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LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers made a couple key draft pick signings on Wednesday, coming to terms with both fifth-round pitcher Devin Smeltzer and 11th-round pitcher A.J. Alexy.
Alexy is a high school signing out of Pennsylvania, luring him away from attending Radford University with a reported signing bonus of $600,000 per Jim Callis of MLB.com. Of that, $497,500 counts against the Dodgers' bonus pool (more on that in a minute).
Smeltzer got $500,000, per J.P. Hoornstra of the LA Daily News. Smeltzer's slot value at pick No. 161 was $331,100. His agency, ICON Sports, tweeted out Smeltzer's signing on Wednesday.
The moment the DREAM "officially" begins! Congrats @Dodgers ... You got a great one w @alka_SMELTZer! #dreamBIGGER pic.twitter.com/ipdtrgpyLx
— ICON Sports (@IconBaseball) June 22, 2016
Smeltzer pitched for San Jacinto Junior College North in Texas and had he not turned pro would have attended Texas Tech.
With these two bonuses known, the Dodgers should be $184,800 over slot, but in reality they are $162,300 over slot (and possibly as low as $154,800 over), because there are some discrepancies in previously reported bonuses and the MLB.com draft tracker, which shows seven different Dodgers picks with bonuses $2,500 less than previously reported, plus Alexy and Smeltzer.
The reason? Andrew Friedman:
No. @Dodgers & @RaysBaseball have an accounting trick that saves them $2,500 on each bonus vs their pool. @MLBDraft https://t.co/darLCEaTPl
— Jim Callis (@jimcallisMLB) June 22, 2016
That leaves just one unsigned player in the top 10 rounds — pitcher Jordan Sheffiield out of Vanderbilt, taken No. 36 overall with a slot value of $1,791,000. That gives us an idea what the Dodgers have to work with as they try to sign other players taken in later rounds, possibly including high school pitcher and 12th-round pick Graham Ashcraft.
The Dodgers can go up to $466,824 over slot without losing a future first-round draft pick, so there is still room to spend. A little over $300,000 over slot to play with, in fact.
The Dodgers have not officially announced the signings of either Alexy or Smeltzer, but they did announce the signing of 34th-round pick Joel Toribio, a right-handed pitcher out of Division II Western Oklahoma State College.
The 6'6 right-hander put up a 5.73 ERA in 15 appearances and 37⅔ innings in 2016, but also struck out 55 batters.
On Tuesday, the Dodgers also announced the signing of 30th-round catcher Ramon Rodriguez out of the Puerto Rico Baseball Academy.
Twenty-six of the Dodgers' 42 picks have now signed, including 11 of the top 12.