Wilson's Luke Holman turns down offers from 2 MLB teams, according to his father

Rich Scarcella, Reading Eagle, Pa.
·5 min read

Jul. 13—More than one Major League Baseball team expressed interest Monday in drafting Wilson right-hander Luke Holman, but the price wasn't right for him.

Craig Holman, Luke's father, said that his son turned down offers of signing bonuses of $800,000 and $700,000 before two teams made their third-round selections. He said his son had been seeking $1 million. He's signed a letter of intent to enroll next month at Alabama.

"He turned down $700(K) and $800(K) in the third round by direction of his agent (Jonathan Maurer)," Craig Holman said. "He thought he could get a little bit more. ... Luke and I are sitting here and talking quietly. He's wondering if he made the right decision. I don't know if he did."

Holman said Maurer countered an $800,000 offer from the Chicago Cubs with an offer of $850,000, but the team said no and drafted another player who accepted the slotted amount.

The Cubs had the 93rd pick overall in the third round, which has a slotted value of $627,900. They selected left-handed pitcher Drew Gray of IMG Academy in Florida.

Every pick in the first 10 rounds is assigned a slot value, ranging from $8.4 million for the No. 1 pick to $142,200 for the final pick of the 10th round.

All the recommended slots are combined into a team's bonus pool, which is what a team can spend on bonuses for picks in the top 10 rounds. Any bonus greater than $125,000 for picks in the final 10 rounds are counted against the bonus pool.

Teams can choose to offer a player the slotted amount of money, more than the slotted amount or less.

So, teams can sign a player with little leverage, like a college senior, at a lower price than the slotted amount and use that money to sign a player with a lot of leverage, like a high school senior who can choose to enroll at a four-year or two-year college.

Most of the players drafted in rounds 5-10 Monday were fourth-year college players. Rounds 11-20 are scheduled for Tuesday.

Craig Holman said several teams called his son after the 10th round and said they would offer him as much as $500,000 if they drafted him Tuesday.

"This is not fun," Craig Holman said. "It is such a poker game. These kids get stuck in the middle. It's a learning process. We're not going to get back to that $800,000, I know that."

Craig Holman played at Jacksonville State in Alabama and was a 13th-round pick of the Toronto Blue Jays in 1990. He decided to stay in college for his senior year and was taken in 1991 in the 22nd round by the Philadelphia Phillies, for whom he played eight minor league seasons.

Luke Holman was rated as the 172nd-best prospect available in the draft by MLB.com. He was 7-1 this season with a 0.88 ERA and 113 strikeouts in 55.2 innings and led the Bulldogs to their second straight District 3 Class 6A title and the Berks League final.

Craig Holman said Alabama coach Brad Bohannon called his son several times Monday and told him he could make as much as $2 million after he plays three years for the Crimson Tide.

"Luke has a full ride to go to Alabama," Holman said. "It's a great place. It's in the SEC (Southeastern Conference). I played 10 years of pro ball, and the SEC is like playing in Triple-A. You're going to get treated like a king.

"Now teams are coming back to us because they don't mind wasting a pick. 'Can we negotiate overnight and reach a number so we can take you tomorrow?' I don't know what he wants to do but we're talking about it right now. We wanted a million dollars."

Hamburg's Hunter Shuey and Brandywine Heights' Chase Renner, who are also right-handed pitchers, might be drafted Tuesday, as well. Shuey has signed to play at North Carolina-Greensboro and Renner at Penn State.

Shuey emerged as a prospect in the last two years. Like Holman and Renner, he's a hard thrower whose fastball sits in the low 90s. He was 6-3 this season with a 1.56 ERA and 123 strikeouts in 58 innings. He allowed 36 hits and 19 walks.

Renner, who enrolled at Penn State in late June, went 5-1 this season with a 0.60 ERA and 67 strikeouts in 35 innings for the Bullets, who reached the Berks and District 3 Class 3A playoffs. He allowed just 10 hits and 20 walks.

Three Pennsylvania high school players were taken in the first 10 rounds.

The Colorado Rockies used the eighth pick in the first round Sunday to take Red Land outfielder Benny Montgomery, a right-handed hitter who signed a letter of intent to play at Virginia.

The Pittsburgh Pirates selected Malvern Prep outfielder Lonnie White Jr. in the Compensatory Pick B section of the draft, after the second round, with the 64th overall pick.

White, a right-handed hitter, signed a letter of intent to play football and baseball at Penn State in May 2020 after turning down a baseball-only offer from Clemson. He's rated as a four-star prospect at wide receiver in football.

The Seattle Mariners drafted East Pennsboro right-handed pitcher Michael Morales in the third round with the 83rd overall pick. He signed a letter of intent to attend Vanderbilt.