In case you missed it, the Cincinnati Reds picked up Nevada outfielder T.J. Friedl as a non-drafted free agent last week. Normally, the signing of an American-born undrafted player wouldn’t be making the news, but the signing of Friedl is a bit different.
The Reds gave Friedl the largest signing bonus in the history of undrafted, American born players, signing him for $735,000. There’s a lot to the backstory, and you can read more about it here if you’d like. Essentially, though, a lot of scouts didn’t recognize he was draft eligible this year until after the draft had already happened and he was playing well on Team USA in international competition during the summer.