SF Giants reportedly agree to massive overslot bonus with 2025 ninth-round pick

The SF Giants reportedly have one of their first signings of the 2025 MLB draft. According to Jim Callis of MLB.Com, they have agreed to a $747,500 signing bonus with ninth-round pick Reid Worley.

SF Giants reportedly agree to massive overslot bonus with 2025 ninth-round pick

The slot value for the No. 266 pick was $204,400, so this signing is well above slot value. The signing also sways Worley away from his college commitment to Kennesaw State University. High school players tend to have a good bit of leverage in the draft, and that benefited Worley in this case.

The Giants likely had a verbal understanding of what it would take to sign the prep arm before he was selected, so the news of it is not surprising. After all, the overwhelming majority of players taken in the first 10 rounds do end up signing. Every year, there are maybe a couple of exceptions to this, but those are typically one-off scenarios.

The Giants have one of the lowest bonus pools in this year's draft at $8.4 million. However, they can exceed that amount by five percent while only paying a tax on the overage. That is a threshold they have flirted with in recent seasons. However, no team has exceeded that five-percent threshold in the slot value era.

In the first 10 rounds, the Giants leaned heavily on college players, especially ones who possessed an important skill. There is a good chance that many of their top picks sign for underslot deals, so there should be enough savings in the earlier rounds to be able to afford Worley.

In a lot of ways, Worley was one of the more interesting names selected by the Giants this year. He features a four-seam fastball that sits in the low-90's and gets some late, riding movement up in the zone. The velocity could see an uptick as he matures physically. His standout pitch is a low-to-mid 80's, high-spin slider with a fascinating grip.

In a bullpen session during a showcase event, Worley displayed the slider. It had a natural downward tilt, but there was unpredictable, late movement as well. It looks like a slider with some knuckleball movement. The right-handed pitcher also throws a mid 80's changeup. Now that Worley is signed, the remaining top-10 picks should follow shortly.