A majority of first round selections are still waiting on that magic number before they sign an agreement to play professionally.  12 players have signed…20 to go.  The last player to sign was Jared Mitchell (CAA client).  Undoubtedly, not every player will sign, but you can expect a lot of deals to get done with hours or minutes left before the actual deadline.

The draft is 50 rounds long and not ALL about the first round.  Many players outside of the first round have not yet signed, either.  For instance, 6 of the 17 first round supplemental picks are still waiting to hear a number they like (Paxton, Davis, Skaggs, Owings, Boxberger, and Scheppers).

First Round Picks

1. Nationals. Stephen Strasburg, rhp Boras Corp. Unsigned. Boras wants $50 million.
2. Mariners. Dustin Ackley, of Boras Corp. Unsigned. Boras wants roughly $9.5 million.
3. Padres. Donavan Tate, of Boras Corp. Unsigned. Boras already has enough on his hands with Strasburg and Ackley. Add Donavan, and it’s quite a party.
4. Pirates. Tony Sanchez, c ACES (Hank King & Mike Zimmerman). Signed. $2.5 million.
5. Orioles. Matt Hobgood, rhp Wasserman Media Group (Lenny Strelitz). Signed. $2.42 million.
6. Giants. Zack Wheeler, rhp Jet Sports Management. Unsigned.
7. Braves. Mike Minor, lhp Bo McKinnis. Unsigned. Jonathan Mayo believes his signing will make many other college pitchers in the first round sign.
8. Reds. Mike Leake, rhp Beverly Hills Sports Council (Dan Horwits). Unsigned. Close to a deal.
9. Tigers. Jacob Turner, rhp Boras Corp. Unsigned. Boras boy #4…also waiting it out.
10. Nationals. Drew Storen, rhp CAA. Signed. $1.6 million. Storen is tearing it up in the organization thus far. He is already with the High A Potomac Nationals, and is closing out games along with Dynasty client, Dan Leatherman.
11. Rockies. Tyler Matzek, lhp Legacy Sports Group (Greg Genske) Unsigned. Signs pointing to him going to Oregon and not signing with the Rockies.
12. Royals. Aaron Crow, rhp Hendricks Sports Management (J.D. Smart). Unsigned. Doesn’t have to sign by August 17.
13. Athletics. Grant Green, ss Boras Corp. Unsigned. The fifth Boras superhero.
14. Rangers. Matt Purke, lhp Select Sports Group (Peter Vescovo). Unsigned.
15. Indians. Alex White, rhp Career Sports (Keith Grunewald). Unsigned.
16. Diamondbacks. Bobby Borchering, 3b SFX (Troy Caradonna). Unsigned.
17. Diamondbacks. A.J. Pollock, of Icon Sports Management (Rob Martin). Signed. $1.4 million
18. Marlins. Chad James, lhp Icon Sports Management (Rob Martin). Unsigned.
19. Cardinals. Shelby Miller, rhp Select Sports Group (Peter Vescovo). Unsigned.
20. Blue Jays. Stephen Jenkins, rhp ACES (Hank King & Brandon O’Hearn). Unsigned.
21. Astros. Jiovanni Mier, ss Legacy Sports Group (Greg Genske). Signed. $1.358 million
22. Twins. Kyle Gibson, rhp Randy Rowley. Unsigned. Stalling because of injury issues.
23. White Sox. Jared Mitchell, of CAA. Signed. $1.2 million
24. Angels. Randal Grichuk, of SFX (Tom Little). Signed. $1.242 million
25. Angels. Mike Trout, of Landis/Seal/Ware. Signed. $1.215 million
26. Brewers. Eric Arnett, rhp Sterling Sports Management (Joe Speed). Signed. $1.197 million
27. Mariners. Nick Franklin, ss SportsMeter (David Meter). Unsigned.
28. Red Sox. Reymond Fuentes, of MDR Sports Management (Melvin Roman). Signed. $1.134 million
29. Yankees. Slade Heathcott, of Frontline Athlete Management (Darek Braunecker). Unsigned.
30. Rays. LeVon Washington, 2b Boras Corp. Unsigned. Boras kid #6…also waiting it out.
31. Cubs. Brett Jackson, of CAA. Signed. $972,000. All 3 CAA drafted players have signed. Now if only they struck a deal with the New Orleans Saints for Malcolm Jenkins.
32. Rockies. Tim Wheeler, of Frontline Athlete Management (Jim Lindell). Signed. $900,000.

For links to many of the agencies listed, please check out our Agencies Database.

This year, a lot of players drafted hit the jackpot.

Three of the four largest up-front bonuses ever were paid out, led by the Giants giving No. 5 overall pick Buster Posey $6.2 million. The 27 first-round picks who signed received an average bonus of $2,484,963, more than $300,000 than ever before, and an increase of 18.4 percent from 2007, the biggest jump in the era of Major League Baseball’s recommendations for bonus slots.

The house kept the money on Aaron Crow, though. But when the house keeps its money, there is no guarantee that the clientèle will come back in the future. Jim Bowden, GM of the Washington Nationals (the team that selected Crow), is not too fond of this vegas-style system.

The system doesn’t work. And, you know, I think it would be in the best interest of the players and the clubs and the fans if there was a hard slotting system, whatever the numbers end up being — let’s take the numbers out. The player has to sign into the draft. They have to say they’re going to sign, and sign into the draft. The clubs then are allowed to take the best player, and wherever you’re drafted, the slotting system will pay you whatever that value is. … It should be a system where you don’t have small markets trying to do pre-cut deals or small markets not taking the best player because they can’t afford him. It should be a system where everybody gets to take the best player when it’s their turn to draft, and the player should sign and go. We shouldn’t sit all summer. Aaron Crow shouldn’t have to go home right now and play for the Fort Worth Cats and sit out and wait ’til next year’s June draft and then maybe until August 14 before he signs again. I don’t think that’s fair to him, I don’t think it’s good for baseball, it’s not good for the club, it’s not good for anybody.

I just think a hard slotting system would be the long-term solution for our sport. To sit there and have the negotiations that took place with several clubs between 11:30 and 12 where you’re talking about huge movements with lots of players where some teams didn’t even have conversations with the agent until quarter to 12 last night, and deals got done at 11:59 with literally, I understand, no conversations for long periods of time. I’m not sure that’s the best way to do business for a sport.

Is it not fair to Crow or is it actually more fair to him to be able to negotiate his value instead of fall into a hard slotting system? If the MLB were to use a hard slotting system, would we then not allow high school seniors to enter the draft? What about Junior College players? To stretch the question even further, should we then allow college juniors to declare for the draft? What if they get selected in the 40th round. They should have to sign also? Obviously, there are issues with the current system. Players are hurt by holding out until the last second and even having to play a year with an Independent Ball team. Teams are hurt because they cannot sign some of their best picks and lose valuable time training them if they sign right before the deadline. Buster Posey is happy right now, but many on both sides of the fence are not. Is there a solution to this mess?

On to my notes:

• As I mentioned in the comments of the Thursday post, Gerrit Cole will go to UCLA instead of the Yankees.
• I errored in the Thursday post.  Aaron Crow was actually being advised by Randy Hendricks.  Besides Crow, the other two first round players that did not sign are Boras clients (the aforementioned Cole and Josh Fields).
• Every pick in the Supplemental 1st round, 6th round, and 8th round signed with the teams that chose them.
• Watch out for UGA.  Georgia will receive two highly touted players who did not sign: Chase Davidson (3rd round) and Zach Cone (Supplemental 3rd round).
• Robbie Ross ended up being the highest paid player in the second round – $1.575 million.  The Texas Rangers will be happy to pay the left-handed pitcher.
• The highest paid fourth round player is no longer a tie.  Tim Melville, who would have been picked much higher minus his demand for big money, ended up receiving $1.250 million from the Royals.
• Adrian Nieto’s $376k in the fifth round was impressive until the Red Sox pushed over a cool $2 million to Ryan Westmoreland.
• The Pirates spent big money in the sixth round on Robbie Grossman – $1 million.
• A bunch of unsigned tenth rounders will be going to California schools.

If you want to get an early start on tracking the guys that we will be discussing around this time next year, tune in to ESPNU tomorrow (Sunday) at 2 p.m. EST to watch the Under Armour All-America Baseball Game.

Number-one overall pick, Tim Beckham, received a $6.15 million signing bonus.  Word is that Beckham’s bonus will be trumped by Buster Posey, who may get a whopping $7.5 million.  Posey was the fifth player taken in the draft (by the San Francisco Giants).  The aforementioned Pedro Alvarez (Boras), Eric Hosmer (Boras), and Brian Matusz were all taken earlier than Posey and remain unsigned at the moment.  After Posey, there are six players who will probably not be signed until the final minutes before the deadline (if signed at all).  They are Yonder Alonso, Aaron Crow, Justin Smoak, Josh Fields (Boras), Allan Dykstra (Boras), and Gerrit Cole (Boras).  I do not know what is more remarkable: the fact that Boras has five players in the first round or that five of the ten players still holding out in the first-round are Boras clients.

Out of all of the first-round players yet to sign, only one seems to be for a reason other than the belief that he feels he deserves higher than slot figures.  Allan Dykstra has medical issues, which has delayed progress between the Padres and Boras Corp in signing the former Wake Forest first baseman.

As of writing this post, here are the bonus babies (highest signing bonuses) in the first ten rounds:

• 1st round (pick 1) – Tim Beckham – $6.15 million (Rays)
• Supplemental 1st (pick 1) – Shooter Hunt – $1.08 million (Twins)
• 2nd round (pick 9) – Destin Hood – $1.1 million (Nationals)
• 3rd round TIE (pick 5) – Roger Kieschnick – $525k (Giants) and (pick 10) – Danny Espinosa (Nationals)
• Supplemental 3rd (pick 1) – Ross Seaton – $700k (Astros)
• 4th round TIE (pick 1) – Ty Morrison – $500k (Rays) and (pick 19) – Matt Cerda (Cubs)
• 5th round (pick 9) – Adrian Nieto – $376k (Nationals)
• 6th round (pick 28) – Brett Marshall – $800k (Yankees)
• 7th round (pick 29) – Tim Fedroff – $725k (Indians)
• 8th round (pick 4) – Bobby Bundy – $600k (Orioles)
• 9th round (pick 15) – Steven Caseres – $250k (Dodgers)
• 10th round (pick 12) – Rashun Dixon – $600k (Athletics)

For a team with a small payroll, the Nationals seem to be spending quite a bit of money on their early draft picks.  Other notes:

• Out of 16 Supplemental 1st round picks, only one remains unsigned: Jeremy Bleich (Yankees)
• Only one player in the entire 3rd round has yet to sign: Chase Davidson (Astros)
• Every single player selected in the 8th round has signed a deal with the club that drafted him.
• The 10th round sticks out, containing ten players that have not yet signed.

For a great breakdown of the reasoning behind why certain players remain unsigned, check out this article published by BaseballAmerica.  Friday shall be an interesting day, indeed.