A Final Look at the Pittsburgh Pirates 2020 Draft Bonuses

The Pittsburgh Pirates have officially signed all of their 2020 Draft selections.  Let’s take a look at the final numbers.

Entering the 2020 Major League Baseball Draft, the Pittsburgh Pirates were given the fifth largest bonus amount to spend.  The team was given a total of $11,154,500 to use on their draft class.  Of course, the wrench in all of this was that the draft would be reduced from 40 rounds to five rounds, limiting teams with bigger bonus amounts opportunities to get creative with over-slot deals.

Still, given the circumstances, the Pittsburgh Pirates had a solid draft and added a lot of upside talent.  They were able to get somewhat creative with their bonus pool and were very aggressive immediately following the first round.  They then made up for it in the later rounds by taking players who they could save money but still had projection.

Overall the Pittsburgh Pirates used approximately $11,067,000 of their total Draft allotment.  This amount spent put them at 99.2% of their budget spent.  Teams can go up to 5% over their allotment (taxed) before losing future picks, but Ben Cherington and staff were able to get all the deals done without having to go over.

The Pittsburgh Pirates had four draft picks sign at or under slot value.  This includes first-round pick Nick Gonzales, who signed at slot value for $5,432,400.  The team’s 31st overall pick  Carmen Mlodzinski ($2.05 million), fourth-round pick Jack Hartman ($60K), and fifth-round pick Logan Hofmann ($125K) all came under their suggested amount.

The team needed to save this money to sign their second and third-round picks.  The team took prep pitcher Jared Jones in the second round and signed him to an over-slot deal worth $2,200,000; the 44th pick carrying a value of $1,689,500.  Cherington then selected a fast-rising, projectable pitching prospect in Nick Garcia.  Garcia signed for $1,200,000, which was well over the 79th pick value of $780,400.  These two are prospects the Front Office thinks very highly of.

This is based on the reported numbers, so it is not an exact known amount.  Also, the team has signed two undrafted free agents.  Cherington brought in pitcher Parker Brahms and catcher Joe Jimenez.  Brahms was signed out of Sacramento State while Jimenez is coming from Chapman.  Players who signed UDFA contracts can sign for a max bonus of $20,000, though no terms are known for these two prospects.

Overall, it was good to see the Pittsburgh Pirates basically use their complete draft allotment.  There were some who worried that the organization would handcuff the new Front Office in this year’s draft given the circumstances.  It appears as though that was nothing more than a worry and Ben Cherington got the players he wanted.  Let’s hope these prospects can get on the field soon.

Financial Numbers courtesy of MLB Trade Rumors