to see the numbers behind baseball, especially as it pertains to money (like me), Jim's got a bunch of great charts to look at.

• Spending vs. Slots for the first 10 rounds
  
• Total draft bonus spending, 2008-2010
• Highest draft bonuses ever
• Largest contracts in draft history
• Highest bonuses by round, 2010

The Reds Mike Leake got the 2009 draft class off to a roaring start by beginning his first professional season in the major leagues.  Reliever Drew Storen of the Nationals didn't spend much time in the minor leagues before Joining Leake as a major leaguer with Washington.  And, of course, everyone knows Stephen Strasburg's story.

Next up: Atlanta's Mike Minor.

Braves starter Kris Medlen has been placed on the 15-day disabled list with a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow opening the door for Minor to join the club and make his first major league start Monday against Houston.  The Astros are a good team for anyone to start their career against - only Pittsburgh has scored fewer runs this year.

From Vanderbilt, Minor was the seventh overall pick of the 2009 draft by the Braves, the second collegiate pitcher taken after the Nationals selected Strasburg with the first overall picks.  Minor's promotion mean that all of the first four collegiate pitchers taken in the first round of the 2009 draft have made the major leagues within their first professional season. 

After Minor, Leake was taken by Cincinnati with the 8th pick and Storen by the Nationals with the 10th pick.  The Indians Alex White was the next college pitcher selected with pick #15, although the Royals Aaron Crow was playing semi-pro ball when they selected him with the twelfth pick.

The #8 pick of the 2010 draft, Delino DeShields Jr. has agreed to a $2.15M signing bonus with the Houston Astros reports Jim Callis of Baseball America.  DeShields Jr. is the son of former major leaguer Delino DeSheilds Sr. and signed for slightly above the MLB recommendation for the 8th pick, $2.043M.

Primarily an outfielder while playing for Woodward Academy in GA, the Astros hope to play the speedy son at his father's position, second base. Callis notes that DeShields received an impressive 80 on the scouts scale of 20-80 for his speed tool grade.

For a complete list of signing bonuses, visit the Draft Signings page.

The 2011 draft class is considered a very deep draft class, especially when compared against the 2010 and 2009 classes.  Many of those players spend their summer playing in the prestigious Cape Cod League, despite the number of players who decided to play for Team USA instead. 

With the regular season over and playoffs beginning, Keith Law of espn.com ranked the Top 30 players in the Cape Cod League this summer.  Below is his Top 10 along with a position and his college team and Cape Cod club, but Keith also includes a little blurb about each player's season for all 30 players and why he ranks where he does.  

1) George Springer, OF, UConn/Wareham
2) Matt Barnes, RHP, UConn/Wareham
3) Brian Goodwin, OF, UNC/Harwich
4) Anthony Ranaudo, RHP, LSU/Brewster

5) Alex Dickerson, LF/1B, Indiana/Wareham
6) Levi Michael, SS, UNC/Harwich
7) Anthony Meo, RHP, Coastal Carolina/Bourne
8) Jed Bradley, LHP, Georgia Tech/Wareham

9) Jack Armstrong, RHP, Vanderbilt/Falmouth
10) Jason Esposito, 3B, Vanderbilt/Orleans

Most draft related news recently has centered around either the Cape Cod League and its recent All-Star game at Fenway Park or the signings (or lack thereof) of the 2010 class.  However, there's still plenty of information to pass along about next year's draft class, the Class of 2011.

We'll start off with some pieces about high school players eligible for the 2011 draft courtesy Conor Glassey of Baseball America.

• Lakeland Christian HS (FL) Left-handed pitcher Corey Stump threw well at the East Coast Pro Showcase in his hometown of Lakeland, FL.  There are also notes on some of the other top performers on the day.
• Lake City HS (SC) outfielder Shon Carson is fast.  Very fast.  Also, more news from the East Coast Pro Showcase
• Catholic HS (LA) pitcher Aaron Nola did not think he'd be at the East Coast Pro Showcase, but he made the best of his unlikely appearance.  Also included is a list of the top 60-yard dash times.

ESPN recently profiled some of the top players for the 2011 draft class. 

• UCLA pitcher Gerrit Cole passed up on over a $1M signing bonus as the 28th pick of the 2008 draft to improve his stock for 2011.  It worked. 
• The early favorite for the #1 pick of 2011 is Anthony Rendon. 

• Similar to Cole, TCU pitcher Matt Purke passed up #14 pick signing bonus money in 2009 to enter the 2011 draft.  Purke has plenty of top flight competition.
• Science Hill HS (TN) pitcher Daniel Norris is rated the top high school pitcher of the 2011 class.

Continue Reading...

Pitcher Seth Blair had a phenomenal season with Arizona State this past spring and now he hopes his fortunes will continue into his professional career. 

The former ace for the Sun Devils has agreed to a $751,500 signing bonus with the St. Louis Cardinals, reports Jim Callis of Baseball America.  A supplemental first round draft choice, Blair was the 46th pick of the draft.  Blair's signing bonus matches the MLB slot recommendation for the 46th pick.

St. Louis acquired the 46th pick as compensation for losing infielder Mark DeRosa to free agency.

While there have been rumors of Michael Choice, the 10th pick of the 2010 draft, signing with Oakland, nothing definitive has come out indicating that a deal is done.  In fact, for quite a while now movement on first round signings has been quiet.  That's not all that surprising as many are expected to take their contract negotiations down to the wire. 

In the meantime, we get to speculate on when, how and if players will sign.  Jason Churchill of espn.com and Jonathan Mayo of mlb.com did the honors for us recently with their evaluations of how the first round signing talks are going. 

Four of the top five picks have yet to sign (#4 Christian Colon has already agreed to a $2,75M signing bonus) and all indications look like all four will go down to the wire with their negotiations.  Mayo also lumps UNC pitcher Matt Harvey, the #7 pick by the Mets, and Yasmani Grandal, the #12 pick by the Reds, into that group.  The deadline to sign 2010 draft picks is August 16, 2010.

Texas A&M pitcher Barrett Loux, the #6 pick, failed his physical with the Diamondbacks making thing complicated.  Both Churchill and Mayo compare his situation with that of Padres reliever Tim Stauffer, the #4 pick in 2003.  One alternative, Churchill writes, is to not sign Loux and take the 7th pick in the 2011 draft.

Mayo writes that the #8 pick, Delino DeShields Jr., is expected to sign with the Astros before the deadline.

Continue Reading...

The 2010 Cape Cod League All-Star game was held at Fenway Park this year for the second consecutive year and along with the game comes the home run derby.  Certainly this is not part of the day's activities that attracts attention from scouts and executives, but it is still an fun opportunity for some of the Cape's biggest sluggers to show off their strength.

Predictably (with the player's using wooden bats and in Fenway's long distances, at least by Cape standards) many of the players struggled hitting home runs.  Only three players hit anything out in the first round, led by the Bourne Braves' Daniel Bowman who had six home runs.  Hitting two home runs a piece, Chatham's Ricky Oropesa and Cotuit's Paul Hoilman advanced to the finals.

Despite a stellar first round, Bowman was homerless in the final round, leaving it up to Oropesa and Hoilman.  Despite the disadvantage of being a lefty in Fenway Park. Oropesa still put the pressure on the relatively unknown Hoilman with two home runs.  But, the College World Series home run champion was up to the task and with one out left, Hoilman pulled a ball into the green monster seats to win the 2010 Cape Cod League All-Star game home run derby.

Paul Hoilman 2010 Cape Cod League Home Run Derby Champion

Michael Huang of The Sporting News recently wrote about top flight players to watch for in 2011.  Below is a list of the players he identified.  To view a player's profile, click on his name.

In no particular order:

Jackie Bradley Jr., South Carolina, OF
Taylor Jungmann, Texas, P
Anthony Rendon, Rice, 3B
Matt Purke, TCU, P
Dylan Bundy, Owassa HS, P
Gerrit Cole, UCLA, P

Trevor Bauer, UCLA, P
Henry Owens, Edison HS, P
Travis Harrison, Tustin HS, 3B
Danny Hultzen, Virginia, P
Preston Tucker, Florida, 1B
Daniel Norris, Science Hill HS, P
Zack MacPhee, Arizona State, 2B