Major League Baseball’s 2024 amateur draft starts on Sunday, July 14.
For the first time ever, the Cleveland Guardians will have the No. 1 overall pick. It’s uncertain who they will choose, but it’s clear that this player won’t break any signing bonus records.
Paul Skenes, a rookie right-hander for the Pittsburgh Pirates, set the record last summer with a $9.2 million signing bonus. Before him, Spencer Torkelson held the record with $8.42 million in 2020 after being picked from Arizona State by the Detroit Tigers.
Notably, Torkelson was the first to sign for more than Gerrit Cole’s $8 million in 2011. That was before MLB introduced hard caps on signing bonuses to reduce spending.
Skenes wasn’t alone in breaking records last summer; Dylan Crews from Washington Nationals also signed for a whopping $9 million.
Top Signing Bonuses:
Here are the top ten highest signing bonuses since caps were introduced:
1. Paul Skenes (2023) – Pirates: $9.2M
2. Dylan Crews (2023) – Nationals: $9M
3. Spencer Torkelson (2020) – Tigers: $8.42M
4. Jackson Holliday (2022) – Orioles: $8.19M
5. Druw Jones (2022) – Diamondbacks: $8.19M
6. Adley Rutschman (2019) – Orioles: $8.10M
7. Jack Leiter (2021) – Rangers: $7.92M
8. Bobby Witt Jr., (2019) – Royals: $7.79M
9 Casey Mize (2018) – Tigers: $7.50M
10 Hunter Greene (2017) – Reds: $7.23M
Fans might wonder if these high bonuses are worth it for young players.
The Guardians’ top pick has an allotted bonus of up to $10.57 million and their total bonus pool is over $18 million—the highest this year! If teams spend more than their pool allows, they face penalties like taxes and losing future picks Unsurprisingly, no team has gone over by more than 5%.
What do you think about these huge bonuses?
