Let’s get these players signed!
The Royals have made their draft picks, and news of their signings and their bonuses have begun to trickle in. Each of the picks in the first ten rounds is assigned a slot value that the Royals can sign a player above or below that number. After that round, each pick has a slot value of $150,000 where anything above that must come out of the bonus pool, but there are no savings if you sign someone below that number.
The Royals have a bonus pool of $12,749,700 to spend on their picks. If a team exceeds their total bonus pool, they must pay taxes on the overage. A team that exceeds their bonus pool by 0-5 percent will pay a 75 percent tax on the overage. If a team exceeds their pool by more than 5 percent, they will lose a future first-round pick. If they exceed by more than 10 percent, they will lose a second-round pick as well, plus pay a 100 percent tax on the overage. If a team exceeds their pool by 15 percent, they will lose two first-round picks, plus pay the 100 percent tax on the overage. Last year the Royals exceeded their bonus pool, but not by 5 percent.
The Royals have also signed some undrafted free agents:
OF Hunter Ensley is a fifth-year senior at Tennessee who hit .336/.418/.531 with 10 HR and seven steals in 64 games this year. He has above-average defense and was a College World Series hero for the Vols in 2024 with a tremendous running catch and epic slide to avoid a tag at home.
LHP Cory Ronan pitched at Hawaii this year, where he had a 4.81 ERA with 39 strikeouts and 28 walks in 33 2⁄3 innings with just 21 hits allowed. The redshirt junior originally hails from central Illinois.
LHP Ryan Ure was drafted by the Rangers out of high school and by the Giants in 2024, but went undrafted after a 6.20 ERA at Oklahoma State this year. Standing at 6’7’’, the lefty throws in the mid-90s with spotty control, but he struck out 31 with 9 walks in 24 2⁄3 innings and profiles as a reliever.
We will continually update this signing tracker to reflect which Royals picks have signed and for how much.