Playing baseball at UCLA is an attractive possibility. But usually, millions of dollars is the more tempting offer.
The Giants are overwhelming De La Salle pitcher Kyle Harrison into turning pro. As first reported by freelancer Marc Delucchi on Monday, the Giants have agreed on a deal with the lefty for about $2.5 million. The Giants declined to confirm the contract without the physical being completed yet.
Harrison, their third-round pick and the team’s fifth selection, was the only high schooler among their seven picks, a top prospect who would have to be swayed away from the Bruins. The 85th-overall pick comes with a slot value of $710,700, which the Giants are blowing out of the water.
To compensate, San Francisco will negotiate with its other picks, which likely all will be underslot. For comparison’s sake, their first-round pick, Patrick Bailey, carries a slot value of $4.2 million; their second-rounder, Casey Schmitt, is slotted at $1.51 million.
The hefty sum for Harrison is the primary reason he slid in the draft; some experts had him pegged as one of the top high-school arms available. The 6-foot-2 200-pound Danville native was dominant in high school and caught the team’s eye when he played with Team USA.
“He’s a guy that we’ve really seen his development over the last, we’ll call it eight-to-10 months,” scouting director Michael Holmes said. “We’ve seen his velocity improve, we’ve seen his breaking ball improve, and he’s always been able to command the baseball to both sides of the plate. It’s more of a three-quarter to lower-three-quarter slot with a little bit of a cross-body look, so it’s a very deceptive delivery. Hitters have a tough time seeing the baseball.
“But this kid is a smart kid on the mound. He’s got tremendous feel, he’s got good stuff. And he definitely is a really competitive kid that we had a chance to know really well, visiting with him and his family and had a definite comfort with him.”
