SF Giants: Third-round pick Kyle Harrison signs significantly over slot value

The San Francisco Giants have agreed to a $2.5 million signing bonus with their third-round pick Kyle Harrison.

With this signing, the Giants 2020 draft class is officially in the books as they have agreed to terms with each of their seven picks.

Jim Callis of MLB.Com broke the news this morning:

Despite this, the Giants and Harrison had a handshake agreement about a month ago. The $2.5 million bonus is significantly over the $710,700 slot value for the 85th pick.

Harrison fell to the third round due to signability concerns as he had previously committed to UCLA and was labeled as a tough sign. San Francisco took advantage of this draft-day slide by taking a second-round value in the third round.

The left-handed hurler has an advanced feel for pitching at his age and is not seen as a project. DJ Kleinbard of Last Word on Baseball believes that Harrison has plenty of qualities that raise his floor:

“Kyle Harrison has a smooth delivery with a three-quarters arm slot. His hands and legs are well in sync for the entirety of his delivery, giving him good deception. Scouts feel he has the ability to be a solid MLB pitcher with his repertoire. He receives grades of 50/80 on all facets of his game, except for one. Therefore, his floor should be higher than other prospects.”

Across three seasons with De La Salle High School, the 18-year-old posted an impressive 21-1 overall record with a 1.19 ERA and 192 strikeouts in 124 innings.

If I was a member of the team that caused the lone blemish on his win-loss record, you better believe I would be telling my friends and family about it at parties for years.

Given the massive bonus Harrison signed, the Giants are officially in the penalty from their draft-day signings:

The table above shows that the Giants exceeded their bonus pool by $238,100 meaning that that will pay a tax of 75 percent on that overage. This amount comes out to $178,575.

Regardless, this is the lowest penalty tier as the Giants will only pay a tax on their overage while retaining all future picks.

The Giants took a gamble on drafting Harrison in the third round since they knew he would need to be reeled in on significantly over slot value. However, this is one gamble that might just pay off down the road.