Pittsburgh Pirates to Sign 64th Overall Pick Lonnie White Jr.

News broke on Sunday evening that the 64th overall pick in the 2021 MLB Draft, outfielder Lonnie White Jr., will sign with the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday

When the dust settled from the 2021 MLB Draft the Pittsburgh Pirates appeared to have netted the best haul of any team in baseball. That, however, was the easy part. The difficult part was going to be getting each of their highly touted prep selections to sign.

The first domino fell when left-handed pitcher Anthony Solometo signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates shortly after the draft. Third-round pick, and top 20 overall talent, Bubba Chandler then received a whopping $3 million signing bonus to choose the Pirates over his football/baseball commitment to Clemson.

This left just Lonnie White Jr., who the Pittsburgh Pirates selected 64th overall in the draft, among their big three prep selections that the team needed to sign. Like Chandler, White Jr. was committed to play both football and baseball at a Power 5 conference. White Jr.’s commitment was to the in-state Penn State Nittany Lions. After careful consideration from White Jr. and his family it appears a decision has been made.

In an interview with Joseph Santoliquito of Philly Voice dot com, White Jr. revealed that he has made his decision. That decision? He will sign with the Pirates. White Jr. told Santoliquito that he will sign with the Pirates to make it official on Monday.

Signing White Jr. helps to complete the draft coup for Cherington and the Pirates. The addition of White Jr. means the Pirates signed 4 of the consensus top 50 prospects in the draft in Solometo, Chandler, White Jr. and number one overall pick Henry Davis.

White Jr. has the potential to work his way into becoming a top 5-10 prospect in the Pirate system and a potential top 100 prospect down the road. He is an athletic outfielder with a projectable frame (6-foot-3, 212 pounds) who could develop plus power.

UPDATE:

Monday morning news broke that White Jr. was indeed in Pittsburgh for his physical and to sign with the Pirates. Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette then had the details on what dollar amounts will look like for White Jr.

According to Mackey White Jr. will sign for $1.5 million. This is over his slot value of $1.05 million. White White Jr. now in the fold, the Pittsburgh Pirates will look to use the money that is left to sign  4th round pick Owen Kellington and 14th round pick Braylon Bishop. Of the two, Kellington appears to be the more likely one to sign.