Atlanta Braves Sign First Nine of Their First Eleven Picks From the Rule 4 Draft

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The Atlanta Braves always work quickly to sign their selections, a fact highlighted by the news that the club signed four of their 11 first-round picks.

Getting those signatures allows everybody to exhale and work on rounds 11-20 and any undrafted free agents they’ve got their eyes on.

This post lists the players signed and the pool money spent so far. Keeping track of the pool is important because of potential penalties for exceeding their pool allowance or failing to sign a pick.

The Pool and Penalties

The league allocates a different amount of money for each team to spend in rounds 1 through 10. The Atlanta Braves received a Pool Allowance of $8,341,700 divided into an amount for each draft slot.

Teams may spend up to 5% above their draft pool without incurring a penalty. Adding the 5% maximum to the base pool amount gives them a maximum of approximately $8,758,785.

The league’s used the pool format for 11 years, and all teams maximize their use of the penalty-free money.

Players in rounds 11-20 have a slot of $150K. Teams may pay more, but if they do, that amount counts as part of the draft pool and could push a team over the 5% line, and crossing the line triggers severe penalties.

I said the penalties for overspending are draconian, but you can judge for yourself.

A team that overspends between zero to five percent of their pool is charged a 75%tax on their overage.
A team that overspends between 5 and 10 percent of their pool pays a 75% tax on the overage AND loses next year's first-round pick.
A team so foolish as to overspend from 10 to 15 percent pays a 100% tax on the overage and loses their first-round and second-round pick the following year.
If a team managed by morons exceeds the pool by more than 15 percent, they pay a 100% tax on the overage and lose the first-round pick for the next two years.

That explains why even deep-pocket teams have never exceeded the 5% mark.

Today the Atlanta Braves second-round draft pick, pitcher Drue Hackenberg . / Eakin Howard/GettyImages

Atlanta Braves Signing and Bonuses Paid So Far

As I write this, the Atlanta Braves have nine of their 11 selections from the first ten rounds, including their supplementary pick from round two, only Lucas Braun and Pier-Olivier Boucher. You'll notice that some of the bonus amounts seem odd, a bonus of $1,887,500 for instance instead of $1,887,000 or $1,885,000. Those odd amounts include the team's $2,500 signing contingency bonus.

MLB allows each team to pay $2,500 for each selection when the contract is executed. Some teams give it on top of the signing bonus, some make it part of the bonus to save money in their first-round pool (Your sign for 100K, and they only use 97.5 K of the pool), and some don't use it all, which just seems silly.

RND Name Slot Value Actual - C.Bonus Over/Under

1 Hurston Waldrep 3,270,500 2,997,500 $2,500 $270,500

2 Drue Hackenberg 1,369,300 2,000,000 $630,700

2s Cade Kuehler 1,047,500 1,045,000 $2,500 $0

3 Sabin Ceballos 714,100 597,500 $2,500 $114,100

4 Garrett Baumann 521,800 747,500 $2,500 $228,200

5 Isaiah Drake 367,500 747,500 $2,500 $382,500

6 Lucas Braun 292,700 unsigned $292,700

7 Justin Long 229,400 172,500 $2,500 $54,400

8 Cory Wall 190,300 47,500 $2,500 $140,300

9 Riley Gowens 173,800 47,500 $2,500 $123,800

10 Pier-Olivier Boucher 164,800 unsigned $164,800

11 Jace Grady unsigned

12 Brady Day unsigned

13 Will Verdung 150,000 150,000

14 Mitch Farris 125,000 125,000

Totals for Rounds 1-10 $8,341,700 8,677,500 20,000 -$80,800

Rounds 11-20 $275,000
Total spent $8,952,500

The Braves also inked three undrafted free agents.

Ryan Bourassa, RHP, South Dakota State
Zack Austin, RHP, Central Florida
Drew Compton, 3B, Georgia Tech

No word on the bonuses for these players, but I suspect they weren’t large.

Ryan Bourassa

Bourassa was a starter for Bismarck State College in 2019 and 2020 before moving to South Dakota State in 2021. He started five games in 2021 but appeared 14 times in relief and picking up a pair of saves.

He became a full-time reliever in 2021 and pitched to a 2.13 ERA In 42.1 IP over 17 games, striking out 64 and walking 26 26. He had a rougher season in 2023, pitching to a 4.46 ERA over 40.1 IP striking out 62 and walking 15. ERA is a poor metric for relievers, but his K/W ratio was impressive and probably encouraged the Braves to sign him.

Zack Austin

Austin was a starter for Thomas Jefferson University from 2021 through 2022 but gave 43 earned runs in 45 IP over those two seasons. He transferred to the University of Central Florida in 2023 but threw only 7.1 innings in 10 appearances and gave up 12 runs.

Push come to shove, and Austin may try hitting. In 2021 he batted .367/.443/.541/.984 in 98 AB, including four doubles, five triples, and a homer. He followed that by batting .287/.370/.618/.988, including 10 doubles, four triples, and nine homers in 2022.

Drew Compton

Compton was starting third baseman for Georgia Tech in 2021 and 2022. As a Freshman, he batted .294/.393/.567/.960, had 17 multi-hit games and 10 multi-RBI games, and finished the season with a team-leading 13 homers.

Compton backed that up by batting .275/.378/.515/.893, including 14 homers, 10 doubles, and two triples, driving in 58 runs with 10 multi-hit/multi-RBI games. He played in only eight games this season after suffering an injury while running out a double on April 1.

That’s a Wrap

The Atlanta Braves have signed 11 of the 21 players selected, and according to Jewish Baseball News, two of the six Jewish players drafted this year, Lucas Braun at eight and Will King at 20.

According to my calculations, the club has roughly $80,000 left to sign Braun and Boucher, which is something they must do or lose the pool money associated with their slots.

We’ll update the numbers as more singings occur. As always, thanks for dropping in at the House That Hank Built.

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