Dodgers undrafted free agent signings

Beginning Sunday morning, June 14, major league teams were allowed to begin signing amateur free agents who were not selected in the five-round 2020 MLB Draft. We’ll keep track of all the undrafted free agents signed by the Dodgers here.

The maximum signing bonus of $20,000 is far less than what many players picked after the fifth round normally get. In a usual year, any signing bonuses up to $125,000 for players after the 10th round don’t count against a team’s bonus pool. The Dodgers in the 2019 draft, for instance, signed 20 players picked in the sixth round or later to bonuses of higher than $20,000.

Given the limited bonuses and other options available — namely going to college and waiting for a future draft — most of the players signing are from college, though there are a few high school players who have already signed with major league teams, per Baseball America.

Dodgers vice president of amateur scouting Billy Gasparino likened this to a recruiting process, that since bonus money is equal players will need to choose based on the team’s track record and development staff, among other things.

“There is some advantage to coming in with us in a smaller draft class,” he said. “If you’re one of 10 or 12 guys we end up signing instead of 30, that helps your cause.”

Gasparino said the Dodgers had several college juniors among the players they would target, with some others considered, too.

“We have a couple seniors we identified as guys we want to go after, but we feel good about the players in our system, so there is a line of talent to achieve for us to sign guys,” Gasparino said. “We’re not going to just randomly sign guys, there’s no real need.”

Teams can sign these players up until their respective colleges start in the fall.