Congrats to the Nationals on signing fifth round selection Adrian Nieto. Nieto was considered unsignable by many, so the news is a welcome surprise. Great work by Nationals Farm Authority on tipping his readers off to this earlier this weekend. Chico Harlan reports that Nieto signed for 376K, double the slot recommendation.
From the Nationals:
The Washington Nationals agreed to terms with catcher Adrian Nieto, the club’s fifth-round selection in this year’s First-Year Player Draft. He is slated to report to the Nationals’ Gulf Coast League affiliate on Tuesday. Nationals Senior Vice President and General Manager Jim Bowden, Vice President of Baseball Operations and Assistant General Manager Mike Rizzo, and Director of Scouting Dana Brown made this joint announcement.
The 18-year-old is considered to have one of the best bats among catching prospects selected in this season’s Draft. Nieto led his high school to a state championship as a senior, batting .372 with 16 doubles, five home runs and 38 RBI for American Heritage High School (FL). The switch hitter compiled a .361 batting average with four homers and 17 RBI during an injury-plagued junior campaign, earning him spots in the AFLAC All-American Classic and USA Baseball Tournament of Stars. He entered the national spotlight after hitting .381 with four home runs and 27 RBI during a breakout sophomore season, when he was cited as an AFLAC All-American and was named All-County and Third-Team All-State.
Entries (RSS)
August 11th, 2008 at 7:18 am
shocking, really. this was the one in the top five i figured had no chance to sign. kudos to Mike Rizzo. Nieto’s agent on his personal website took the time to thanks half a dozen people in the Nats front office that got this done…none of whom are named Jim Bowden!
August 11th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Did you hear that both Daniel Espinosa and Graham Hicks signed with the Nats? 2 down, 1 to go. They gotta sign Crow!