HARRISBURG -- Waynesboro's Nathan Minnich received a below-slot bonus of $30,000 for signing with the Boston Red Sox, CBS 21 News Sports Director Jason Bristol has learned.
Minnich, a slugging first baseman from Shepherd University, was selected by Boston in the eighth round (number-271 overall) of Tuesday's Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.
Minnich, named the Tino Martinez Award winner as the most outstanding player in Division II baseball, batted .433 as a senior with a team-best 14 home runs and led the Rams in both slugging percentage (.858) and on-base percentage (.553), as well.
His signing bonus is $103,500 less than what is slotted for that pick under the new collective bargaining agreement.
Under the agreement, a team's bonus slots for the first 10 rounds of the draft are totaled, and an organization exceeding the total faces a tax and the possibility of losing future picks. College seniors have no leverage, however, and normall sign for much less.
He will report to Boston's short-season Class A affiliate in Lowell, Ma., of the New York-Penn League.
Minnich is the first Shepherd baseball player to ever be drafted.
