A primer: MLB has a recommended slot value for every pick in the first 10 rounds. How teams spend against that recommended pool through their first 10 rounds dictates whether they will incur penalties for exceeding the recommendations, beginning with a tax and going all the way up to the loss of future first-round picks for exceeding the recommended bonus pool by more than 5 percent.
But a team’s pool becomes more constrained if it fails to sign a pick. If the team doesn’t sign its 10th-rounder, it simply loses the $152,700 as part of its pool. There is no possibility of reallocation. It’s lost draft money.
That creates an immense incentive for teams to sign each of their picks from the first 10 rounds. Beyond that, however, there’s no consequence to a failure to sign a player. If a team fails to sign its 11th rounder, it doesn’t lose their available pool money.
As such, this is a place where teams with some money to play with after their selections from the first 10 rounds can take some shots on players whom they’re not certain to sign. Any overage beyond $100,000 for players drafted in rounds 11-40 counts against the draft bonus pool in rounds 1-10. That gives teams a shot to try to convince talented young players to sign
