Three teams fail to sign top draft picks
NEW YORK (AP) — The top draft picks of the Atlanta Braves, Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers failed to sign before Friday's deadline, giving each of those teams an extra selection in the first round of next June's amateur draft.
Atlanta failed to sign the eighth overall pick, righthander Carter Stewart. Also failing to sign were shortstop Matt McLain, selected 25th by the Diamondbacks, and righthander J.T. Ginn, taken 30th by the Dodgers.
Ginn said he will attend Mississippi State, which also recruited Stewart. McLain plans to attend UCLA. The Braves will get an extra pick following the originally slated eighth selection next year, Arizona after the 25th, and the Dodgers after the 30th.
Just four first-round picks failed to sign in the six previous years of the current draft system of bonus pools: right-hander Mark Appel (taken eighth by Pittsburgh in 2012), right-hander Phillip Bickford (10th by Toronto in 2013), left-hander Brady Aiken (first by Houston in 2014) and right-hander Kyle Funkhouser (35th by the Dodgers with a compensation selection in 2015 following the loss of Hanley Ramirez to Boston).
Only one other player among this year's top 300 picks failed to sign, righthander Gunnar Hoglund, taken 36th by Pittsburgh with a competitive balance round A selection. Hoglund said he will attend Mississippi and already had started summer classes.
Among those reaching agreements just ahead of the deadline was left-hander Shane McClanahan. Taken by Tampa Bay with the 31st pick as compensation for losing pitcher Alex Cobb as a free agent, he agreed to $2,230,100, which was $5,700 over slot.
West Virginia righthander Michael Grove, a second-round pick taken by the Dodgers at No. 68, agreed at $1,229,500, which was $312,500 over slot.