Which 2019 Royals draft picks have signed and for how much?

The Royals are rebuilding, and the 41 baseball players they selected in the June draft last week will be a big part of that. Many will begin their professional careers, although some will forego signing in order to return to college, or to begin their college careers, in the hopes of improving their draft stock. Over 80% of the draft picks in the first 20 rounds typically sign, although that drops off quite a bit in later rounds.

Already there are reports the Royals have signed first-round pick Bobby Witt, Jr. to a full-slot deal, although the Royals deny those reports. But what does it mean to sign a pick to “full-slot”?

In 2012, MLB introduced draft bonus pools as a way of limiting the rise in bonuses given to drafted player. Each slot in the first ten rounds of the draft is assigned a bonus value. Each team can add all those values into one big pool - the Royals have the third-highest pool courtesy of picking so high in the draft. Teams can allocate their pool money however they see fit, with some picks getting more than their assigned slot value, but that means another pick will have to get less than slot to offset that bonus and keep the team under the pool threshold. Teams can go over their assigned pool, but if they do they are penalized, as explained by Jim Callis at MLB.com.

If a team exceeds its assigned pool, it faces a penalty. Teams that outspend their allotment by 0-5 percent pay a 75 percent tax on the overage. At higher thresholds, clubs lose future picks: a first-rounder and a 75 percent tax for surpassing their pool by more than 5 and up to 10 percent; a first- and a second-rounder and a 100 percent tax for more than 10 and up to 15 percent; and two first-rounders and a 100 percent tax for more than 15 percent.

After the first ten rounds, all players have an assigned value of $125,000. If any player gets a bonus higher than that, it must come out of the assigned draft pool of the first ten rounds. No subsequent draft pick can offset that bonus by taking an underslot bonus.

So you may see teams select quite a few college seniors with underwhelming results in the first ten rounds. These players are expected to take underslot deals to allow teams to sign other players for overslot deals. College senior have little leverage, and many of these players would otherwise not receive much of a bonus.

In addition to Witt, a number of other Royals draftees have appeared to sign, according to their social media.

We’ll be tracking and updating all the signings and bonus amounts right here. Let us know if you see one we missed.