Lanzilli ponders baseball future
Passed over in draft, Stoneham slugger will stay at Wake
There was little doubt when the 2020 Major League Baseball Draft format was announced that a large swath of amateur players would feel negative effects from the reductions. Stoneham’s Chris Lanzilli is a prime example.
With the draft shortened from 40 rounds to just five this year in order to lessen the financial burden of MLB clubs dealing with a season jeopardized by the pandemic, the Wake Forest outfielder/third baseman was left on the outside looking in when the 160 selections concluded on Thursday night.
Lanzilli knew there were no guarantees he would be picked despite establishing himself as one of the premier hitters in the ACC over the last three years, posting a .314/.394/.594 slash line with 31 home runs and 114 RBI in 123 career games with the Demon Deacons.
But the disappointment of being passed over has him reassessing his baseball future.
“I’m going to get my education rather than take an amount of money that is not worth it. I weighed out the options and it just makes more sense to go back to school,” Lanzilli said Friday. “I think it’s more figuring out life rather than baseball and getting my degree and finding out what I want to do.”
As part of the agreement to shorten the draft, teams are limited in the amount that they can offer undrafted players to sign — a maximum of $20,000, a huge drop-off compared to bonuses typically paid to a college junior like Lanzilli if they are drafted. The assigned slot value for picks in the sixth through 10th round last year, a reasonable approximation of where Lanzilli may have gone this year in a normal draft, ranged from $301,600 down to $142,200.
Although teams can not officially ink undrafted players until Sunday morning, Lanzilli had teams attempt to persuade him to sign both during and after the draft, but they are hamstrung in their pitches.
“Teams have tried, but every team is saying the same thing, that they only have a certain amount, so there is not much convincing,” said Lanzilli.
Lanzilli was an older junior for his draft class this year at 22, meaning another productive campaign for
Wake Forest may not be enough to significantly improve his stock and leverage when it comes to a more lucrative bonus in 2021, when the draft is expanded to 20 rounds. In fact, the process has left him unsure if he will even continue to play baseball.
“If it happens, it happens, I’m not 100 percent certain. I’m going to play it by ear,” said Lanzilli. “I haven’t talked to anyone about that so no decisions have been made.”