MLB Draft: Top 10 highest signing bonuses, with 2020 No. 1 pick Spencer Torkelson leading list at $8.42M

The Pirates pick first Sunday night to kick off the 2023 draft

By R.J. Anderson

Jul 6, 2023 at 3:33 pm ET • 2 min read

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Major League Baseball's 2023 amateur draft, a three-day and 20-round venture, will kick off on Sunday night. The Pittsburgh Pirates will make the first overall selection for the sixth time in franchise history, and the first time since they chose catcher/outfielder Henry Davis from Louisville in 2021. The Pirates' history at No. 1 also includes right-handed pitchers Gerrit Cole, Bryan Bullington, and Kris Benson, as well as infielder Jeff King.

CBS Sports has spent the past month previewing and analyzing the draft in a variety of ways, including ranking the top 30 prospects in the class. We've also explained why the Pirates' choice at No. 1 might take more than pure talent into account -- specifically if they take the same "portfolio approach" they did in 2021. What that entails, to be brief, is them taking the top prospect with the lowest signing bonus demand; in turn, they would then use those savings to sign more talented players who slid down the board over signability concerns.

That strategy may sound a little too clever for its own good, but the portfolio strategy was borne in response to MLB's implementation of capped bonus pools. Those first went into place in 2012, paving the way for teams like the Houston Astros and Baltimore Orioles to experiment with how to best approach the draft. While the portfolio approach is a mere side effect of the capped pools, a more direct cause is the suppression of signing bonuses.

Indeed, the aforementioned Cole was the last No. 1 pick of the uncapped era. He received an $8 million signing bonus from the Pirates that remained the highest until Adley Rutschman's selection in 2019, eight years later. Here's a look at the signing bonus figures for the No. 1 picks dating back to Cole, according to Baseball Reference:

Year	Player	Team	Position	Bonus
2011	Gerrit Cole	Pirates	RHP	$8 million
2012	Carlos Correa	Astros	SS	$4.8 million
2013	Mark Appel	Astros	RHP	$6.35 million
2014	Brady Aiken	Astros	LHP	Didn't sign
2015	Dansby Swanson	Diamondbacks	SS	$6.5 million
2016	Mickey Moniak	Phillies	OF	$6.1 million
2017	Royce Lewis	Twins	SS	$6.73 million
2018	Casey Mize	Tigers	RHP	$7.5 million
2019	Adley Rutschman	Orioles	C	$8.1 million
2020	Spencer Torkelson	Tigers	1B	$8.42 million
2021	Henry Davis	Pirates	C	$6.5 million
2022	Jackson Holliday	Orioles	SS	$8.19 million

And here's a look at the highest overall signing bonuses since the caps went into place beginning with the 2012 event. Do note that the top two picks from last summer, Jackson Holliday and Druw Jones, signed for what amounted to the second and third-highest bonuses in the capped bonus era.