Orioles buy out a Bearcat with draft-day overslot deal

Draft day math usually goes one way: teams pay premium bonuses to college underclassmen who threaten to return to school, then save money on cheap senior signs to spread around. The Orioles just flipped that script for an 8th-round prep kid nobody outside scouting circles had heard of a month ago.

Jim Callis

@jimcallisMLB

8th-rder Will Plunkett signs w/@Orioles for $675k (slot 230 value = $247,900). New York prep SS, athletic 6-3/200, smooth swing w/power to come. @BinghamtonBASE recruit. @MLBDraft

Will Plunkett, a shortstop out of Mamaroneck High School in New York, went to Baltimore with the No. 230 overall pick. His draft slot carried a recommended bonus of $247,900. The Orioles instead wrote him a check for $675,000, according to Jim Callis, more than double the assigned figure and the kind of number normally reserved for a top-3-round talent, not a pick 200-plus names deep.

That gap tells the real story. Plunkett was committed to Binghamton, where he had a real shot at stepping into a starting shortstop job right away. Getting a player to walk away from a chance like that usually costs real money, and Baltimore clearly decided it was worth paying up to lock in a player scouts liked for his combination of size, athleticism and a swing that projects for more power down the line.

It's a familiar Orioles move. Under this front office, Baltimore has repeatedly used its draft-and-development machine to squeeze extra value out of the middle and late rounds, betting bonus-pool savings from earlier picks on athletes who slipped for signability reasons. A 6-foot-3, 200-pound prep shortstop with room to add strength is exactly the kind of projectable body that front office likes to gamble on.

For Binghamton, it's a real loss. The Bearcats were reportedly counting on Plunkett as a multi-year starter up the middle, and instead they lose him to pro ball before he ever steps on campus. For Plunkett, it's a life-changing bonus and a chance to start his career in an organization that has become one of the sport's more aggressive player-development shops. Whether the shortstop swing translates against real pro pitching is a years-away question, but for one afternoon in July, the Orioles made it very clear how much they believe in the bet.