Jackson Rutledge is signed up and ready to go. Photo via BA
The 7/15/19 deadline has passed, and the Nats have their official Draft class.
The last two top-10 round players signed (CWS participants Drew Mendoza and Matt Cronin) signed with little fan-fare and suddenly we had Mendoza showing up in Hagerstown. We learned later he signed an over-slot deal for $800k, about $181k over slot and using up basically every last penny of our 2019 bonus pool and the 5% cushion. (nearly every penny; see below for what the Nats did with the leftover dollars): Here’s a summary of the top-10 picks and the over-slot guys counting against the cap:
| Round | Overall | Name | Position | Col/HS | College or Cmtm | State | Bonus Amt | Slot Value | Savings off of Slot? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 17 | Rutledge, Jackson | RHP (Starter) | Col J2 | San Jacinto College North (TX | TX | 3450000 | 3609700 | 159700 |
| 3 | 94 | Mendoza, Drew | 3B | Col Jr | Florida State U | FL | 800000 | 618200 | -181800 |
| 4 | 123 | Cronin, Matt | LHP (Reliever) | Col Jr | Arkansas | AR | 464500 | 464500 | 0 |
| 5 | 153 | Dyson, Tyler | RHP (Starter) | Col Jr | Florida | FL | 500000 | 346800 | -153200 |
| 6 | 183 | Cluff, Jackson | SS | Col So | BYU | UT | 200000 | 266000 | 66000 |
| 7 | 213 | Peterson, Todd | RHP (Reliever) | Col Jr | LSU | LA | 220000 | 208200 | -11800 |
| 8 | 243 | Ydens, Jeremy | OF (CF) | Col Jr | UCLA | CA | 169500 | 169500 | 0 |
| 9 | 273 | McMahon, Hunter | RHP (Starter) | Col Jr | Texas State | TX | 152600 | 152600 | 0 |
| 10 | 303 | Pratt, Andrew | C | Col Sr | Lubbock Christian | TX | 10000 | 144100 | 134100 |
| 11 | 333 | Arruda, J.T. | SS | Col Jr | Fresno State | CA | 250000 | 125000 | -125000 |
| 13 | 393 | Randa, Jake | OF (corner) | Col J2 | NW Florida State | FL | 300000 | 125000 | -175000 |
| 14 | 423 | Knowles, Lucas | LHP (Starter) | Col J3 | Central Arizona College | AZ | 136980 | 125000 | -11980 |
The Nats gave over-slot deals to:
- 3rd rounder Mendoza
- 5th rounder Tyler Dyson
- 7th rounder Todd Peterson
- 11th rounder J.T. Arruda
- 13th rounder Jake Randa.
- 14th rounder Lucas Knowles, who gets the $11,980 exactly left over after the Nats signed Mendoza. It seems like they signed Mendoza, calculated their remaining dollars with the 5% cushion, and gave Knowles that number and he took it.
I especially like the 11th and 13th round deals: Arruda got 6th round money and Randa got 5th round money, so that gives our draft class some extra talent.
Meanwhile, under-slot deals given to 1st rounder Jackson Rutledge, 6th rounder Jackson Cluff, and 10th rounder Andrew Pratt enabled these moves. I’m especially surprised that Rutledge signed for under slot, after having fallen on most draft boards. This usually indicates that a player will demand over-slot money, not accept under-slot money. The team made just one Senior Sign/blatant bonus money move, the 10th round catcher Pratt.
Bonus Pool Accounting for 2019:
- Original Bonus amount for top 10 rounds: $5,979,600
- Bonus amount plus 5% cushion: $6,278,580
- Total Bonuses given counting against the cap: $6,216,600
- Total savings/space left: 0$ exactly. As noted above, the final $11,980 went to Knowles.
- Total known Bonus money paid, all rounds: $7,536,600
the Nats paid a slew of $125k deals in the 11th-20th rounds to secure all these Juco guys.
Biggest surprise signings:
- 23rd rounder HS pick Michael Cuevas, who took the $125k to forgoe a Juco commitment and come on board out of HS
- 13th rounder Randa, who got bought out of a SEC Mississippi State transfer commitment.
- 14th rounder Knowles, who seemed like he was bailing until offered slightly more than $125k and signed.
- 32nd rounder Dylan Beasley, a college Junior who took $50k to turn pro.
Biggest surprise non-signings:
- none really: our 26th rounder college Senior Dupree Hart has yet to sign as of 7/9/19, and his twitter says he’s a “financial Advisor” with Northwestern Mutual, so he may be declining a pro baseball career.
All told, 29 of their 39 picks got signed.
Assignments for the class:
- 12 to GCL, including several college seniors who are going to be way too old for the level
- 5 who spent a few days in GCL then went to Short-A
- 9 Straight to Short-A
- 3 straight to Low-A: Mendoza, Cronin and Cluff; havn’t seen a draft pick straight to such a high level since Stephen Strasburg, unless i’m not remembering someone in particular