Atlanta Braves lack of pool money drove Rule 4 draft selections
By Fred Owens
Taking a prep player in round 1 blows most of the Atlanta Braves draft pool in one shot.
In a short draft like the one just concluded, staying within the specified amount becomes more difficult. Prep players are harder to sign in most years because they can always opt to go to school and try again later (particularly with the new deferred money rule).
The short draft in 2020 limited the pool of every team, causing most to choose safer signings in the first round in order to draft better prospects in the next four rounds.
As a result, in a draft with a lot of high-quality prep-arms, only one high school pitcher was selected: Mick Abel by the Phillies.
Why didn’t the Atlanta Braves sign. . .
Two high school prospects Atlanta Braves fans favored as a round-one choice, Carson Montgomery and Kevin Parada, weren’t selected in the draft. At all. This indicates that teams felt their asking price was too high as the BA scouting reports (subscription required) suggest.
"(Montgomery) could be a tough sign, particularly within a shortened 2020 draft. (Parada) is strongly committed to Georgia Tech and may be difficult to sign."
Another name on many people’s lips – Jared Kelley – fell to the White Sox at 47th overall. We don’t know the deal yet, but the slot value was $1.5M, and most believe he’ll get first-round money. The White Sox’ pool of $7,764,800 may allow them to pay that level of bonus.
Prospects don’t care about the club’s financial situation when signing very often. Any ranked high school arm – arms are more expensive – taken in the first round would demand the full first-round slot, and if you want him now, you’ll pay more or wait until he comes around again.
If the Atlanta Braves had stepped up to get Kelley at 25th on the list, he’d have them over a barrel: sign me at my price, or lose $2.7M.