Atlanta Braves have signed all draft picks from Rounds 1 to 24

Braves have gotten 24 signatures from 2017 draft picks

The Atlanta Braves have officially signed 24 new faces to their organization, but that could be all from this draft.  From our math, the Braves may be finished with their signings from this draft.

On June 12-14, the 2017 First-Year MLB Player Draft took place where the Atlanta Braves selected 40 players…14 right-handed pitchers, eight left-handed pitchers, six catchers, and 12 positional players.

After the draft, teams go into the signing process to try and negotiate a good number for both sides.  Sometimes, we’ve seen these talks go on for months.  Sometimes, teams and players never agree to terms.

From the look of it, the Braves had a plan and delivered on it.  They were not messing around this year.

That plan was evident when just a few days after the draft ended, the Braves announced that they’ve agreed to a deal with their first-round pick and number five overall, Kyle Wright.  That deal was worth $7 million in signing bonuses.  The slot value was $5,707,300 for this pick.  So right off the bat, the Braves were behind on their money.

Show Them The Money…Wait, What Money?

The money is going to be the issue here.  And it’s very possible the Braves just don’t have any left.

Heading into the draft, according to MLB.com, the Braves had $9,881,200 in bonus pools to play with.  That was the ninth highest among MLB teams.

Before we get any further, let’s take a look at the Braves 2017 MLB Draft picks.

[table id=73 /]

You’ll see in the table above, the Braves have signed their first 24 draft picks.  It’s currently not public the figures to many of these players, but we do know that they have signed.

A very cool stat….the Braves have signed their first 10 selections in eight straight years…from 2010 to 2017.  In 2009, the Braves were not able to sign their 6th round pick Ryan Woolley.  He went on to Alabama-Birmingham College and was drafted again in 2011 by the Detroit Tigers…not until the 13th round.  He was out of baseball by 2013.

Any, who…

The news came out this afternoon that the Braves have agreed to terms with their first 24 picks…wow, that’s awesome!  But what about rounds 25-40?

More from Braves News

• Braves News: Atlanta’s left field situation, Dansby negotiations, more
• Alex Anthopoulos discusses the Atlanta Braves payroll, rotation, Grissom, Swanson, Acuña, and more
• Braves News: Braves 2023 rotation speculation, Correa deal on hold, more
• Atlanta Braves: Current Left Field Mix
• Atlanta Braves 2023 Preseason Top 30 Prospects List: 11-15

One player we knew wasn’t going to sign pretty much right after his name was called was the pick in the 25th round, Jake Taylor.  No, not the catcher from the Major League movies.  This was a high school catcher from Shawnee High.  He tweeted out that it was an honor to being drafted by the Braves, but he was going to attend the Oklahoma State University.

We haven’t heard a peep from rounds 26-40, but the picture is kinda looking clear.

These picks were mostly high school players or juniors in college.  Meaning they have the opportunity to either go back to school or go to college.  The Braves may have known in the back of their minds that these rounds probably wouldn’t be signed.

I think this strategy came into play when Wright fell to them at #5.  The Braves changed their approach to the entire draft by selecting one player.  Wright was going to demand a high signing bonus, but he was too good of a talent to pass up.

So here’s the tweet that started this post…

As I read this tweet from the Atlanta Braves, I read “we’ve signed our first 24 draft picks and we’re out of money.  These are the players we’ll be signing from the 2017 draft.”

The bonus money hasn’t been released for many of these players, but after looking at the numbers they’ve got to be close to running out.

I’m actually very okay with this as looking down the list of players we’re missing out on, the only two I was intrigued about was 26th round pick Charlie Carpenter — a catcher from the University of South Carolina Upstate that is 6’6″ 230-pounds — and 30th round pick Hayden Wynja from Heritage Christian High School — a left-handed pitcher that’s 6’8″ 190-pounds.

Next: Braves 4th round pick, Troy Bacon on the Hot Seat

The Braves have signed who they wanted to sign and now we move on!  A few of these guys will already report to Danville.  Get out your MiLB app!!