The Atlanta Braves officially announced the signing of 19 of their 20 draft picks from the 2021 MLB Draft. For those of you following along with our signing tracker you’ve seen us keep up with them as they’ve leaked, but this is the first official announcement of signees from the organization. The Braves first draft pick Ryan Cusick signed a $2.7 million deal a few days ago, and they closed out their signing period by inking 16th round Kris Anglin to a deal. The only player who did not sign was 20th rounder Ty Evans, who was a fall back option should one of the earlier picks choose to not sign.
#Braves Sign 19 Draft Picks: pic.twitter.com/O5N8FUoXSz
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) July 23, 2021
In addition to Cusick the Braves signed two other players to seven-figure bonuses with 2nd round pitcher Spencer Schwellenbach and 7th round pitcher AJ Smith-Shawver getting $1 million each. Atlanta also announced the signing of two undrafted free agents, Anderson De Los Santos and JJ Niekro. De Los Santos was an immigrant to Providence, RI from the Dominican Republic, and the 18 year old switch hitting shortstop represents a high value signing with a lot of risk. JJ Niekro is the son of Joe Niekro and nephew of Braves legend Phil Niekro and has been at Florida Southern College, a Division II program, since 2017. Niekro was named 1st team Academic All American and had a 4.40 ERA in 14 1⁄3 innings this season.
For detailed signing bonus info and a list of every player signed you can check out the Talking Chop draft pick signing tracker.