The 2022 Philadelphia Phillies Draft Picks, UDFA and Signings

[Squire]

The key nugget being that Rincon took 125k

[Squire]

Starting to think Wimmer doesn’t sign

[julio]

Starting to think Wimmer doesn’t sign.

We’re still waiting for Nate Karaffa, too.

The fat lady has yet to sing.

[julio]

24 hours from the deadline, I'm a little puzzled that we've heard nothing about Nate Karaffa (20th round pick). Karaffa has updated both his Twitter and Instagram profiles to read "Philadelphia Phillies Organization," but not a glimmer of a signing, or of a sighting in Florida.

Could they be holding off signing Karaffa to see whether Wimmer takes whatever offer they have on the table (presumably $177,500), with the intention of sweetening Karaffa's bonus if Wimmer does not sign?

[julio]

[julio]

Nate Karaffa just posted this to his Instagram account:

One down... one to go?

[andyb]

5 PM deadline, so not much longer to wait (unless the intern who puts together draft signing releases is not in today).

[Squire]

Wimmer decided to return to South Carolina for his senior year.

[zambonir]

And does that indicate he wanted to do that for its own sake (play another year, stay in school) or that they failed to offer enough?

[julio]

Wimmer decided to return to South Carolina for his senior year.

Note that Wimmer has two years of remaining eligibility - so even though he'll be playing as a "senior" in 2023, he'll still have leverage in the draft.

And does that indicate he wanted to do that for its own sake (play another year, stay in school) or that they failed to offer enough?

I think it's safe to say they didn't offer him what he considered enough. They presumably offered him $175k or so - the max they could, given the bonuses they paid higher picks. They presumably held off signing Karaffa until this morning, waiting to see whether Wimmer changed his mind or not.

It will be interesting to see if Karaffa's bonus exceeds $125k.

[Austinfan]

They did this last year, target one with another as their fall back option.

[allentown]

Failing to sign Wimmer honestly doesn't bother me. They signed 18 of 19 and a ton of UDFA. In a year in which college position players seemed to be what almost everyone was seeking, the chances of a 18th round college position player making it seem tiny. Better to sign everyone, but if your only miss is 18th round, that truly is no big deal.

[Philsmania]

Just my take but the long list of UDFA's probably replaces rounds 21-40 of the draft.

[allentown]

True, but with the caveat that since the time of the 40-round draft, the number of minor league players which teams were permitted to control has shrunk significantly. Also, the last 20 rounds of the draft weren't noted for producing may productive MLB players.

[Austinfan]

I think the biggest impact is on the 1-2 HS players you'd take later in the draft and try to sign, Ben Brown is a good example. Other than that, I'd say maybe 1 in 20 college players taken after pick 20 ever make the show. You probably have better odds with targeted UFAs.

[andyb]

It does look like only a small impact in the number of players signed. We just added 31. I think we used to sign 33-35 draftees. Plus a few undrafted free agents but the total number usually was less than 40. Clearly there is less room for college roster filler than there was in the past. The college players that went to Low A ball in their first season will be less numerous now than in the past as Low A will need room for much of the roster to be FCL or DSL (note the 180-person roster provides more incentive to leave a player in the Dominican until they are ready for full season ball).

[Austinfan]

DSL players are exempt from the 180 player limit?

[phillychuck]

DSL players are exempt from the 180 player limit?

An MLB organization may carry no more than 180 players on its aggregate Domestic Reserve List from minor league Opening Day up until 5 PM (Eastern) on the 5th day after the final game of the World Series

Domestic is the operative word here...

[Austinfan]

That will explain why we're gonna see a lot of 20 year old DSL players on the FCL roster in the future.
Makes sense to keep them in the DSL, let them eat well and fill out, and promote them when they're ready to rise quickly through the ranks.

That also means it makes a lot of sense, with 2 DSL squads, to load up with low cost lottery tickets like skinny pitchers who might make a velo jump after they add 30 lbs. You can give them a couple seasons to see if they progress, then rinse and repeat.

[andyb]

There has been talk of an overall organizational limit or a specific DSL limit, but that would be hard to implement. The reality is with 16-year-olds that they need more time in the system than 18-22 year olds, so including the DSL players in that limit, even if the limit is pretty high could be seen as discriminatory to international prospects. MLB already guarantees them less money than draft prospects. Setting up a system where lots of them get released early would be problematic.