Nationals scouting director Kris Kline discussed his club's draft today with the media, including Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post….
- The Nationals have agreed to terms with second baseman Tony Renda (second round), outfielder Brandon Miller (fourth round) and catcher Spencer Kieboom (fifth round). The team has also agreed to terms with "several college seniors taken in later rounds."
- Kline believes third-round pick Brett Mooneyham will sign "relatively quickly." Mooneyham, a left-handed pitcher out of Stanford, is advised by Scott Boras. Kline spoke highly of Mooneyham's athleticism and potential, describing the pitcher as, at worst, "a Matt Thornton-type bullpen guy."
- The team's draft day war room included a draft board charting prospects by how likely they were to sign. The Nationals called prospects each round with a set bonus figure in mind and asked if they would accept. “If it was a ‘no,’ we passed,” Kline said. “If they were hesitant at all, we passed. You just have to….We had to do our due diligence with signability with everybody with the new system in place, because you have limitations. There’s certain guys that were requiring too much money.”
Interesting. A side effect of a strategy like that is that it makes it possible for players who would otherwise have zero control over who they are drafted by to make outlandish demands to all but the team they want to go to. I guess they could’ve done that before, but it’s a more effective strategy now on the players part.
Yes, Im a huge Tony Renda fan. Now sign Lucas.
Great to see Renda signed quickly. This will help us find out quickly if his bat will be able to make it to the biggs as soon as its ready.
Now lets get Gio 2.0 signed so we can get him to our doctors and get his rehab cranked up!