Courtesy of the Herald-Mail, 2009 27th round pick RHP Brandon King has signed with the Nationals. He received a $250K signing bonus and will report to the Gulf Coast League.
Also, the Nationals have released 19th round selection, RHP Frank Corolla from the University of Houston after he failed a physical.
This leaves the Nationals with a net 22 signed from the 2009 draft.
UPDATE: A search of Google News turned up this link from over the weekend regarding fifth round selection, HS LHP Miguel Pena. This quote stood out to me, “”They (the Nationals) are just waiting on me to make my move, but I’m just sort of taking easy right now. I’ll sign soon enough.” (emphasis mine)
#1 by Unkle Wheez - June 29th, 2009 at 08:56
How many players do teams usually sign from their draft? How many do we usually sign?
#2 by Positively Half St. - June 29th, 2009 at 08:58
Miguel Pena had better be careful. Another kid just got released for failing a physical. I would not mess with my signing bonus by playing one more amateur game. If the 27th round pick got $250K, how much is he risking as the 5th rounder?
#3 by Brian Oliver - June 29th, 2009 at 09:01
UW – The answer to both questions is typically between 25-30
PHS – Agreed. Seems that a HS is risking quite a bit if he plans on signing (a bunch of the Texas HS guys taken late are playing in tournaments but seem likely to head to college).
#4 by Chris - June 29th, 2009 at 09:32
This story is a fabrication – has to be. The Nats don’t give overslot bonuses!!!!
#5 by dd - June 29th, 2009 at 10:09
Do you think any of Pena, Kobernus, Morris, Weaver, Perez and/or Applebee will sign early enough to play substantial time in the minors?
#6 by Brian Oliver - June 29th, 2009 at 10:16
If I were a betting man, I’d wager Morris & Weaver as “no” and the rest as “Yes”
No inside information, just a guess
#7 by Ronny - June 29th, 2009 at 11:21
Are the Nats going to have him pitching or hitting? He is a nice power hitter(15HR).
#8 by Andrew Z. Stebbins - June 29th, 2009 at 11:27
I’m sure the Nationals saw him play both ways and drafted him as a pitcher. Pitch.
#9 by Ronny - June 29th, 2009 at 11:36
Why did he fall to the 27th round?
#10 by Greg - June 29th, 2009 at 12:00
Also, what round would typically demand a 250K signing bonus?
#11 by Brian Oliver - June 29th, 2009 at 12:05
Ronny – It appeared the King was considered a late day 2 pick (rds 15-25). Basically he’d get popped earlier if a team saw something
Greg – Last year, the slot bonus for the 127th person drafted was $250K. King was 802nd player selected
#12 by Greg - June 29th, 2009 at 13:42
Thanks Brian!
#13 by Dick - June 29th, 2009 at 15:15
Anyone out there who follows junior hockey closely will understand that the new signee’s nickname has to be ‘Wheat’.
#14 by Ryan - June 29th, 2009 at 15:33
Anyone find it interesting we spent 50k more to sign our 27th round pick than we did to sign our 3rd rounder?…
#15 by Rich - June 29th, 2009 at 15:47
Ryan,
I think its indicative of a strategy to keep $ down and still sign High Schoolers with upside. By signing underslot folks in the first few rounds who may be able to help the current team (aside from Strasburg) then they spend more on upside HSer who were not drafted in a lower round. The more I have read about drafting in the past year and a half on this site the more I realize its hard to know who is going to work out and who isn’t. Pujols didn’t go in the first 10 rounds whenever he was drafted. Lannan and Stammen went 11th & 12th respectively and they look promising. It’s a complete crapshoot. By doing it this way they are cutting down on the costs of the draft and still try to sign Strasburg. And if they sign MORE guys maybe they think that they have a better shot at getting more impact players.
I have a question for you guys. How accurate are Baseball America’s and Keith Law’s top 100 prospect lists? If we went back to 2004/2005 are they pretty accurate or they as wrong as some of these organizations like the Nats?
Thanks!
#16 by Ryan - June 29th, 2009 at 16:01
Rich… totally understand the strategy but disagree with it. I would have preferred they take someone legit in Round 3 and payed him slot, using the 200K and the 250K they spent from Holder/King instead-
#17 by Brian Oliver - June 29th, 2009 at 16:06
Rich/Ryan – I do not believe Holder under slot had much (if anything) to do with getting King signed. If anything, the Holder savings appear earmarked towards Strasburg (which I don’t like).
The King signing bears watching because Rizzo might be employing a strategy where instead of signing one HS player $2 million, he instead attempts to get 8 at $250K each.
It’s an interesting idea … IF you trust your scouts/scouting abilities. And just as important if you believe you have the right player development personnel in place to grow these guys.
It’s similar to the idea of not spending $3 million on one international free agent, rather spreading the dollars around to multiple guys.
Like I said, it puts the spotlight on your scouts/PD staff to know their stuff
#18 by Dick - June 29th, 2009 at 16:09
Last year, our 15th rounder cost $475,000 more than our third rounder.
Rich: two things come to mind, Brian has had many stats on this site about the relatively low percentages of players who make it to the bigs. Something like a third of first round picks never even get a cup of coffee. Think the O’s want a redo on Rowell over Lincecum? Second, a famous draft picker once took great umbrage when someone used the word ‘crapshoot’ to describe a draft. This guy said that he believed strongly that you can find guys if you know what you are doing and that the draft is far from a crapshoot. BTW, that guy’s name was Rizzo.
#19 by John - June 29th, 2009 at 17:11
Dick: Let’s just hope he’s more like Ray Ferraro than Eric Fehr. Nice catch as I missed that one :)
#20 by Ross - June 29th, 2009 at 23:38
Just curious why AJ Morris and Nathan Karns has not been signed? Nats need pitchers.
#21 by sasam - June 30th, 2009 at 13:05
Ross, not sure about Morris but I hear they havn’t really made much of an attempt with Karns. He had a slow start this season but finished real strong and pitched well in the Cape last year. I saw him recently throwing 96 in a summer league game
#22 by ddfgsdfh - July 1st, 2009 at 17:36
King is a great player. He played at Martinsburg High. Decent pitching and definately a power hitter.
#23 by ddfgsdfh - July 1st, 2009 at 17:37
BTW…Martinsburg= Trip A State Champs in WV
#24 by ddfgsdfh - July 1st, 2009 at 17:39
http://your4state.com/content/fulltext/?cid=70291