The baseball signing bonus is a bonus offered by Major League Baseball to a new player as an incentive to
join that franchise and begin their major league career with that franchise. The bonus and the size of the bonus
is determined by the number of first round picks and the number of later round picks.
Typically, signing bonuses for first round players run in the millions of dollars. Also, typically, bonuses for those players in the bottom rounds of the draft, take a sharp, pronounced drop and end up somewhere around a few thousand
dollars. Once signed, players are given the standard minor league salary, which again is considerably less than the
standard minimum salary for a major league player.
Baseball Almanac is putting together a list of all known signing bonuses in Major League history. Here are some of those bonuses from varying years. Only the players and the year they were signed are given, not their respective teams at the time of their signing.
1st Round Pick Josh Hamilton 1999 Outfield Signing Bonus $3,900,000
1st Round Pick Mark Texeira 2001 Third Base Signing Bonus $4,500,000
1st Round Pick Mark Prior 2001 Right Handed Pitcher Signing Bonus $4,000,000
25th Round Pick Nate McClouth 2000 Outfield Signing Bonus $500,000
The dollar figures are much lower for the early year players. For instance, in 1946, a third baseman
by the name of Bobby Brown, New York Yankees, only received a signing bonus of $56,000.
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The content of this blog may not be construed as legal, medical, business, or personal advise.david.mosher3993@my.sinclair.edu
Dave, I had no idea how signing bonuses are computed or on what basis they are figured. Very interesting topic, even for someone who isn't a huge sports fan (event though I do have a couple in the house!) Thanks for the insight!
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