The Texas Rangers have signed Ryan Garcia, their second round pick in the 2019 MLB Draft, the team announced today. Garcia, a righthanded pitcher from UCLA, reportedly agreed to a bonus of $1,469,900, which is the slot bonus for where he had picked.
I suggested earlier today that Garcia and/or Baylor third baseman Davis Wendzel, who went to Texas at #41 overall, might not have signed yet because they be getting above-slot bonuses, which would necessitate first round pick Josh Jung to sign for below-slot, and since Jung’s Texas Tech club is still in the College World Series, and thus he hasn’t signed yet, that was holding up the Garcia and Wendzel deals. That appears not to be the case, at least for Garcia.
Garcia is a small (6’, 180 lb.) pitcher who was generally around 90-100 on the pre-draft rankings, but who was reportedly a late climber who was being talked about as a potential late first round selection on draft day. He throws in the low-90s and is a high spin rate guy.