Atlanta Braves Draft Signings Update

We are approaching 1 week post-MLB-draft, and this is a wrap-up of known signings to date (sources are: baseballamerica.com’s draft database or Mark Bowman of mlb.com, unless otherwise indicated):

BRAXTON DAVIDSON, (OF/1B) Round 1. He graduates from high school this weekend, then will trek to Atlanta to become a professional. No rush – this is gonna happen early next week, though. Bowman believes this deal will include a near-slot bonus (the assigned bonus value – the slot number – for this pick is $1.705 million).
GARRETT FULENCHEK, (RHP), Round 2. SIGNED. According to ajc.com, he reached agreement with Atlanta on an over-slot bonus deal last Saturday, plus a tuition bump that brings the whole deal to $1,000,000. Garret was then scheduled to report to the Disney-based training complex yesterday. So ba.com is a bit behind here, but he’s inked. (slot differential: $140,000 over)
MAX POVSE (RHP), Round 3. SIGNED. His bonus is $425,000 (slot differential: $89,200 under)

CHAD SOBOTKA (RHP), Round 4. SIGNED. This is the guy that the Braves believe they may have gotten a great deal on. Yes, he was the 133rd pick. Yes, he signed at $400,000 (slot differential: over by $18,700). But they also figure he was a possible 1st/2nd-rounder before missing the 2014 season with a (relatively) minor back fracture.

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CHRIS DIAZ

(LHP), Round 5.

SIGNED.

This time, BA.com shows him signed at $285,500; Bowman did not have that deal complete as of yesterday evening. That number would be

exactly on

slot value.

KEITH CURCIO (OF), Round 6. SIGNED. $225,000 is his bonus (slot differential: over by $11,200). Keith has the distinction of being able to report to Orlando without actually changing residences… until they kick him out of the athletic dorms at Florida Southern College in Lakeland.

LUKE DYKSTRA (2B), Round 7. Not signed yet, though Bowman had information that he would be coming in at the $163,900 slot value.

BRADLEY RONEY (RHP), Round 8. SIGNED. ba.com shows Roney in the house with a $153,000 bonus, matching his slot value.

JORDAN EDGERTON (3B), Round 9. SIGNED. According to his own twitter feed, Jordan signed with the Braves on Wednesday. I do not have a bonus figure for him; the slot value for this pick is $143,000. He was drafted above his ba.com rank (283rd pick vs. rank 437), so in the absence of any unknown factors, an on-slot signing would be expected.
MATT TELLOR (1B), Round 10. SIGNED. Now here’s the weird one. ba.com shows that Matt has signed to a $5,000 bonus. That’s what they said: 5K. Slot value is $132,600 higher, which is nonetheless the lowest bonus assignment in the 10-round pool list. Given those numbers, the $5000 figure is most likely incorrect: I will assume he’s on slot. Tellor is already at Disney, probably along with most of these other guys. Tellor is a big-hitting, big-framed first baseman who hit to a 1.102 OPS for Southeast Mizzou this year, though was unranked in the BA 500 pre-draft chart.

To this point, there are no reports of any players selected after Round 10 having signed. That’s not terribly unusual, as the ‘bonus players’ have priority. According to ba.com, 26 of the first 27 picks – a very healthy number – signed last year (none from Rounds 28-40).

The Tally Thus Far

Eight players are now signed. Total bonuses appear to exceed the pool allocation by $80,700 (counting Tellor at slot and factoring in Fulenchek’s tuition deal), or 1.7%. That is comfortably within the range that prevents a team from getting slapped with an sanctions.
First rounder Davidson is set to sign early next week, according to reports.
Luke Dykstra sounds like he is close to signing. And indeed, his twitter bio indicates “Infielder in the Alanta Braves organization”. May wanna check the spelling on that, though, Luke!

So that gets us within shouting distance of a top-ten draft-pick sweep for Atlanta. An excellent chance to get these kids starting on their pro careers quickly!

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