Signing Bonus

$25,000 in the fourth round is a little low, even for a college senior...........

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after the 3rd round the numbers drop very quickly.

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norm

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Why would someone sign in the top 10 rounds for less than 100K or are they in the top 10 rounds because of their signability (not pricey)?

College seniors.

The very top talent, the top high school players, and the top college juniors get the money.

Got a link to the article?

PG also has a list of bonus amounts.

Good question, Floridafan, lot has to do with eligibilty. My sons BF was a 3rd rounder, no eligibility, for 200K in 2007.

And some players will give up money for a higher pick. It all depends on what that particular player wants, in sons case he agreed to a lessor amount with one team than a higher amount with another and he knew he was going to leave school and not hold it as a bargaining chip. That's where being advised comes into the equation (where an advisor helps). Being in his home state for spring training and one level to play close to home and not on the west coast meant something to him and that was giving up some $$.

Some players don't care, they know if they sign quickly they begin quickly and don't lose time and for older players that's important. The more $$ you try to squeeze the less you are playing, the longer it takes to get to your goal where real money starts happening (arbitration). Of course this doesn't apply to HS drafted players, they have other options.

Also, for the first 10 rounds, MLB approves the amount for slot, some team trying to give a 7 million dollar bonus in round 8 may not be allowed. I am not saying this is good practice or not, but that happens. Sometimes the 15th, 16th rounder may get more than those drafted higher.
That's why having a plan B is a good thing.

A lot also has to do with how many picks that team has, a team that has several picks in the first few rounds still has a budget to follow where as a team only has 3 by the 3rd or 4th has more to spend.

Yes bonus drops dramatically after the 3rd, 4th round.

Years ago I had a friend sign a free agent contract(this was pre-draft) with the Reds. His "signing bonus" was a cheeseburger, fries and coke and a one way bus ticket to Clovis, NM. Times have changed.

free agents still get the happy meal, but they fly more now.

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Baseball America has listed signing bonus's when available for the top 10 rounds. It was surprising to me to see how some players signed for as little as $25,000 in the 4th round while those around him signed for considerably more.

It’s been a pretty hectic summer, so I’m about 2 months late looking at the list 2009 draftees and their respective signing bonuses. But be that as it may. . .

I was looking at the bonuses as supplied by pgcrosschecker.com and made an interesting observation. Of the 321 players selected in the top 10 rounds, 22 were listed as college seniors [C (4)] and 1 was listed as a 5th year senior [C (5)]. As mentioned, these players were almost always signed for significantly less bonus money than the player selected before or after them.

Being a bit of a numbers guy, I imported the data to Excel to analyze it further. The most any college senior signed for was 95.4% of the preceding draftee and 83.9% of the draft pick that followed. As a group, the average signing bonus for a college senior was 34.6% of the preceding draftee and 30.7% of the draft pick that followed.

The data would suggest that the “average” cost of that final year of college is about 65% - 70% of the “normal” bonus money. I sure hope those 23 guys left with a diploma in hand, ‘cuz that was an expensive final year of college. It would also suggest that when a player has no other option of where he can continue to play the game and pursue the dream, he has little bargaining power at he negotiating table.

# of Seniors..23.........23
Bonus as ..% 0f Following... % of Proceeding
Max............83.9%.........95.4%
Min.............1.3%.........5.0%
Ave............30.7%.........34.6%
Median.........27.9%.........25.0%


Here are a few examples:
Pick....POS........SCHOOL.........TYPE....%Following...%Preceding...BONUS
80......LHP.........Chipola JC......JC............................$450,000
81......RHP.........Georgia.........C (4)....45.8%....44.4%.......$200,000
82.....2B-3B.......North Carolina..C.............................$436,500

128......RHP.........Connecticut.........C (2)....................$222,300
129......RHP.........Mississippi.........C (5....34.7%....33.7%....$75,000
130......SS.........Dallas Baptist.......C........................$216,000

149......RHP.........Randleman HS........HS........................$200,000
150......LHP.........Texas...............C (4)....59.4%....50.0%...$100,000
151......3B.........Auburn...............C.........................$168,300
152......RHP.........Louisiana State.....C (4)....60.4%....59.4%...$100,000
153......3B.........Brigham Young........C.........................$165,600
154......RHP.........Ragsdale HS.........HS........................$325,000
155......RHP.........Faulkner (Ala.).... C (4)....43.8%....21.5%....$70,000
156......1B.........Loyola Marymount.....C.........................$160,000
157......C.........Oklahoma..............C (4)....83.9%....81.3%...$130,000
158......SS.........Elon.................C.........................$155,000

Thanks DadRin.

I did another sort. I took the 1st 10 rounds and did a sort by signing bonus. In every round, the C4's had the least signing bonuses. By a long shot!

Remember that the draft is a tool imposed by the Commissioner's office in its role as advocate for the team owners. You may think the role of a draft is to allocate talent. That is only window dressing. The true role of the draft is to force the player into a situation where he can only deal with one team, so that the team has all the leverage in any negotiations.

The player needs to find leverage where he can or he will get little or no money. Coming out of HS, a player can threaten to go to college or even a JuCo, thereby going back into the draft as little as a year later. After a college player is draft eligible (usually but not always after his junior year), his leverage is the threat of returning to school for another year. But after NCAA eligibility is exhausted, the only leverage is the threat of seeking a career in another field, or perhaps taking a shot at indy ball. Which is to say, not much leverage at all.

The analysis above is on the money. Senior year can be expensive, if you are taken in the draft the year before in, say, the top 20 rounds. Sometimes a player wasn't offered a bonus the prior year anyway, so nothing was really lost by returning to school. But if a kid turns down six figures after junior year, he can expect his bonus upon signing the next year to be only a fraction of the junior year's offer.

Thanks Mildo!

Just to remind everyone how much control MLB imposes on draft bonuses, up until a few years ago a senior not in playoff contention could be signed as a FA before the draft.

This gave him some control as to who he could sign with and for how much if the opportunity became available.

Now most, unless top guys, have to sign for slot or less due to not having anything to negotiate with.