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The San Francisco Giants have reportedly signed their first-round pick in the 2020 MLB Draft, North Carolina State catcher Patrick Bailey. The news was first reported by twitter user @giantsprospects.
2020 first round pick C Patrick Bailey has officially signed with the Giants. Expect an announcement soon.
— GPT (@giantsprospects) July 1, 2020
MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis reported that Bailey is signing for roughly $3.8 million, which is about $400,000 under the slot value of where he was drafted, 13 overall. And, in exciting news, Callis also reports that Bailey will be added to the Giants 60-player pool, which currently has nine open spots.
1st-rder Patrick Bailey signs with @SFGiants for $3.8 million (slot 13 value = $4,197,300). North Carolina State C, top C prospect in @MLBDraft, solid power from both sides of plate, solid arm & receiver as well. Will be added to 60-man pool. #WearAMask
— Jim Callis (@jimcallisMLB) July 1, 2020
The Giants have now signed two of their seven selections from the 2020 MLB Draft, and it’s no coincidence which two have signed, and in the order they did. The first signing was their third-round pick, De La Salle High School left-handed pitcher Kyle Harrison.
Because Harrison was a strong prospect with a UCLA scholarship waiting for him, the Giants knew they would have to shell out the money for him. As a result, they ended up going roughly $1.8 million over slot to sign him.
That needed to be handled first so that the Giants could work backwards. Bailey was the natural second person to focus on, since he’s the Giants best prospect from the draft, and provided the most opportunity to go underslot. Now that Harrison and Bailey have signed, the Giants can focus on their other five draftees, and the roughly $1.4 million left to shave off of expected slot money.
By entering the Giants player pool, Bailey will get to have some good development in his first year as a pro. He’ll join other top prospects Joey Bart, Marco Luciano, and Heliot Ramos (as well as Hunter Bishop, when he recovers from the coronavirus) in the pool, and get a chance get some at-bats against MLB-level talent.