The Yankees have signed seventh round pick Texas OF Mark Payton to a below-slot $45k bonus, according to Max Wildstein and Chris Cotillo. Slot for the 212th overall pick was $212,300 $178,300, so the Yankees saved approximately $133k against the draft pool. Payton, a senior, hit .315/.453/.444 with 57 walks and 27 strikeouts in 67 games for the Longhorns this spring. He’s a little guy (listed a 5-foot-8 and 190 lbs.) with no power but some speed and defense.
In other draft news, the Yankees have also signed 12th round pick Texas JuCo 1B Chris Gittens, according to his Twitter feed. Jim Callis says he received a $125k bonus, and since everything over $100k given to a player drafted after the tenth round counts against the draft pool, $25k of that counts against their spending limit. Gittens hit .404/.463/.532 with nine doubles and three homers in 41 games this spring. He’s a big guy who has had some conditioning issues in the past, but Callis says his bat is promising. You can see all of the team’s draft picks at Baseball America and keep tabs on the draft pool situation with our 2014 Draft Pool Tracker.
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