Here's the top talent available on Day 2 of Draft
If you thought all of the top players eligible for the 2019 Draft were taken on Monday night, you thought wrong. There’s still plenty of high-end talent available on Day 2. And many will be big leaguers. Just look back three years to 2016, where four players taken in the third round -- Colorado's Garrett Hampson, San Francisco's Shaun Anderson (a Red Sox pick), Arizona's Jon Duplantier and Baltimore's Austin Hays -- have already touched the Major Leagues.
Day 2 coverage commences Tuesday with a preview show on MLB.com at 12:30 p.m. ET, followed by live pick-by-pick analysis of Rounds 3-10 beginning at 1 p.m. ET. And there are still plenty of exciting names on the board.
In addition to the record six hitters taken at the top of the first round of the Draft (the previous record was five, set in 2005), there was a total of 22 position players taken in the opening round. But three of MLB Pipeline's four highest-ranked available players are very interesting arms:
13. Matthew Allen, RHP, Seminole HS (Sanford, Fla.)
29. Maurice Hampton, OF, Memphis (Tenn.) University HS
33. Jack Leiter, RHP, Delbarton School (Morristown, N.J.)
34. Hunter Barco, LHP, The Bolles School (Jacksonville, Fla.)
35. Tyler Callihan, 3B, Providence HS (Jacksonville, Fla.)
37. Brooks Lee, SS, San Luis Obispo (Calif.) Senior HS
53. Bryce Osmond, RHP, Jenks (Okla.) HS
55. Drew Mendoza, 3B, Florida State
61. Erik Miller, LHP, Stanford
62. Will Holland, SS Auburn
Complete list of top available players »
Some of this high-end talent didn’t get drafted on Monday because of signability concerns. It was fairly well known that Leiter was planning on heading to Vanderbilt, where he will be a Draft-eligible sophomore in two years. More surprising was the fact that Allan, the top-ranked high school pitcher in the class, wasn’t taken. There had been rumblings of a high price tag, but most expected him to be selected in the first round. He could go on to pitch for the University of Florida, along with Barco, should the Draft not work out.
Hampton is the highest-ranked two-sport star in the class, with the chance to play football and baseball at LSU. Callihan is committed to South Carolina, and Lee might decide to head to Cal Poly to play for his father. That rounds out the top five of 31 remaining members of the Top 100 still available.
As history has shown, just because the high school players on this list appear tough to sign does not mean it won’t happen on Day 2. Last year, the Blue Jays took Adam Kloffenstein in the third round and gave him $2.45 million to sign (pick value was $652,900). The Cardinals gave Mateo Gil $900,000 and the Yankees nabbed Ryder Green for $997,500 in the round as well, both well above pick value. Flip ahead to the fourth round, where the Reds gave Mike Siani, whose brother Sammy was drafted by the Pirates on Monday, $2 million to sign, while Kingston Liniak received $900,00 from the Tigers and Mason Englert earned $1 million from the Rangers.
The same thing happened in 2017, and then some. Eight of the top 10 remaining players were high schoolers. Blayne Enlow, Nick Allen and Jacob Heatherly were three of the top four. Enlow was the first pick of Day 2 and got $2 million to sign (pick value was $755,500). Heatherly followed, and the Reds gave him $1,047,500 (pick value of $743,900) and Allen went four picks later, also receiving a $2 million bonus (pick value of $697,500). High schoolers Freddy Tarnok, Matt Tabor and Jacob Pearson, two right-handers and an outfielder, all received seven figures in the third round.
Every pick in the top 10 rounds of the Draft has an assigned bonus value. The total for each club’s selections is what makes up its bonus pool it can spend without incurring a penalty. Keep in mind any bonus money over $125,000 to a player in rounds 11-40 also counts against that pool.
While the high school names carry the most intrigue, quality college players often projected to be Day 1 draftees get taken and signed on Day 2. In 2018, South Carolina’s Carlos Cortes got just over $1 million (pick value was $705,300) to sign with the Mets. The Orioles gave Arkansas’ Blaine Knight $1.1 million ($663,200 was pick vaiue) and the Mariners signed Florida State’s Cal Raleigh for $854,000 ($632,700). Those were all third-round selections. Tristan Beck got $900,000 in the fourth round from the Braves out of Stanford.