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The San Francisco Giants have reportedly signed their third-round pick from the 2020 MLB Draft, De La Salle High School LHP Kyle Harrison. The deal is for $2.5 million, which was the figure that the two sides had reportedly agreed to a few weeks ago.
That comes in at roughly $1.8 million over slot value.
3rd-rder Kyle Harrison officially signs with @SFGiants for $2.5 million (slot 85 value = $710,700). California HS LHP, best healthy prep LHP in @MLBDraft, could have solid three-pitch repertoire & command to match when full developed. UCLA recruit. #WearAMask
— Jim Callis (@jimcallisMLB) July 16, 2020
Harrison and the Giants reportedly agreed on the figure not long after the draft, and before the Giants had signed any of their other picks. They then worked backwards, signing the other six players, making the finances work, and then making things official with Harrison.
As a result, all seven of the teams draft picks are now signed. And while the team went a little bit over their allotted slot sizes, they stayed well within the taxable 5% by which they could exceed the bonus pool without forfeiting future picks.
With Kyle Harrison signing for 2.5M, all Giants draft picks have signed:
— GPT (@giantsprospects) July 16, 2020
Bailey: 3.8M
Schmitt: 1.15M
Swiney: 1.2M
Glowenke: 600K
Harrison: 2.5M
Dabovich: 200K
Murphy: 25K
Giants left about 200K on the table when including the 5% they could have gone over the total pool.
While numerous publications had Harrison as a third or fourth-round talent, many saw him as having first or compensation-round skills. That, combined with a scholarship waiting for him at UCLA — a good baseball school — meant that the Giants would have to go way over slot to sign him. They knew that when they drafted him, and planned accordingly.
At just 18, Harrison is a long ways away from the Majors, but it’s clear that the Giants are very high on him, and prep lefties with funky deliveries are always something to be excited about. Fangraphs ranks him as the organization’s number 25 prospect, and their number 3 lefty prospect, behind only Seth Corry and fellow 2020 draftee Nick Swiney.