Trevor Stephan tells me that his negotiations with the Red Sox will likely go down to the wire. The deadline to sign is July 15.
Stephan is a hard-throwing right-handed pitcher from Texas who pitched last season at Hill Junior College. He was drafted by the Red Sox in the 18th round. He and LHP Blake Lillis (Brewers, 25th round) are the only two signees who were drafted who have not made a decision.
Looking at the Red Sox draft board, they are going to have some trouble offering Stephan a whole lot of money over slot (100k). Their first round pick, Jason Groome, has yet to sign and he won’t take under slot value. In fact he was a possible top 3 pick who fell a little bit. If they don’t sign him they lose that slot value which is over 3,000,000. They also haven’t been able to sign their 3rd, 4th, 5th or 10th round picks because of waiting on Groome and the CWS
I’m told Groome is the key to keeping Stephan. If he signs, Boston won’t have the money to pay Stephan what he’ll command. I’m also told Stephan was set on going pro after the draft, but is beginning to warm to the idea of playing in college.
Trevor told me today that he will play at Arkansas next season: http://www.wholehogsports.com/news/2016 … -arkansas/
I think that is in his best interest, he still needs to hone his skills as a pitcher, being that he didn’t really pitch until JC. I know he could do that in in the Pro farm leagues, but we have an excellent pitching coach also, so we may only get 1 year out of him and he should become a higher draft pick and get more money at that point.