The New York Mets may not be doing well at the big league level, but they have had a bit more success with this year’s draft class. The organization has been locking up a ton of their top picks, and they just signed their top choice, prep third baseman Brett Baty. Baty signed for a signing bonus of $3.9 million, Newsday’s Tim Healey reports, which is about $400,000 below the pick’s slot value.
More Brett Baty news: His signing bonus is $3.9 million, a source says.
That's $466,600 below slot, nearly another half-million dollars the Mets can funnel toward signing third-rounder Matthew Allan. https://t.co/70WJX3Eszf
— Tim Healey (@timbhealey) June 15, 2019
Those savings, combined with the very cheap bonuses the team gave to the majority of its top 10 picks that were college seniors, is going to be earmarked towards signing the team’s other big choice, high school starter Matthew Allan. Allan was ranked as the 13th best prospect in the draft but fell to the third round due to concerns over signability, with reports estimating that he would need a commitment of nearly $4 million in bonus money to forego his college career at Florida.
There have been rumblings that the actual amount it would take him to sign is closer to $3 million, which the Mets are working towards. Assuming the Mets sign second round pick Josh Wolf for slot value and save a significant amount on fourth rounder Jake Mangum, they could scrounge together close to $3.2 million to offer Allan. That would probably be the max they could offer to get the deal done without forfeiting next year’s first round pick, and it could be enough to get the deal done.
Baty is expected to be introduced at a press conference at Citi Field this afternoon. It remains to be seen where the Mets will assign him to start his pro career, but some options could include the short season Low A affiliates of Kingsport and Brooklyn.
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