The Athletics have gone way over-slot to sign third-round pick Nick Allen, according to MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo (Twitter links). He’ll land a $2MM bonus, well north of the $697,500 allotted to the 81st overall selection.
Allen entered the draft as a consensus top-30 prospect. The diminutive high-school shortstop had been committed to USC before deciding to join the Oakland organization.
Prospect analysts generally viewed Allen as a top-30 talent, with Eric Longenhagen of Fangraphs ranking him the highest at 25th. MLB.com placed him in the No. 30 slot.