Pittsburgh Pirates Sign Max Kranick

The Pittsburgh Pirates just wrapped up their 2016 MLB Draft on the 11th and they are now in the process of negotiating with their picks.

According to Conor Foley of The Times Tribune reports that the Pittsburgh Pirates have signed Max Kranick. The Pirates have now signed all but second round pick Eric Lodolo and 14th round pick Hagen Owen by according to the teams official website.

The terms of the deal have not yet been announced, but there is no slot value per say for 11th round picks. However, anything over 100,000 dollars has to be pulled from savings on the top 10 round picks. Kranick is an upside arm that was supposed to go early in the draft, but had signability concerns. Co editor Nick Caporoso had this on Kranick on draft day:

"Kranick was ranked #84 on Baseball America’s top 500 draft prospect list. He was ranked much lower on MLB Pipeline at #179, but even with that the Pirates still got a quality prospect at pick #345. Kranick is your classic right-handed pitcher standing at 6’3” and 185 pounds. He has a strong commitment to the University of Virginia. However, being draft by a home state team and with the Pirates ability to get creative with their draft bonus pool, they maybe able to lure him away from the Cavaliers.A quick scouting report on the right-handed pitcher from Pennsylvania. His fastball consistently sits at 91-92 miles per hour, and can reach as high as 95 miles per hour. What makes his fastball intriguing is that he is able to maintain his velocity deep in pitch counts. He has a plus change-up and a developing curve-ball. One thing that does concern scouts is his arm motion, some believe that he needs to clean his arm action up to stay healthy. One reason Kranick may have fell to the 11th round other than his commitment to Virginia is that he was considered one of the more raw prep arms in the top 200 ranks, and will need plenty of time to develop. Even so the Pirates got a highly rated prospect with an 11th round pick, he has upside and the Pirates will have the ability to give him as much time as needed to develop in the minor leagues"

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On top of this, the Times Tribune makes note

"Kranick went 16-3 in his high school career, posting a 1.17 ERA. He struck out 201 batters and walked only 37 in 138.1 innings."

The Pirates used most, if not all, of their savings in the draft on fourth round draft choice Braeden Ogle, so it will be interesting to see the dollar amount that Kranick signed for. After the Ogle signing, the Pittsburgh Pirates had about 40,000 dollars in bonus slot to spend on over-slot deals. Picks after the 10th round are assigned slots of 100,000 dollars. Anything over that has to be pulled from the bonus slot.

As the dollar figures get added. But now that Kranick is signed, the Pirates can start the development of one of the better pitching prospects in this draft. The bonus most likely will not be announced for a few days. Chances are the Pirates had to go well over the 100,000 dollar slot assigned to picks after the 10th round. The only way the Pirates could go over slot on Kranick is if their #41 overall pick Nick Lodolo signed for less than slot. There has been no report of a Lodolo signing yet however, hence why the bonus for Kranick has not been reported.

UPDATE: Kranick signed for a bonus of 300,000 dollars according to Jim Callis. This is 200,000 dollars above the recommended 100,000 dollars for 11-40 round picks. This used up up the remaining money to go over slot. If the Pirates have to go over-slot to sign Nick Lodolo, they can go as high as 178,000 dollars before losing a draft pick next year (which they will not any higher). These is really good value. The Pirates got Kranick who was a top 100 prospect, for 300,000 dollars. For comparison, Ogle (4th round) who was only ranked about 15 spots ahead of Kranick got 800,000 dollars.

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