The Los Angeles Dodgers put the finishing touches on their 2019 MLB Draft class, recently hammering out a contract with second-round selection Jimmy Lewis ahead of last Friday’s deadline.
Lewis, who was nabbed with the 78th overall pick, was reportedly signed to an above-slot deal that will pay him roughly $1.1 million. That easily surpassed the expected value of $793,000 — a necessity in order to entice the prep pitcher to forego his commitment at LSU.
With Lewis now in the fold, the Dodgers successfully signed their top-11 draft picks. The club has since focused on using the remainder of their bonus pool money to ink additional selections in the later rounds.
According to Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com, the Dodgers reportedly reached an agreement with their 24th-round draft pick Chet Allison, who received a signing bonus of $222,500:
24th-rd @MLBDraft pick Chet Allison gets $222.5K to sign w/@Dodgers ($97.5K counts vs bonus pool). Juco standout from @FCCRAMSBASEBALL was committed to @RazorbackBSB. Dodgers Draft: https://t.co/UD8NwOb2HH
— Jonathan Mayo (@JonathanMayo) July 12, 2019
Allison, a junior college outfielder who previously intended on transferring to Arkansas, will instead turn pro and further bolster the Dodgers’ Minor League pipeline.
Allison is coming off an excellent season with Fresno City College in which he was named 2019 Central Valley Conference Player of the Year. In 45 games, he compiled a .446 batting average, .831 slugging percentage, 11 home runs and 50 RBI.
The Dodgers additionally secured another one of their later draft picks, inking 34th-round selection Francisco Martinez:
Another @Dodgers late-rd @MLBDraft signing: 34th-rder Francisco Martinez gets $172.5K ($47.5K counts vs bonus pool). Strong, athletic LHP from Puerto Rico has 3 pitches he mixes well.
— Jonathan Mayo (@JonathanMayo) July 12, 2019
A Puerto Rico Baseball Academy product, Martinez thrived on the mound with three promising pitches: a fastball, changeup and sweeping curveball.
The left-hander is said to have excellent command of his pitches and saw his fastball rank in the 87th percentile among his peers who are also part of the Class of 2019.
The Dodgers wound up signing 31 of their 41 selections in the 2019 MLB Draft, including each of their top 15 picks, headlined by college sluggers Kody Hoese and Michael Busch.
Among the most notable unsigned players include 16th-round pick Andrew Baker and 19th-round selection Braidyn Fink.
