The Braves found a way to turn three draft picks into budget dust - and use the savings to make the rest of their class work.
Atlanta signed Parker Brosius, Jacob Jarrell and Ben Zeigler-Namoa for $500 apiece after taking all three in the top 10 rounds of this year’s draft, a move that stunned multiple people around the industry. Those picks could have cost in the $200,000-$250,000 range, but the Braves instead landed college seniors who likely would have gone much later, if at all. The payoff was clear: $653,000 in savings that Atlanta could spread elsewhere in the class.
That money helped the Braves do more than just fill out the board. They signed 11th-rounder Ryan Barker for $697,500, went over slot for second-rounder Kaiden McCarthy and sixth-rounder Tyson Grulkowski, and gave Jensen Hirschkorn $3,997,500 - the highest bonus ever for a player taken in the third round. Hirschkorn had been headed to LSU.
The approach drew plenty of raised eyebrows. One rival scouting director called the signings “shocking to the industry,” and multiple scouting directors and agents said they had not seen bonuses that small in years, especially not inside the first 10 rounds. Some around the game also questioned whether the tactic fit the spirit of the draft, particularly with college players now able to cash in on NIL opportunities.
The Braves declined to discuss the strategy. Vice president for amateur scouting Ronit Shah and president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos did not comment, and a team spokesperson said the club was uncomfortable speaking publicly because the strategy is “proprietary.”
Still, the math behind it is simple. MLB assigns each team a bonus pool for the top 10 rounds, and clubs can shuffle money around as long as they stay within that total.
Atlanta entered the draft with the eighth-largest pool at $15.87 million. By getting Brosius, Jarrell and Zeigler-Namoa to sign for almost nothing, the Braves opened up room to attack other targets.
This kind of maneuvering is not limited to Atlanta. Over the last three years, The Athletic found examples of the Angels, Dodgers, Nationals, Blue Jays, Padres and Rangers signing players for less than 2.5 percent of their slot values, using MLB.com’s draft tracker as a guide. The Blue Jays and Rangers even signed players this year for less than 1 percent of the assigned slot value.
In some cases, teams also added a $2,500 signing contingency bonus. Even so, the Braves’ $500 deals stood out. Several scouting directors said they had not seen anything like it in years.
Agents and evaluators pointed to the changing landscape around college baseball, where NIL money can give some players more leverage than before. But that leverage doesn’t reach everyone. College seniors, especially, can be easy to sign because they have little room to negotiate.
“At the end of the day, the Braves used the system in place to their advantage. Is it illegal?
Nope. Do others act in better faith?
Sure,” an agent said. “They know (college seniors) have no leverage and it is good business for them to maximize the pool.”
He also noted that MLB pushed for the bonus pool system in 2012, only for teams to find ways around it.
A rival evaluator said the tactic could become more common if clubs need to free up big money for players they really want. He pointed to Jensen Hirschkorn as an example of how NIL can complicate signability for high school talent.
“It’s definitely possible and may be more common practice (to shift funds) if you need to save a lot of money to get a high player you really like,” he said. “Jensen Hirschkorn is an example of a high school player that’s harder to sign due to NIL.”
One executive from another team framed the whole thing in blunt terms: “Is there much of a difference in terms of player value for a player signing for $10,000 and a player signing for $500?"
For players like Zeigler-Namoa, the choice was less about the number and more about the chance. The Hawaii native had to go through Yavapai College in Arizona before reaching a mid-major program, and he knew he would not be in line for a big bonus. His agent, Alex Hinz, said the reality for players in that position is straightforward.
“The reality is, it's become harder than ever to be a professional baseball player,” he said. “And if you get an opportunity to do it, and particularly in a year where you no longer have leverage, then you jump at it.”
Zeigler-Namoa said he understood exactly how the process works.
“I think every team kind of knows what you are,” Zeigler-Namoa said. “There's no leverage there, so at the end of the day, (someone in my shoes is) going to sign for whatever it may be, and he can be a budget-saver guy. I definitely was on that list.”
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