Atlanta Braves draft signing tracker

The Atlanta Braves made interesting selections in the draft. Some signed, others will. Signing all of them without exceeding the pool allocation is the issue.

The Atlanta Braves draft pool shrank this year after they lost their third-round selection due to the scandal. The Braves started with an $8,267,300 pool and may use that money any way they wish to sign selections from round one through ten.  They must sign all of them or it can get expensive.

Failing to sign a player selected rounds in one through ten results in the loss picks slot value from their total pool.

If the Braves spend between 0-5% above the total pool allocation, they pay a 75 percent tax on the overage. Essentially every dollar above the limit costs the Braves $1.75. The penalties increase as the team gets farther over the limit.

• 5-10% over the limit costs the team the 75% tax and a first-round selection in the next draft
• 10-15% over the limit costs the team a 100% tax, first-round selection and a second-round selection in the next draft
• >15% over the limit costs the team a 100% tax and a first-round selection in the next two drafts.

So far 95 teams exceeded their draft pool under these rules, none by more than 5%.

If a team pays a bonus greater than $125K in rounds 11 – 40, that amount counts against the pool for rounds one through ten.

Leverage?  Yes and no

Worst case scenario, Carter Stewart chooses not to sign reducing the Braves pool to a $3,286,600. That gives the players leverage over the team in bonus negotiations but can also work against the player in future drafts.

In 2014, the Astros selected Brady Aiken and they agreed a reported $6.5M bonus pending his physical. That physical revealed his UCL was thinner than normal prompting Houston to reduce their offer to the minimum they were allowed to make; $5M. Aiken refused to sign.

In January he entered a prep school so he would be eligible for the next draft. His UCL snapped in the first game. The Indians selected him as the 17th pick that year paying him $2,513,280. Aiken lost around $2.5M and so did the Indians. He never recovered his velocity, reach A+ ball last year, posted a 4.37 ERA and hasn’t pitched this season.

Atlanta Braves signing chart

The table lists every draft pick, position, slot value and bonus paid, and the remaining pool. If the Braves exceed the pool I’ll add the amount and actual cost.

Eight teams remain in the College World Series hunt; Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi,  North Carolina, Oregon State, Texas, Texas Tech and Washington. Those players  can’t do anything until the tournament ends or their team gets eliminated.  As a result, we won’t know about A.J. Graffanino, Ryan Shetter, Nolan Kingham and Ray Soderman for a while though all except Soderman are likely to sign.

Players from teams recently eliminated from the tourney need to time to regroup and negotiate. Those signings may start appearing next week.

Who signed?

Confirmed signings are listed on MLB’s draft tracker but there are always rumors of signing and rumors about players who won’t.  I show those rumors as well as confirmed numbers as I get them. The wrap up should come once the signing deadline passes.  Even then there are special circumstances that may allow extensions.

This table is current as of 2:30pmm CDT 6/30/18.

That’s a Wrap

The definitely not signing or probably not groups are generally high school players who believe they’ll be selected higher as a college sophomore.

There are a couple of college seniors listed as well. They may feel selection in the out-rounds foreshadows any potential professional career.  I’d take the chance anyway but I didn’t get an invitation to the party.

Next: What's with Julio?

I’ll update this with every Atlanta Braves signing I hear about and try to get in into the chop, so check back periodically.