Bump #4 Status as of June 20 Bold: player has signed or given indications that he will sign Name stricken through: player will not sign or has given indications that he will not sign Round 1, #32 overall: Korey Lee, C, Cal (JR) - signed for $1,750,000 Round 2, #68 overall: Grae Kessinger, SS, Ole Miss (JR) - signed for $750,000 Round 3, #106 overall: Jordan Brewer, CF, Michigan (JR) Round 4, #136 overall: Colin Barber, CF, Pleasant Valley High School (Chico, California); committed to Oregon - signed for $1,000,000 Round 5, #166 overall: Hunter Brown, RHP, Wayne State (JR) - signed for $325,000 Round 6, #196 overall: Matthew Barefoot, CF, Campbell (redshirt JR) - signed for $150,000 Round 7, #226 overall: Blair Henley, RHP, Texas (JR) - signed for $150,000 Round 8, #256 overall: Luis Guerrero, CF, Miami Dade College (JUCO SOPH); committed to South Florida - signed for $150,000 Round 9, #286 overall: Peyton Battenfield, RHP, Oklahoma State (JR) - signed for $148,400 Round 10, #316 overall: C.J. Stubbs, C, USC (redshirt JR) - signed for $85,000 Round 11, #346 overall: Ryan Gusto, RHP, Florida Southwestern State College (JUCO SOPH); committed to Western Kentucky - signed for $421,699 (lol ok) Round 12: #376 overall: Garrett Gayle, RHP, Rice (JR) Round 13, #406 overall: Kevin Holcomb, RHP, Glendale College (CA) (JUCO SOPH); committed to UCLA - signed for $150,000 Round 14, #436 overall: Derek West, RHP, Pittsburgh (redshirt JR) Round 15, #466 overall: Cole McDonald, RHP, Iowa (SR) Round 16, #496 overall: Dexter Jordan, 2B, Pearl River Community College (JUCO FR) Round 17, #526 overall: Danny Cody, RHP, Baldwin-Wallace College (SR) Round 18, #556 overall: Justin Campbell, RHP, Simi Valley High School (Simi Valley, California); committed to Tulane Round 19, #586 overall: Tyler Krabbe, C, Montevallo (SR) Round 20, #616 overall: Alex Palmer, RHP, Stephen F. Austin (JR) Round 21, #646 overall: Davis Vainer, RHP, Alabama (redshirt JR); transferring to Arizona to play as a grad transfer Round 22, #676 overall: Shea Barry, RHP, UC Santa Barbara (JR) Round 23, #706 overall: Zach Biermann, 1B, Coastal Carolina (SR) Round 24, #736 overall: Preston Pavlica, CF, Grand Canyon (SR) Round 25, #766 overall: E.P. Reese, CF, Winston-Salem State (redshirt SOPH) Round 26, #796 overall: Chandler Casey, RHP, Lubbock Christian (SR) Round 27, #826 overall: Kevin Dickey, LHP, Seminole State College (JUCO SOPH); committed to Texas Tech Round 28, #856 overall: Bryan Arias, 2B, Texas-San Antonio (SR) Round 29, #886 overall: Whit Drennan, LHP, Rollins College (SR) Round 30, #916 overall: Michael Horrell, RHP, Campbell (SR) Round 31, #946 overall: Peyton Plumlee, RHP, Mississippi State (SR) Round 32, #976 overall: Oscar Carvajal, RHP, Fresno State (redshirt SOPH) Round 33, #1006 overall: Bryan Martinez, LHP, Connors State College (JUCO SOPH) Round 34, #1036 overall: A.J. Lee, SS, Maryland (SR) Round 35, #1066 overall: James Nix, RF, College of Central Florida (JUCO FR); committed to South Carolina Round 36, #1096 overall: Chandler Murphy, RHP, Liberty High School (Peoria, Arizona); committed to Arizona Round 37, #1126 overall: Max Dias, 3B, Porter High School (Porter, Texas); committed to New Orleans Round 38, #1156 overall: J.C. Correa, SS, Lamar (JR) Round 39, #1186 overall: Brock Rudy, C, Northgate High School (Walnut Creek, California); committed to Utah Round 40, #1216 overall: Dillon Plew, 1B, Washington State (JR) Undrafted Free Agents In the past, there were players who apparently signed as undrafted free agents with the Astros but never appeared on a roster of a minor league affiliate. I'll only update this part if they appear on a roster. The First 10, with Slot Values 1-32: Korey Lee ($2,257,300) - signed for $1,750,000 = +507,300 2-68: Grae Kessinger ($953,100) - signed for $750,000 = +203,100 3-106: Jordan Brewer ($549,000) 4-136: Colin Barber ($410,100) - signed for $1,000,000 = -589,900 5-166: Hunter Brown ($306,800) - signed for $325,000 = -18,200 6-196: Matthew Barefoot ($239,000) - signed for $150,000 = +89,000 7-226: Blair Henley ($188,900) - signed for $150,000 = +38,900 8-256: Luis Guerrero ($160,300) - signed for $150,000 = +10,300 9-286: Peyton Battenfield ($148,400) - signed for $148,400 = slot value 10-316: C.J. Stubbs ($142,200) - signed for $85,000 = +57,200 Overslot signings after 10th round The maximum slot after the 10th round is $125,000. Ryan Gusto - $421,699 = -296,699 Kevin Holcomb - $150,000 = -25,000 Original bonus pool: $5,355,100 Pool spent: $5,080,099 Money remaining in pool before penalties: $275,001 Breakdown 5 High school 2 JUCO Freshmen 5 JUCO Sophs 13 Juniors (I'm listing redshirt sophomores as juniors) 15 Seniors (I'm listing redshirt juniors as seniors) By position 4 C 2 1B 2 2B 1 3B 3 SS 7 OF (6 CF, 1 RF) 18 RHP 3 LHP The signing deadline is July 5. College seniors are not subject to this deadline; teams can negotiate with seniors up until one week before next year's draft. Baseball America Top 500 Players 1. Korey Lee - #173 2. Grae Kessinger - #125 3. Jordan Brewer - #158 4. Colin Barber - #195 5. Hunter Brown - #156 6. Matthew Barefoot - #290 7. Blair Henley - #336 10. C.J. Stubbs - #429 23. Zach Biermann - #421 Where are the High School/JUCO players committed? 4. Colin Barber - Oregon 8. Luis Guerrero - South Florida 11. Ryan Gusto - Western Kentucky 13. Kevin Holcomb - UCLA 16. Dexter Jordan - ? 18. Justin Campbell - Tulane 27. Kevin Dickey - Texas Tech 33. Bryan Martinez - ? 35. James Nix - South Carolina 36. Chandler Murphy - Arizona 37. Max Dias - New Orleans 39. Brock Rudy - Utah Players in College World Series Jordan Brewer Peyton Plumlee Where they're headed Quad Cities Tri-City Korey Lee (1) Grae Kessinger (2) Matt Barefoot (6) Peyton Battenfield (9) C.J. Stubbs (10) Zach Biermann (23) Preston Pavlica (24) E.P. Reese (25) Michael Horrell (30) A.J. Lee (34) GCL
Dang, that's a pretty hefty chunk of change. They must really like him. By my count, that puts them over their pool if Brewer signs for slot, they should have about 200k before they have to worry about losing a pick.
Apparently Gusto could have been drafted as early as the 5th round, so there must have been several teams that really liked him, despite not getting much national attention.
Gotta assume that they’ll get Campbell for <$200k and Brewer for slot. Aside from Campbell, Carvajal and Plew are the other 2 who could potentially sign, I have no idea what it would take. I’d be shocked if Plew required more than $125k to sign since he’d be a Sr. and would have no leverage unless he was able to improve his stock enough to get into the top 3 rounds.
Guess it got deleted. Someone named Kimberly Gusto responded to this tweet: Saying that he throws mid 90s, up to 97 with 4 pitches for strikes. It's also somewhat noteworthy that he got a bonus almost 100k more than Brown did as the biggest bonus the Astros gave to a pitcher this year. I'm intrigued by what he can do with the Astros development program.
Assuming Brewer goes for slot and Campbell signs for above slot, Houston got 2 guys that signed for 2nd round money (Lee and Barber), and 10 guys who signed for 3rd-10th rd money (Kessinger, Brewer, Brown, Barefoot, Henley, Guerrero, Battenfield, Gusto, Holcomb, and Campbell). Solid haul for a team with such a small pool. A little surprised Jordan, Reese, Dickey, and Martinez didn’t get above slot deals.
I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Campbell goes to college. 18th round is in the range where he might have been Gusto or Barber insurance, or a pick where they thought they had a chance, but weren't sure. Reese was facing the prospect of attending his 4th school in 4 years, and he didn't get to play much at 2 of them. I saw an article before the draft where he said he'd definitely sign if he got drafted. Jordan kind of surprised me, because it seems like he had a chance to go pro last year, but didn't. He did end up at a Juco rather than UL, so maybe he regretted that decision. It's possible he got a small amount overslot. Dickey surprised me, as he would have been headed to Texas Tech, but the Astros seem to have a decent connection with Seminole state (Toro among others). Bryan Martinez is that Oklahoma Juco arm that the Astros in the late rounds seemingly every year. They hit big with James, obviously, but Justin Ferrell, Ian Hardman, Noel Pinto, and Jorge Perez didn't make waves. If he's got some potential, and is willing to sign for a few thousand, Jim Stevenson will find him.
If yall aren't watching Michigan in the CWS you should be. Brewer is playing well, but the whole team is playing excellent baseball, they don't belong here, but here they are. Vandy has a RHP Freshman, Kumar Rocker, who is the Next Big Thing as far as college starters go. Fun as hell to watch, he'll pitch game 2 manana.
I think this might have been posted somewhere, but I found it interesting, especially with the 35th rounder Nix being a big driveline guy. Depending on what they give Brewer and whether or not Campbell signs, it is still possible to give Nix $300k and not lose a pick. As I was typing that up, I decided to look at Nix's twitter and:
I'd be a little surprised, mostly because Campbell is still sitting there unsigned, so I'd guess he would be the first priority just based on draft round. I think if they thought they were going to have 175,000 to give to Nix, they probably wouldn't have waited until the 35th to take him. We also have no idea if the Astros like him as much as he does the Astros. I do suspect it's easier to get buy in on all the technology from the players if their teammates have bought in, but I really know nothing about Nix besides the bonkers stats he put up this year.