MLB Draft 2015: Slot bonus values for rounds one and two

With the 2015 MLB Draft kicking off on Monday night, now would be a great time to review the recommended slot bonuses for each pick in the first two rounds.

The 2015 Major League Baseball draft gets underway on Monday evening at 6:00pm (Eastern Standard Time), and while this draft is considered to be deep, it doesn’t necessarily have a solid lock in terms of talent at the top of the draft either.

Related: MLB Draft 2015 – Complete first round draft order

Starting in 2012, Major League Baseball started assigning recommended slot bonuses to each pick in the draft, with each team’s available pool being the accumulated value of those picks. If a team exceeds its pool by 5 percent or less, it must pay a luxury tax of 75% on the amount over the threshold. Teams that go 5 to 10 percent over must pay a 100% tax on the excess, and will lose their next first-round pick. A team that goes 15 percent over can lose its next two first-round picks, in addition to the luxury tax.

With that in mind, teams are going to get creative in terms of spending their available bonus pools. Teams will negotiate below-slot deals with potential picks in hopes of luring a more premium candidate later to forego school or leave early by re-allocating those funds to the later rounds. Granted, these deals won’t be negotiated until after the draft, but you can get a sense of what a team is looking to do if it starts drafting players earlier in the draft than they’d rightfully go otherwise.

With that in mind, now is a great time to review the recommended slot bonuses for each pick on day one. This list contains all picks for rounds one and two, as well as the two competitive balance rounds at the end of the first and second rounds.

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(h/t Baseball America)

Next: MLB Draft 2015: Each team's signing bonus pool

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