• With slot values from 2019 locked in for 2020, there are more changes coming than just the amount of rounds in the 2020 MLB Draft.
• The 19-year-old catcher was selected by the Chicago Cubs with the 192nd pick of the 2019 draft. The slot value for his spot was $247,000, but the Cubs gave him a sixth-round-high $950,000 signing bonus to turn pro instead of playing college ball for Mississippi State. This year, there is no sixth round.
• That leaves $3,249,900 in their account. It’s also $725,500 more than predicted by the slots due to savings from under-slot bonuses. The Braves may spend as much as 5% over the allocated pool.

2021 MLB Draft Tracker - Round by round results with associated rookie contract and salaries for each player. Signed Bonus; 1: PIT: $8,415,300-2: TEX: $7,789,900.

In the years leading up to the 2019 MLB Draft, the Mets’ strategy has been underwhelming, to say the least. Generally speaking, the Mets have approached the draft fairly conservatively, simply drafting who they identified as the best players available and following conventions. What has made this strategy problematic is that, for whatever reason, the Mets have failed to properly identify the best talents available. While their record in the first round or two has generally been no better or worse than any other team, their lack of success on day two has resulted in a farm system that is lacking upper-level depth due to a lack of development and a high attrition rate.

In 2019, the Mets employed a bold, new strategy that dropped all pretenses.

Brett Baty and Joshua Wolf, the Mets’ first and second selections, were your standard “best player available” picks. One can nitpick, citing players that were selected in the next few picks that might be marginally better than either, but there were no players that were slam dunk improvements over Baty or Wolf. The 2019 draft took a radical turn when day two began.

For a variety of reasons, Matthew Allan- considered one of the top high school pitchers in the 2019 draft class- remained available when it came for the Mets’ turn at the podium in the third round. Stunning the baseball world, the team selected the right-hander with their third-round selection. With a slot value of $667,900 and a level of talent that would clearly need a lot more than that to sign with the team, the Mets would have to go with money-saving picks for the next seven rounds. And so they did.

In the fourth round, they selected Jake Mangum, a center fielder from Mississippi State. The assigned slot value for the pick was $487,900 and Mangum signed for $20,000, saving the Mets $467,900. In the fifth round, they selected Nathan Jones, a right-handed pitcher from Northwestern State University of Louisiana. The assigned slot value for the pick was $364,400 and Jones signed for $10,000, saving the Mets $354,400. In the sixth round, they selected Zach Ashford, an outfielder out of California State University Fresno. The assigned slot value for the pick was $277,100 and Ashford signed for $10,000, saving the Mets $267,100. In the seventh round, they selected Luke Ritter, a second baseman out of Wichita State. The assigned slot value for the pick was $216,600 and Ritter signed for $10,000, saving the Mets $206,600. In the eighth round, they selected Conner Wollersheim, a left-handed pitcher out of Kent State University. The assigned slot value for the pick was $174,000 and Wollersheim signed for $1,000, saving the Mets $173,000. In the ninth round, they selected Joe Genord, a first baseman out of the University of South Florida. The assigned slot value for the pick was $154,600 and Genord signed for $10,000, saving the Mets $144,600. In the tenth round, they selected Scott Ota, an outfielder out of the University of Illinois at Chicago. The assigned slot value of the pick was $145,300 and Ota signed for $1,000, saving the Mets $144,300. All in all, the team was able to save a total of $1,757,900 from these senior signings. In addition, first-round pick Brett Baty signed for $3.9 million, $470,000 below the assigned slot value of $4.37 million.

Despite saving just over $2 million dollars, the Mets still had a very thin margin of error in order to sign Allan, and an additional layer of drama and intrigue developed when Joshua Wolf signed with the team for $2.15 million, roughly $780,000 over the assigned slot value of $1.37 million. While the Mets certainly did their due diligence and had spoken to Allan’s representatives regarding what it would take for him to sign with them, the situation was fluid until all parties signed on the dotted line. With so many moving pieces and so many parties involved, one wrong move could have ruined the entire draft and turned what could have been a bold move into a major bust.

In the end, the Mets were able to sign Allan. The right-hander signed for $2.5 million, roughly 1.8 million dollars over the assigned slot value. The team used all the funds they had saved and then some, staying within the 0-5% margin in which teams are only taxed for exceeding their draft pool bonus rather than penalized by losing future selections.

While one can say that, in effect, the 2019 MLB Draft is no different than prior drafts in the sense that virtually all of the day two selections are unlikely to develop into major league players and that the trend of high attrition in the upper levels of the minors will continue, the Mets were able to sign one additional bona fide impact talent as compared to years past thanks to their novel approach.

2019 Mlb Draft Slot Bonuses Win

The Orioles have the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, but the team with the largest total bonus pool doesn't pick until the 16th selection of the first round. With seven total picks on Day 1 and eight of the first 100 selections, the D-backs will have $16,093,700 to spend during the 2019 draft, just over $2 million more than the Orioles, who have the second-highest bonus pool.

Arizona has a plethora of draft selections for several reasons. First, they failed to sign their first selection in last year's draft (current UCLA freshman Matt McLain) with the 25th pick. For that they were given pick No. 26 in this year's draft. Secondly, the D-backs gained a pair of compensation picks between the first round and the competitive balance round A (No. 32 and No. 33) after both lefthander Patrick Corbin and outfielder A.J. Pollock signed with other teams in free agency this offseason for more than $50 million. Had either player signed for less than $50 million, the D-backs would have received a pick after the second competitive balance round. Third, the Diamondbacks received their own competitive balance round B pick (No. 74) as one of the 10 smallest markets or for having of the 10 smallest revenue pools in the game. The team then traded for the Cardinals' competitive balance round B selection (No. 75) in the offseason trade that sent Paul Goldschmidt to St. Louis.

The number of picks and extra pool money will allow the D-backs to make a large impact on the 2019 draft class. While it is more difficult to slide players down the board under the current CBA, having the most money in the draft could allow Arizona to confidently take any player who is falling for signability concerns. It could also allow the organization to take a few more risks on players with big tools but less track record, while not having their draft hinge upon those players panning out thanks to the depth of the class.

At the opposite end of the spectrum are the Red Sox, who have the smallest pool at $4,788,100. This is due, in part, to the organization surpassing the luxury tax threshold, which dropped their first pick ten spots, down to No. 43 overall.

Here are each teams' complete bonus pool, from greatest to least, with the pick values for the top-10 rounds outlined below that.

1. Diamondbacks — $16,093,700
2. Orioles — $13,821,300
3. Royals — $13,108,000
4. Marlins — $13,045,000
5. White Sox — $11,565,500
6. Braves — $11,532,200
7. Rangers — $11,023,100
8. Padres — $10,758,900
9. Tigers — $10,402,500
10. Rays — $10,333,800
11. Pirates — $9,944,000
12. Twins — $9,905,800
13. Reds — $9,528,600
14. Giants — $8,714,500
15. Blue Jays — $8,463,300
16. Mets — $8,224,600
17. Dodgers — $8,069,100
18. Angels — $7,608,700
19. Mariners — $7,559,000
20. Yankees — $7,455,300
21. Rockies — $7,092,300
22. Cardinals — $6,903,500
23. Phillies — $6,475,800
24. Indians — $6,148,100
25. Nationals — $5,979,600
26. Cubs — $5,826,900
27. Athletics — $5,605,900
28. Astros — $5,355,100
29. Brewers — $5,148,200
30. Red Sox — $4,788,100

2019 Mlb Draft Slot Bonuses Odds