Red Sox sign first-round pick Tanner Houck

It’s draft pick signing time around the league, and the Red Sox have been moving slowly and steadily. They had already agreed to deals with the three college seniors they drafted at the end of the second day as well as agreeing to a deal with 21st round pick Lukas Young. Those are important signings, of course, particularly in terms of saving money against their overall draft pool. On Wednesday, though, we got news of the signing we’ve really been waiting for.

As Callis points out above, the Red Sox agreed to terms with Tanner Houck, their first round pick. The $2,614,500 signing bonus is the exact slot value associated with the pick, which isn’t overly surprising. Houck isn’t a top-level talent who fell because of his bonus demands, so it’s not a shock that he didn’t sign for above slot value. On the other hand, he is a talented college junior, so it was never probable that the Red Sox were going to be able to save much money here. Coming in exactly at slot makes sense and should be fine for the rest of the Red Sox draft. Nothing official has been announced at this time, but I’d expect Houck to join the Spinners roster in the New York-Penn league. You can find more on the big righty here.

With Houck signed, there are a few more interesting names left out there. The two biggest names are Cole Brannen (second round) and Alex Scherff (fifth round). Both players are high school draftees, and the money they saved by signing the seniors to below-slot deals will be used towards them. In particular, the savings will almost certainly go towards Scherff. You can keep up with all of the signing news here.