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The Texas Rangers announced the signing of Jack Leiter, the righthanded pitcher out of Vanderbilt University who was their first round pick (second overall) in the 2021 MLB Draft, on Wednesday. Larson Kindreich, the team’s eighth round pick out of Biola, has also reportedly agreed to terms.
Leiter received a $7,922,000 signing bonus, while Kindreich received a $150,000 bonus, per reports. That allows us to update our Rangers draft pick signing chart and see where things stand with the team’s bonus pool money:
| Name | Round | Position | School | Slot value | Bonus amount | Overage/Savings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jack Leiter | 1 | RHP | Vanderbilt | $7,789,900.00 | $7,922,000.00 | $ 132,100.00 |
| Aaron Zavala | 2 | OF | Oregon | $1,952,300.00 | ||
| Cameron Cauley | 3 | SS | Barbers Hill HS | $857,400.00 | $1,000,000.00 | $ 142,600.00 |
| Ian Moller | 4 | C | Wahlert HS | $565,600.00 | $700,000.00 | $ 134,400.00 |
| Mitchell Bratt | 5 | LHP | GA Premier Acad | $418,200.00 | $850,000.00 | $ 431,800.00 |
| Chase Lee | 6 | RHP | Univ. of Alabama | $312,400.00 | $75,000.00 | $ (237,400.00) |
| Bradford Webb | 7 | RHP | VCU | $243,000.00 | $10,000.00 | $ (233,000.00) |
| Larson Kindreich | 8 | LHP | Biola College | $191,500.00 | $150,000.00 | $ (41,500.00) |
| Liam Hicks | 9 | C | Arkansas State | $161,400.00 | $30,000.00 | $ (131,400.00) |
| C.J. Widger | 10 | LHP | Rowan College | $149,300.00 | $20,000.00 | $ (129,300.00) |
| Jojo Blackmon | 11 | OF | Escambia HS | $ - | ||
| Jackson Leath | 12 | RHP | U of Tennessee | $ - | ||
| Thomas Ireland | 13 | LHP | Polk State JC | $ - | ||
| Tucker Mitchell | 14 | C | St Col of FL JC | $ - | ||
| Evan Elliott | 15 | RHP | Lethbridge JC | $ - | ||
| Ryan Ure | 16 | LHP | Eaton HS | $ - | ||
| Michael Alfonso | 17 | SS | Key West HS | $ - | ||
| Kyle Larsen | 18 | RHP | TNXL Academy | $ - | ||
| Will Taylor | 19 | OF | Dutch Fork HS | $ - | ||
| Joseph Montalvo | 20 | RHP | CPC Academy | $ - | ||
| Total | $12,641,000.00 | $10,757,000.00 | $ 68,300.00 | |||
| With 5% overage | $13,273,050.00 | $ (466,135.00) |
Aaron Zavala, the team’s second round pick, is the only player who the Rangers have yet to sign among their top ten picks. As things stand now, if the Rangers do NOT sign Zavala, they have exceeded their allotted bonus pool money by $68,300, but still have up to $466,135 in bonus pool money available to spend before they would face a draft pick penalty, which kicks in when you exceed your pool by 5%.
Zavala is expected to sign, with an announcement expected today or tomorrow. Speculation has been that he would sign for a little below slot, though he could sign for slot or even above slot, theoretically. In any case, it is not expected to deviate significantly from slot, and if Zavala does sign for slot it would give the Rangers another $100,000 or so to work with while staying under the 5% limit.
Players taken after the tenth round, or signed as undrafted free agents, can receive up to a $125,000 bonus without it impacting the signing team’s bonus pool allotments. Any amounts in excess of $125,000, however, are deducted from the team’s bonus pool. Thus, if the Rangers were to, say, spend $400,000 to sign Jojo Blackmon, that would result in $275,000 being applied to the team’s bonus pool.