Good news on the draft signing front – not that there was necessarily reason to doubt this would be happening in due time:
Sources: The #Cubs are finalizing an agreement with first-round pick Nico Hoerner expected to be worth slot value ($2.724 million for No. 24 overall). The plan is for the Stanford shortstop to take his physical this week in Arizona and begin his pro career with Class-A Eugene.
— Patrick Mooney (@PJ_Mooney) June 12, 2018
You tend not to see huge savings on late first-round picks when the slot values start bunching together, so it’s not shocking that there isn’t significant savings here against the bonus pool. More than that, the Cubs undoubtedly had a good sense of Hoerner’s demands when they picked him, as well as their own feeling on how they could sign their subsequent high school picks while staying within 5% of their total bonus pool.
And, since the Cubs didn’t take many pricey, signable high schoolers in rounds 11 through 40, it’s not as if there is an immediately obvious need for a whole lot of saved pool dollars to sign (I do wonder if 11th rounder Riley Thompson will require more than $125,000, though, given his huge talent, but injury history).
The big thing on Hoerner is simply getting him into the system is smoothly and quickly as possible so that he can be in the best possible position to really break out next year in his first full professional season.
More on Hoerner here:
Chicago Cubs Select Stanford Shortstop Nico Hoerner with Their 2018 First Round Pick https://t.co/nJISZbZjZo pic.twitter.com/EmK9kDGZmb
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) June 5, 2018