Dodgers first-round pick J.T. Ginn, the No. 30 overall selection in last month’s draft, announced tonight (via Instagram) that he will not sign. Rather, the young right-hander will honor his commitment to Mississippi State. Writes Ginn:
After being drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the first round, I had a lot to think about over the last month. My ultimate goal is to one day play in the Major Leagues, and the draft provided one path to that goal. College baseball offered another path. I am grateful for both opportunities, and after giving it a lot of thought I have decided to pursue my lifelong dream of playing college baseball for the Mississippi State Bulldogs!!!
Fancred’s Jon Heyman reports (via Twitter) that the Dodgers offered Ginn around $2.4MM, which would’ve topped his No. 30 slot value of $2,275,800 by roughly $125K. That, however, didn’t prove to be incentive enough to steer Ginn away from pursuing a collegiate career. Ginn entered the draft generally ranked in the 30-50 range, placing 33rd on MLB.com’s rankings, 39th at Baseball America and 47th at Fangraphs. As Jim Callis of MLB.com notes, he’ll be eligible to enter the draft again after his sophomore season, when he’ll be 21 years of age in 2020.
Because the Dodgers won’t be signing Ginn, they’ll receive a compensatory pick at No. 31 overall in next year’s draft. For the time being, they’ll lose the $2,275,800 from their overall draft pool. Callis points out that despite the loss of that sum, they’ll likely have enough money to offer around $300K above slot to second-rounder Michael Grove, who has also yet to sign. The deadline for 2018 draftees to sign is tomorrow afternoon at 5pm ET.
Over the next 24 hrs MSU could be getting 2 1st Rd picks between Ginn and Carter Stewart. Talk about a shot in the arm.
Who cares? Not going to matter if he blows out his arm
Well, if Stewart doesn’t sign ATL may have room to sign LSU’s Zach Hess, which would be a coup. I definitely care.
If Carter doesn’t sign, the Braves will lose the $5 million of slot money that comes with the 8th pick and only have about $235k to offer Hess. Unfortunately for Braves fans, if he would have signed for that amount there is no way he would have fallen to the 34th round.
what a chump
A chump? Why? Because he chose a college education over a signing bonus?
He’s a chump because performing well for one of the richest teams in baseball who is currently in line to take over first place and is set for years to be at the top. How can you pass that up? He’s a fool. I hope he gets drafted by the padres or Rockies or some other perennial last place team
The Dodgers are chumps this season. And you’re right he might hurt himself, but there’s more to life then millions and before you take pot shots at me, yes I’m poor. This kid I’m sorry to say didn’t take you into consideration with his decision. Pretty weak sauce bruh.
The Dodgers are the best team in the NL. But sure, let’s go with ‘chumps.’
According to the standings, the Brewers have the best record in the NL…
The Brewers aren’t even the best team in their own division, let alone the NL.
Going to college for a couple of years does not equal a college education. Hopefully he does take advantage of his opportunity but taking a few tailor maid classes in order to stay on the field is not exactly an education he can use later in life.
lmao he’s gonna go to college for two years and pass all his classes cause they know who he is…what an education…getting a chance to play mlb ball for money could be a once in a lifetime deal
Says the chump hiding behind a screen name on a MLB TR site.
Yea and this chump Dodgerblog isn’t getting payed to dole out these words of wisdom, where Ginn is getting an education+.
*paid
Lol someone is mad online. Failing to sign a pick isn’t the worst thing in the world. Just means next year they’ll probably have one of the best drafts given they’ll have more flexibility and more money then a team at their draft position usually has.
The fact that you got mad at a 18 year old kid is hilarious. Why would you want someone to sign that obviously a. Isn’t ready to be a pro and b. Doesn’t want to be there. C. You don’t even know if he was offered full slot.
And to act like this is a foolish financial decision is hilarious. Not everyone is motivated by money. He could go to miss st and dominant and be the 1st pick in 3 years and still not sign. Unlikely but plausible if he wants to stay for his senior year.
of course bottom line it’s his decision, but imo he should’ve signed, and just because you’re not motivated by money doesn’t mean you can’t be financially stable. professional baseball > ncaa ball
In three years he’ll be in what low A ball? NCAA is comparable if not better than low A ball
In your opinion he should have signed? Do you know what the offer was? Perhaps the dodgers tried to low ball him?
He was offered a bit OVER slot, but that still wasn’t enough for him, and it’s a good thing for the Dodgers organization, because it would have been wasted money. Truth be told, not everyone is cut out for pro ball, and he has some growing up to do, or so I’ve been told 😉
It’s not like the Dodgers pinned all their hopes on Ginn, but it does seem like they’ve been shafted by Jim changing his mind, losing the slot value, and having to wait until next year for a comp pick. Ginn may be kicking himself if he’s drafted by BAL next year.
He’s not eligible for next year’s draft, and even if he was Baltimore would have a top 3 pick most likely so…much more $$$
I do believe since he’s going to college he’ll have to wait thee years. But we all know Baltimore is still gonna be bad when he’s eligible again.
For some reason he’ll be draft-eligible again in two years. Something to do with his age I think.
Not true at all. sometimes kids just change their minds about the approach of a team after being drafted, amount of money, or various other reasons and it doesn’t always cost them money either for 1st round picks..
I give u Garret Cole as exhibit A, who spurned the NYY as the 28th pick in round 1 back in ’08, then was 1st overall in 2011.
Gerrit Cole is the exception not the rule. Look at the 2010 firsr round. Littered with guys who didn’t sign and you haven’t heard of them now, and thats a bad thing
Thinking was no compensation then (another pick) following season for failing to sign. Now? teams get a comp pick. Back then? Really not a huge reason to sign many picks with no draft caps and no compensation, yet many teams failed to capitalize on the free for all. I could name off several large market teams which failed miserably during that time, but won’t.
“Gerrit Cole is the exception not the rule.”
Not really, I mean, he’s not typical, but he’s certainly not alone. Tons of guys didn’t sign initially, and are having good to great careers. Posey was drafted by the Angels. Mike Leake was drafted by the A’s. Yasmani Grandal was drafted by the Red Sox. Chris Sale was drafted by the Rockies, Drew Pomeranz was drafted by the Rangers. Matt Harvey was drafted by the Angels. Lance Lynn was drafted by the M’s, None of them signed. And that is only looking at 2008 – 2010.
actually, in 2010 (and for years before that), if you failed to sign your first round pick, you got it back the next year (hell, in 2009, the nats had 2 top 10 picks, one of them was for failing to sign aaron crow the year before. they took drew storen with that pick).
and before that, you got a first round pick the next year, but it was at the end of the round, regardless of where you picked the previous season
Not a single one of Posey, Leake, Grandal, Sale, Pomeranz, Harvey, or Lynn were drafted in the first round of their initial draft, so they aren’t similar to Gerrit Cole being drafted in the first round twice.
They weren’t drafted in the first round. They didn’t turn down millions. Last I heard, Matt Harrington was working at Best Buy.
Haha…you keep tabs on would be players that didn’t sign? Hmmm…I call B.S.
Well, I call BS on you calling BS, how about that? He’s actually half right, because he works at Costco, not Best Buy. Also, his family took out a nice insurance policy, so he is a millionaire, just probably not how he envisioned. Look it up Jodi!
Anyone ever seen a study or article about how often guys like this get a higher bonus the next time they are draft eligible?
Sometimes it works, sometimes (injury) it doesn’t.
It has worked before, but it has also failed spectacularly. Karsten Whitson comes to mind. He was draft #9 overall out of HS by the Padres and chose to go to college. Before his junior year, he was mocked to be the #1 overall pick, so his decision was looking smart. Then, he hurt his shoulder and ended up being drafted in the 37th round. He passed and went back for his senior season and went in 11th round or so to the Red Sox. I think he played for two years making it to low A before being released.
With a first round pick, I just don’t see the value in not signing because the downside is so much bigger than the upside. It’s not like basketball or football, you are not going to really build your notoriety in college for endorsements. It just makes no sense.
Matt Harrington
Palmdale H.S.
1st round pick of the Rockies in 2000. Offered $4 million plus to sign and turned it down.
Usual pitching arm injuries, loss of velocity and retired at age 25 never signing with an MLB team.
not only turned down 4 million, but also a guarantee by the rockies he’d be a september 2002 call-up at the latest (then turned down another 800k or so the next year when he was drafted again)
Could have used some of that 4million on college after the baseball career didn’t pan out.
You can understand the hesitation for a pitcher to sign with the Rockies, right?
For that amount of money at his age? No, not at all.
Because no Rockies pitchers can ever pitch outside of Coors over their careers?
Who is the best pitcher drafted and developed by the Rockies? This is a serious question.
Dont know…. and to honest dont care either. It’s the rockies
Read a long story about that after Boston drafted him in late rounds later on.. it was all blamed on his agent and being late returning some call to the Pad’s front office past the midnight time.
The story I read said Whitson was balling at losing out on the bonus money and chance to play pro ball with San Diego and he only got like 100k from Boston, plus was gone in like 1 season.
I’ve never seen an exact study,done on the subject, but I would think it is extremely rare that a player doesn’t sign after getting drafted in the first round and then gets picked higher later.
Maybe it will take three more years in college for him to learn that there’s no higher round than first.
Maybe he just doesn’t like the Dodgers.
Maybe he didn’t like the way he was being handled by them.
Maybe he wants an education. It’s an odd concept in America, education over fame….but some people still think it’s important.
If the Dodgers wanted him so badly they should respect his desire for an education & allow him to finish his schooling.
Wow, talk about ignorant. The Dodgers are one of the best organizations in baseball, and are especially known for taking care of their young pitchers. That’s not speculation, that’s a fact. It’s his decision to attend college, not the Dodgers. Ginn held all the cards, so I’m not sure what point you’re trying to prove? “They should respect his desire to go to college.” Huh? Did I miss something? Are the Dodgers somehow disrespecting him??
Why if he performed well he could make a ton of cash is the fat wallet Dodgers. He’s a fool
Boras is a great agent for MLB players but its pretty ridiculous to advise a high school kid to decline 2 million. If he raises his value good for him, but the risk reward is not worth it
I couldn’t have said it any better myself. I don’t have a problem with anyone wanting to go to college instead, but he’s taking a huge risk…especially as a pitcher. A lot of things could happen in the next few years, and the reward doesn’t seem worth the risk.
If I am the kids parents I am encouraging him to go to school. Maybe the dream isn’t realized, but at least he has the memories and a free education to fall back on. That two million isn’t going to last him the rest of his life, especially at the pace young people spend money. You make under 10k a season as an 18 year old ball player, and it doesn’t get much better until you hit an MLB 40 man roster.
Education will always be available, baseball is time sensitive. Encouraging my kid to go to college over taking that size of a signing bonus, is totally backwards thinking.
I know several first-round draftees have negotiated post-playing-career, free-ride scholarships in the past, which if still allowed under the CBA further undermine that college-over-pro-ball argument.
i recall reading a few years back, mlb added something where first round picks (maybe extended to the next few rounds as well), would be eligible for up to 25k a year tuition reimbursement for 4 years post career, provided they played out their contract first)
You can go back to school at any time and you can pay for all of it without denting big into the 2 Mil
The kid also grew up in Mississippi where college sports are king because there’s no pro sports. He probably truly has really been excited to play for MSU since he was a little kid.
“The kid grew up in Mississippi where college sports are king” nobody cares about college baseball down there, College Football is king.
Obviously some people do. This kid seems to be a huge MSU fan. MSU’s baseball team plays in a stadium with a capacity of 15,000 so obviously there’s some people who want to see baseball there. Compare that to the college baseball stadium in my town – Bloomington Indiana, IU – the stadium, which is very nice, only seats 2500 and most college baseball stadiums are fairly small. And IUs team has been good recently.
@davidcoonce74 – agreed. Look at his Twitter. Like most posters on this thread, I thought he was crazy to turn down the money and the opportunity. But he’s obviously had a dream to play for MSU and to win a college world series. There’s definitely risk here – risk that he probably doesn’t see being a 19-year-old who has had such tremendous success. We can all say that we’d have made a different decision (I would), but in his mind, it clearly all makes sense.
Let’s say he gets injured next season and can’t play any longer. How many years do you think it will take him to make 2,275,800 million in his post-college career?
If he’s making 40k a year, that is 57 years
If he is making 60k, that is 38 years
If he is making 80k, that is 28 years
At 100k, it would still take almost 23 years
And that is before factoring for the yearly cost-of-living which makes it possible to make those salaries in the first place – assume at minimum 25k a year
Or he could collect his 2,275,800, play baseball a couple years, retire, use about 100-200k of that money to go to school at that point, and graduate a couple years older with more money in the bank than he will even be able to make over the next 20-60 years.
Likelihood is he just passed up more money than he will ever be able to accumulate in his entire lifetime
Well chances are he takes out an insurance policy on his draft order, because he was lucky to be a 1st rounder. So let’s say in 3-4 years he collects the money regardless whether is the difference on the signing bonus slot or the entire amount. He probably going to be ok.
In the 25+ years of draft insurance for college players being a thing, almost no one has ever been able to collect (only 2 are known for sure)
So he’d have to be spending upwards of 16k a month and countless thousands to fight the insurance companies when trying to collect, on the off chance he is one of the couple players who have ever gotten money
The odds of that all working out in his favor are almost nil
Probably not about money, or he’d have signed already. Probably just wanted to go to school
I think you likely hit the nail on the head
Then why make yourself available for the draft in the first place?
He didn’t make himself available. All he did was graduate high school. MLB doesn’t make players “declare” for the draft like other major US sports. As long as a player meets the requirements teams can draft the player.
mlb.mlb.com/mlb/draftday/rules.jsp
Well technically all high school seniors are available to be drafted, even ones who clearly have no intention of immediately joining a team. Maybe the kid just wanted to go to college for two years (he’s eligible for the draft after his sophomore year) and do all the dumb college jock stuff rather than riding the buses in the lowest reaches of the minors for two years. Can’t be calling an 18-year old names for being a kid.
Thanks for the info, I thought they had to make themselves available for the draft. He did keep the team waiting for several weeks on his decision though which suggests he was at least considering signing. I can understand the impulse to try to jump over some time in the low-low minors by doing some of it in college ball, and I’m not being critical of the kid for being a kid. If he hadn’t been selected in the first round then I could understand his thought process better. He has to know his chances of scoring a higher bonus in three years is pretty small. The far more likely outcome is he’ll fall into a lower round.
That money would have been wasted on him. It was a very questionable pick in the first place, and Billy is taking a lot of heat for it, especially now given what has gone down the past few days. He was presented with a very generous offer, and that wasn’t good enough, so good riddance. Sometimes it’s best to just cut your losses and move on. Again, not even a thank you to the Dodgers for drafting him. Kid has a lot of growing up to do, and thankfully it will be on someone else’s dime.
Don’t fool yourself it was ALL about the money!
Who said that was Boras’ advice? Players do have a mind of their own, and are capable or making their own decisions. Boras doesn’t sign the paperwork.
It’s ridiculous to advise a high school student to get an education? To go to college…for free & play ball?
OMG…how is that a bad thing? When did children getting a college education become a BAD THING?
He will still be able to play when he’s done college, only he will be more mature & undamaged by the MLB.
I hope he has a good insurance policy in the event of injury, otherwise 2 mill…gone
MONEY ISN’T EVERYTHING!
Education is important. $ 2 million isn’t a boatload of money, after taxes & his agent gets his share.
An education lasts a lifetime & he’s probably getting it for free.
Matt Harrington
Palmdale H.S.
1st round pick of the Rockies in 2000. Offered $4 million plus to sign and turned it down.
Usual pitching arm injuries, loss of velocity and retired at age 25 never signing with an MLB team.
This kids parents must be loaded. Give Pro Ball a shot and if it doesn’t work out, go back to school on LA’s dime. The MLB is loaded with stories of kids that turn down millions to chase the romance of college baseball only to never be heard from again. I hope his family is well off, or this may be a terrible mistake he has to live with the rest of his life.
At least he had a nice insurance policy though. HBO Real Sports had a special on him years back, but damn, dude works at Costco now.
“Ginn, a 19-year-old right-handed pitcher out of Brandon (Miss.) High School, will be Draft-eligible as a 21-year-old sophomore at Mississippi State in 2020. He becomes the fifth first-round selection in the bonus-pool era (since 2012) to choose college over a professional contract, joining college pitchers Mark Appel (No. 8 overall selection by the Pirates in 2012) and Kyle Funkhouser (No. 35 overall by the Dodgers in 2015) — who gambled that bigger paydays would come in their next Drafts. Phil Bickford (No. 10 by the Blue Jays in 2013) and Brady Aiken (No. 1 by the Astros in 2014) were not signed because the teams that selected them had issues with their post-Draft physicals.” — By Manny Randhawa, MLB.com
Appel’s gamble worked from a financial standpoint. Funkhouser turned down 1.75 million and then signed the next year for 750K.
A bird in the hand….
…is worth Matt Bush?
I like steak
The fat lady may be warming up but she hasn’t sung yet.
Surprising since the Dodgers are a good organization and say he was offered slot value, that type of money could get him by in life if he never makes the majors.
Hard to turn that much money down, hopefully he stays healthy. If not he better hope he gets the type of degree that earns him that much over a lifetime of working. I would take the money if I had that opportunity at his age.
Think you’re over valuing 2 Million. If he worked a job where he made just $75k annually, would only take 26 years to make that. Far less than a “lifetime.”
So “only” most of his life?
No big deal! He needs to make “just $75k a year” for only 26 years. Lol. That’s funny.
I honestly can’t tell if this is a joke or not.
Just $75k annually puts you in the 80th percentile of US income. If he had a family where his wife stayed home, just $75k annually would place his household income in the 60th percentile. Even if he stays long enough and gets a college degree, the median for all US earners with a college degree is around $42k/year, so he would need to work over 47 years with his college degree to make $2 million. So yeah, this is literally a lifetime of money for most college degree holders.
Need to add at minimum 25k a year cost of living to even be in a position to make that 75k a year – and that puts it at minimum at 45 years for him to be able to pocket that amount of cash
So by the time he’s in his mid 60s, maybe he will have that much in the bank if he lived cheaply and spent wisely
Far less than 26 years? Do you even job bro? Who in their right minds would rather potentially wait 26 years to make that much over making that much just to get started? I’m waiting…
If either of my 2 sons ever get this opportunity I would advise them to sign and give it a shot. If they don’t like it or something else god forbid injury wise were to happen, they still have that money for their security. I would still do everything I could to help them pay for school cause that’s what parents are supposed to do. Make their children’s lives better than their own. Just my opinion. Take it how you will.
This is a no-brainer risk/reward scenario.
Take the money!!!!!!!
All due respect: no one’s lifelong dream is to play baseball for Mississippi State. GTFOH.
As a parent, I would advise my son to take the money. $2M is equivalent to 20 years making $100K (taxes aside). College will always be there, a baseball window won’t.
Just as I respect Chick-Fil-A’s decision to be closed on Sunday, I respect his decision even though I disagree with.
As a parent, I would support whatever decision my son makes.
What part of his comment said he wouldn’t support his son’s decision?
Pretty huge difference between disagreeing with the decision and not supporting your kid. He literally even said he’d respect the decision even if he disagreed with it.
Ginn is taking a huge gamble and IMO a bad decision. Besides the money the Dodgers are one of the MLB teams that does a really good job of developing young pitchers arms being careful not to overuse them. He would have likely pitched a few games in AZ rookie ball this Summer and Fall, then a couple of semesters in college, and next year in the advanced rookie ball for Ogden Raptors short season team,
I believe Alex Fernandez was a first rounder out of high school even after telling teams he would go to U Miami, that was his dream. He played there one year then transferred to a community college and was drafted first round by the white sox after sophomore year. Transferring to a community college made him Elisa year earlier. Was a MLB all star.
These posts are hilarious. This one really brought out the extra arrogant/ignorant dodgers fan. Lots of “best team in the league” talk. Meanwhile, lemme dust off my VCR in case anyone has a VHS of when the dodgers were in fact the best team in baseball… it’s been several decades.
Yeah. I saw like 1 comment that said something along those lines. As a gnats fan, you are also living in the past. How is that “even year” thing working out for you? Cueto going to save your season? Lol!
Yeah. I saw like 1 comment that said something along those lines. As a gnats fan, you are also living in the past. How is that “even year” thing working out for you? Cueto going to save your season? Lol!
Maybe he thinks he’ll not only get an education but a better option during/after college?
Perhaps both he and his parents realize he’s not emotionally ready to live the pro ball lifestyle with the travel and living on his own. College offers a more structured environment with coaches, classes, tutors, etc. providing the structure that an 18 year old usually needs. The kid made the best decision for him.
You’ve never talked to rookie level players or know what their pro life is like, obviously
Let’s see, do I sign with the LA Dodgers for $2.4M or enter the hallowed halls of Mississippi State? Pfffffff, I’m goin’ to MSU, baby!! Lemme go on Instagram and show the world my genius, yo!!!!
Smart decision on his part. Not everyone has what it takes to wear that Dodger blue, and this guy is soft. Not even a thank you to the Dodgers for drafting him. This guy will never cut it in the bigs! I hope he enjoys college baseball, because that’s as far as he will get. Sorry, but he’s not that good!
This comment aged well!