clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

MLB Draft: St. Louis Cardinals announced first wave of 2015 draft pick signings

You may recognize some of the signees from the MLB Draft's first day.

By Ben Humphrey Updated
Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

The 2015 MLB Draft was last week. You can find all of VEB's coverage of the St. Louis Cardinals' draft, which continues today and in the weeks ahead, here. On Monday, the Cardinals announced their first wave of draft pick signings. Some of the names will not be all that surprising. Between the close of the draft and Monday, we learned the following

  • The Cardinals and first-round pick Nick Plummer agreed to terms pending a physical.
  • The Cardinals signed fourth-round pick Paul DeJong.
  • Tenth-round pick Kep Brown will not sign with the Cardinals and turn pro. Instead, Brown will honor his commitment to play NCAA baseball at the University of Miami. The failure to sign Brown will cost the Cardinals the $149,700 slot value assigned to the 281st pick, which they used on Brown.
On Monday, the Cardinals made the Plummer and DeJong signings official along with a slew of other agreements. Between their own draftees and undrafted free agents, the Cardinals had signed 22 draft-eligible players between the end of last week's draft and Monday.

I thought I'd put together a chart to aid us in keeping track of which draftees the Cardinals have signed, which picks have declared that they will not sign, and how the signings relate to the MLB-assigned slot value of a given pick.

Remember that the MLB assigns slot values to each of the picks in the Draft's first ten rounds. The slot values for each club's picks are then added together to get an overall bonus pool amount. Teams may sign players above or below the assigned slot value, but may not go over the overall bonus pool amount. After the tenth round, there's a $100,000 value for each pick. If a team goes over $100,000 to sign a player taken in the 11th round or later, the amount in excess of $100,000 counts against the organization's bonus pool.

If a club goes over its overall bonus pool amount with its draftee signings, it is subject to the following penalties, which are triggered based on the amount of overspending:
  • 0-5% Over: 75% tax on the overage amount
  • 5-10% Over: 75% tax on the overage amount and loss of the next year's first-round pick
  • 10-15% Over: 100% tax on the overage amount and loss of the next year's first- and second-round picks
  • 15%+ Over: 100% tax on the overage amount and the loss of two first-round picks
As discussed above with respect to the Cardinals' 2015 tenth-rounder Brown, who has decided not to sign with St. Louis, if a team fails to sign a pick from the first ten rounds of the Draft, it loses the slot value assigned to that pick from its overall bonus pool. So the Cardinals' failure to sign Brown reduced their bonus pool by $149,700 or about 2%. However, if a team fails to sign a player it selects in the 11th round or later, there is no penalty.

The following chart contains the Cardinals' picks from the 2015 MLB Draft and reported bonuses. It appears that bonuses are only being released for those players taken in the first ten rounds. Perhaps if the Cards sign a player to a bonus in excess of $100,000, that will be released since it would impact the club's draft pool. Based on the information we have, it does not appear that St. Louis has yet made such a $100,000+ signing to a player selected in the 11th round or later.

2015 St. Louis Cardinals MLB Draft Signee Tracker

Player

Level

Pos

Rnd

Pick

Slot Value

Bonus

+/- Slot

Nick Plummer

HS

OF

1

23

$2,124,200

$2,124,400

+ $200

Jake Woodford

HS

RHP

CBA

39

$1,585,400

$1,800,000

+ $214,600

Bryce Denton

HS

3B

2

66

$935,400

Harrison Bader

College

OF

3

100

$570,300

Jordan Hicks

HS

RHP

Comp

105

$543,300

$600,000

+ $56,700

Paul DeJong

College

3B

4

131

$422,900

$200,000

- $222,900

Ryan Helsley

College

RHP

5

161

$316,500

$225,000

- $91,500

Jacob Evans

College

LHP

6

191

$237,000

Jesse Jenner

College

C

7

221

$179,100

Ian Oxnevad

HS

LHP

8

251

$167,400

Andrew Brodbek

College

2B

9

281

$156,200

$5,000

- $151,200

Kep Brown

HS

RF

10

311

$149,700

Not Signing

Paul Salazar

HS

RHP

11

341

-

Jacob Schlesener

HS

LHP

12

371

-

Craig Aikin

College

CF

13

401

-

Signed

 -

Carson Cross

College

RHP

14

431

-

Ryan Merrill

College

SS

15

461

-

Max Almonte

College

RHP

16

491

-

Chris Chinea

College

C

17

521

-

Joshua Rolette

HS

C

18

551

-

Ryan McCarvel

College

C

19

581

-

Signed

 -

Luke Doyle

College

2B

20

611

-

Signed

 -

Cadyn Grenier

HS

SS

21

641

-

Hunter Newman

College

1B

22

671

-

Signed

 -

Gio Brusa

College

RF

23

701

-

Daniel Martin

College

2B

24

731

-

Kyle Molnar

HS

RHP

25

761

-

Brennan Leitao

College

RHP

26

791

-

Greg Tomchick

College

RHP

27

821

-

Mitchell Traver

College

RHP

28

851

-

Ben Yokley

College

RHP

29

881

-

Signed

 -

Matt Vierling

HS

OF

30

911

-

Aaron Coates

HS

LHP

31

941

-

Tom Spitz

College

CF

32

971

-

Chandler Hawkins

College

LHP

33

1001

-

Signed

 -

Parker Kelly

HS

RHP

34

1031

-

Luke Harrison

College

RHP

35

1061

-

Dylan Tice

College

2B

36

1091

-

Signed

 -

Stephen Zavala

College

C

37

1121

-

Signed

 -

Orlando Olivera

College

OF

38

1151

-

Signed

 -

R.J. Dennard

College

1B

39

1181

-

Joseph Hawkins

College

SS

40

1211

-

Signed

 -

In This Stream

St. Louis Cardinals 2015 MLB Draft picks & analysis

View all 26 stories

More From Viva El Birdos