Dodgers’ draft bonus pool is $5.9 million

The Dodgers will have just under $6 million to spend on their draft picks this year, a draft unlike any other we’ve ever seen.

The 2020 MLB Draft is just five rounds, down from the usual 40. In normal years, a team’s draft pool is the sum of the recommended slot values for all their picks in the first 10 rounds. Every signing bonus in the first 10 rounds counts against said pool, and every amount over $125,000 for later picks count against the pool, too.

Not this year.

“It’s going to eliminate a lot of the creativity. It’s going to be a challenge,” Dodgers VP of amateur scouting Billy Gasparino said. “There’s just those six picks, and if you don’t spend the money, it doesn’t get spent.”

Recommended slot values were also frozen at their 2019 numbers, as part of a March agreement between players and owners.

For undrafted players, signing bonuses are capped at $20,000.

In a weird twist, the Dodgers’ total bonus pool this year is actually more than in 2018 ($5.29 million) and 2017 ($5.79 million), which were full drafts. That’s because the Dodgers have six picks in five rounds. The extra pick is a Competitive Balance Round B pick acquired from Minnesota in February in the Kenta Maeda trade. That pick is 66th overall, in between the second and third rounds.