Top Two Picks in 2020 MLB Draft Sign Contracts
With major league baseball working toward their impending return to the diamond in late July, there has been actual somewhat positive news to read about mixed in with the negative things going around the sport. Players are expected to report for what is being called Summer Camp tomorrow with workouts beginning Friday, and teams have a 60-man player pool to work with in the abbreviated season. That comes with the news that the minor league baseball season has been officially canceled as of Tuesday afternoon. It’s far from the lone major decision that has altered the sport this season: there will be a universal DH and the draft was shortened from 40 rounds to five.
With the shortened draft and the potential for teams to sign undrafted guys at the price of $20,000 per prospect, it made for a hectic few days after the draft took place. As it played out, the Tigers, who had the first overall pick for the second time in three years, took slugger first baseman Spencer Torkelson from Arizona State. Meanwhile, Baltimore, who owned the first pick last year when they took Adley Rutschman, a catcher from Oregon State, picked second overall and added outfielder Heston Kjerstad from Arkansas.
On Tuesday, within the span of a couple of hours, the top two selections in the 2020 MLB Draft put pen to paper and signed their first contracts on their road to be major league players. Torkelson inked a contract with an $8,416,300 signing bonus, slightly above the slot value for the #1 pick. Meanwhile, Kjerstad took well below the slot value as he signed a deal with a $5.2 million signing bonus, saving the Orioles more than $2.5 million, as the slot for second overall is $7,789,000.
It’s uncertain as to what the timeline may be for Kjerstad to get up to speed and play in the majors though we know his bat can do the job. He is, according to Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn, “the best left-handed hitter in the country”, who boasted a .343/.421/.590 slash line over 150 games at the college level. Kjerstad smacked 34 doubles and 37 home runs while driving in 129 over his two-plus seasons with the Razorbacks. That included a .448 average with five doubles, six homers and 20 RBI in 16 games this season before the season was canceled. He recorded at least one hit in each game this year.
As for Torkelson, we know more about his plans as the Tigers announced that he would be part of their 60-player pool after signing him Tuesday. The team says that they may try him at third base and he could end up seeing some time as a DH in order to avoid trying to switch positions with him in a shortened season with no minor league opportunities to get up to speed. He hit .337 with 33 doubles, 54 homers and 130 RBI over 129 games in his two-plus seasons at Arizona State. This season, Torkelson was hitting .340 with four doubles, six homers and 11 RBI in 17 games. He had drawn a massive 31 walks in 82 plate appearances in that short span.
Torkelson is going to be one of many top prospects for the Tigers that are going to get a chance to make an impact right out of the gate. Mize and Matt Manning could also be tapped by the Motor City squad to make their debuts this season. It’s going to be an interesting year as there is no shortage of top prospects that are on the 60-man pools for each team to potentially choose from. The question for guys like Torkelson is simple: will the transition to the majors be too much for a guy that was playing college ball three months ago? We’ll wait and see.