How Astros got creative to sign high school stud Ryan Clifford

“At the end of the day, I had two really good options and I decided to become a Houston Astro,” Clifford told reporters in the Astros dugout before Thursday’s game against the Mariners. “So, I’m excited to get started and look forward to what’s next.”

The Astros had to get a lot of cooperation from their other draft picks to make the Clifford signing work.

Each pick in the first 10 rounds of the draft is assigned a slot value – the bonus money that a player at that pick should receive. Teams can offer players above or below that slot value, but it gives both players and teams an idea of what a pick should be paid. For the entire 20-round draft, teams are given a cap on how much they can spend based on where they’re picking and how many picks they have. If teams exceed that cap by more than 5% they are penalized future draft picks. In this draft, the Astros had a draft pool of about $6.8 million with which to work.

Typically, players picked in the 11th round would receive a bonus of about $125,000, but that wouldn’t be nearly enough to convince Clifford to skip playing at college powerhouse Vanderbilt, so the Astros had to find chunks of money wherever they could.

To put aside money for Clifford, the Astros were able to sign several of their top draft picks for more than $100,000 below their slot value. First-round pick Drew Gilbert, the University of Tennessee center fielder, signed for $2.5 million instead of the slot value of $2.62 million. Second-round pick Jacob Melton, an Oregon State outfielder, signed for $1 million, instead of the $1.104 million slot value. Their third-, fifth- and sixth-round picks all signed for more than $100,000 below their slot value as well, giving the Astros money to use to woo Clifford.

Before the draft, MLB.com ranked Clifford as the 92nd-best player available, which would have made him a third-round pick. Clifford is well-known among scouts because he’s been a fixture on United States national teams since he was 12. He’s known for his bat with a smooth lefthanded hitting stroke at 6-foot-3.

The Astros have signed 19 of their 21 draft picks. The only picks still unsigned Arizona high school outfielder Isaiah Jackson (18th round) and Grambling State catcher John Garcia (19th round).