Red Sox 2018 MLB draft signings, news and rumors

With the 2018 MLB Draft in the rearview mirror, we now get to enjoy the signing period. A few of the Red Sox picks have already inked deals. Who’s next?

The MLB draft has been a hit or miss proposition for the Red Sox. But that’s actually true of every team. There’s no such thing as a sure thing, and even first round picks bust on a fairly regular basis. That said, this particular Red Sox ownership group has had a fairly specific approach toward drafting. For bats, they’ve mostly targeted up the middle players with plenty of athleticism. This led to first-round selections of players like Andrew Benintendi, Jackie Bradley Jr., and Blake Swihart. It’s also led to less exciting players like Deven Marrero and Rey Fuentes.

That’s why their selections in the 2018 MLB draft were so surprising. It was like an entire organizational shift was unfolding before our eyes. Instead of those athletic up the middle players, we saw big bats like Triston Casas, Nick Decker, Kole Cottam, and Nicholas Northcut. All but Cottam high schoolers who play corner positions. Casas is a third baseman likely to move to first with massive power and a pretty good hit tool. Decker is a corner outfielder with big pop and some swing and miss. Nicholas Northcut, a Vanderbilt commit and tough sign, has excellent raw power and uses it to all fields. Kole Cottam is a college catcher, but he’s a below average defensive one. His carrying tool, like the previous three, is his power.

Identifying the problem.

So it seems that the front office identified power bats as an area of weakness that needed addressing via the draft. Coming into the season, the only power hitter left on the farm was Michael Chavis. Unfortunately, he is currently serving a suspension for failing a PED test. As the season has progressed, first baseman Josh Ockimey has started hitting for power. He is currently lacing the cleats up for AA Portland. And forgotten 2016 4th rounder, Bobby Dalbec, has resumed tearing the cover off the ball.

Adding Casas, Northcut, Decker, and Cottam gives the Red Sox another legitimate chance to develop a big power bat internally. And doing so is imperative if the club wants to avoid a long rebuild when they start shedding veterans to retain their homegrown stars like Mookie Betts or Xander Bogaerts. In fact, having a few big prospects working their way through the upper minors may increase the chances that the young core sticks around. None of them are likely to want to play for a bad team as their prime years wind down. In a way, it’s almost like the Red Sox had no choice but to draft for big upside, despite the increased risk.

Get that John Hancock.

So they’ve taken the risk. Now they need to get them signed. In the past, negotiations for a lot of talent in the first ten rounds would drag on until near the deadline for signing. This summer that date is July 15, but it doesn’t seem like there will be a lot of drama leading up to it. First-round pick Triston Casas has agreed to sign a slot deal for $2,552,800.00. That’s a big one as there was the potential for his deal to be over slot value which would eat into the money saved with their rounds 5-10 picks.

Additionally Kole Cottam, Delvin Granberg, Brian Brown and Grant Williams have all signed. Kottam’s deal (referenced in the link) is for slightly below slot. Granberg’s is for way below. They were the 4th, 6th, 9th and 10th round picks. It actually seems likely that of the first ten picks the team made, only Nick Decker is likely to end up significantly over slot value, and that’s a big deal because of Northcut, who they drafted in the 11th round. But he’s not the only interesting name from day three:

Caleb Ramsey is a prep outfielder that was not ranked by Baseball America. The fact that he got the full $125K likely means he has some upside, however. Many picks in the 11-40 range will sign for significantly less than that.

There might be some help on the horizon.

Of more immediate concern, Durbin Feltman, the closer from TCU, has apparently agreed to sign. He was flying into Boston over the weekend to take his physical. His bonus is unknown at this point, but his presence could be felt as early as August. While unlikely, his being a reliever right from the start and being a college junior could lead to his being fast-tracked. The Red Sox are certain to be looking for bullpen help at the deadline. Feltman may be a “break glass in case of emergency” option should nothing materialize for Dave Dombrowski. He works with a plus fastball and a plus slider.

Also from that MassLive article was a tidbit about 5th round pick Thad Ward being close to signing over the weekend. While not quite as dominant as Durbin Feltman, he is another fastball/slider reliever who could move fast. His ETA would more than likely be some time in 2019, but the lack of power bats wasn’t the only thing they tried to fix last week.

We want the thunder!

Getting back to the bats, Nicholas Northcut’s commitment to Vanderbilt scared off a lot of teams. Despite being an early round talent, he wasn’t drafted until the start of day three, when signing bonuses stop being tied to a team’s bonus pool. Each pick from round 11 through round 40 can be signed for up to $125K. Any overage comes out of the draft pool. But the team does not lose any of that pool for not signing them. This is in contrast with the first ten rounds, where failure to sign a pick means losing the money allotted for that slot entirely.

Northcut falling to the 11th round removed the risk in drafting him. If the team doesn’t secure his signature, they lose nothing but the pick itself. There is a rumor that Northcut flew to Boston this past weekend:

If true, we may find out how much of the money the team saved was needed to get him signed very soon. That bonus promises to be much larger than the $125K soft cap. But if the team didn’t know what he was asking for, or weren’t comfortable with it, they wouldn’t have picked him in the 11th round. Chances are they would have waited until much later and used that pick on someone else they thought they could sign.

Is that the only place they might spend their savings?

Beyond Northcut from day three, there are some interesting names to look for. The Red Sox drafted Chase Shugart in the 12th round. He is a right-handed pitcher from Texas whose stuff plays way up out of the pen. In the 13th they selected Dylan Hardy, a more typical Red Sox pick. He’s a center fielder from South Alabama who has plenty of speed. Both of these picks were made early enough in day three that the team likely feels good about their chances.

Also keep an eye out for Chris Machamer, another college closer who throws in the mid 90’s. Then there is Brandon Howlett. Yet another high school corner infielder with power. He has some significant swing and miss issues, however. Mason Ronan is one of the few pitchers drafted by the Red Sox last week who is likely to be kept as a starter. He throws in the low 90’s from the left side. Jared Poland is a high school second baseman with excellent barreling ability, but a line drive swing. He could grow into some power.