Atlanta Braves draft signings definitely not business as usual
By Fred Owens
Saturday signatures collected
Tweets suggest the players completed their deals before Callis began his Saturday afternoon Twitter flood, Shortly after three Saturday afternoon, he sent a Tweet that I had to read twice.
According to Callis, the Braves gave their nineteenth round draftee Kadon Morton, a $447,500. I did a double take because that’s exactly $100 more than the full allowance for a fourth-round slot. It’s also 3.6 times the $125K maximum and takes $322,500 from the base pool. Callis stayed busy for the next 30 minutes.
- Jared Johnson signed for $257K
- a whisker over twice that $125K line and
- takes $132,500 from the bonus account.
- Atlanta Braves locked up fourth-round pick Kasey Kalich for $347,500.
- 77.5% of the $447,400 suggested MLB slot. (Are you taking notes? There’s a math quiz ahead.)
- Sixth-rounder Tanner Gordon inked a $212,500 deal.
- That’s 85% of the $247,400 slot.
I thought Callis left for the day, then at game-time Saturday night he fired off one last tweet. This one confirmed the Atlanta Braves gave Bryce Ball (round 24) $197,500. A 60% increase over the late-round allowance and a $72,500 charge against the MLB allocation for rounds one through ten.
Sunday Morning coming down
Just before this post went live, news arrived from Mr. Callis of another signing.
Atlanta Braves tenth-round pick Brandon Parker inked a deal worth $140,700. That’s yet another below the line signing, albeit by only 1.1% ($2500).
The old check register’s bleeding a bit here and there, but there’s no need for overdraft protection yet.
| Rd | Pos | Name | Slot Value | Actual | Over/Under |
| 1 | C | Shea Langeliers | $4,949,100 | $4,000,000 | $949,100 |
| 1 | SS | Braden Shewmake | $3,132,300 | $3,132,300 | $0 |
| 2 | SS | Beau Philip | $1,157,400 | $700,000 | $457,400 |
| 3 | OF | Michael Harris | $593,100 | $550,000 | $43,100 |
| 4 | RHRP | Kasey Kalich | $447,400 | $347,500 | $99,900 |
| 5 | OF | Stephen Paolini | $333,300 | $600,000 | ($266,700) |
| 6 | RHSP | Tanner Gordon | $257,400 | $212,500 | $44,900 |
| 7 | RHSP | Darius Vines | $201,600 | ||
| 8 | RHSP | Rickey DeVito | $166,100 | ||
| 9 | 2B | Cody Milligan | $151,300 | ||
| 10 | OF | Brandon Parker | $143,200 | $140,700 | $2,500 |
| 11 | SS | Vaughn Grissom | $125,000 | $350,000 | ($225,000) |
| 14 | RHP | Jared Johnson | $125,000 | $257,500 | ($132,500) |
| 19 | OF | Kadon Morton | $125,000 | $447,500 | ($322,500) |
| 24 | 1B | Bryce Ball | $125,000 | $197,500 | ($72,500) |
| 26 | 3B | Riley King | $125,000 | Will not sign |
In terms of over/under, the Braves are doing well. They’ve saved $575,700 including paying the late picks well over the $125K limit.
They have $1,096,700 left in the initial pool; including the 5% allowed overage raises that to $1,673,310, more than enough to cover the full slot bonuses for the four remaining pool-round selections, with some left over for more over-slot signings.