The Angels have signed first-round pick Christian Moore with a $4,997,500 signing bonus, according to Carlos Collazo of Baseball America on X. The fact that the bonus is $2,500 short of $5 million is probably not a coincidence. According to Jim Callis of MLB.com on X, when the signing is completed, players receive a bonus equal to that amount. The slot value for that pick is somewhat more than $6.5 million, so this comes in significantly lower.
Moore, 21, has spent the last three years putting up big numbers at Tennessee. Over those three seasons, he hit 61 home runs in 186 games, with a.338/.447/.698 batting line. This includes 34 home runs in 2024 alone, with a monstrous line of.375/.451/.797 this season.
His power is thought to be superior to his hitting abilities, but he has recently made some significant improvements in that area. He struck out 24.3% of the time last year, but that rate has fallen to 14.5% this year. Defensively, he has played all three outfield positions and three infield positions to the left of first base, but he has spent the most of his time playing second base.
Despite the concerns about his game, his power is powerful enough to have ranked high in pre-draft rankings, albeit not as high as where he was ultimately picked. Keith Law of The Athletic ranked him 37th, FanGraphs 23rd, MLB Pipeline 13th, and both Baseball America and ESPN 12th. Law questioned Moore’s power with a wooden bat, claiming that his weak defensive ability would eventually drive him to left field. BA was optimistic that his better contact would work nicely with his natural power.
Moore was selected eighth overall, however his bonus falls between the slot values of the 14th and 15th picks, more nearly matching his pre-draft rankings. By signing Moore to an underslot contract, the Halos will have some money to work with when signing players in subsequent rounds.
Moore’s future role with the club will be determined by his ultimate defensive position. Players such as Luis Rengifo and Brandon Drury have received the majority of playing time at second base in recent years, but Drury is an approaching free agency, and Rengifo is a trade candidate with one arbitration season remaining.
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