{"id":830100,"date":"2026-07-27T22:28:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T22:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/830100\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T22:28:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T22:28:10","slug":"logan-schmidt-aidan-knaak-only-mlb-draft-picks-in-top-10-rounds-not-to-sign-by-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/830100\/","title":{"rendered":"Logan Schmidt, Aidan Knaak only MLB Draft picks in top 10 rounds not to sign by deadline"},"content":{"rendered":"

Logan Schmidt, the No. 59 pick in the 2026 MLB Draft<\/a> by the Cleveland Guardians, was one of two selections in the top 10 rounds who elected not to sign with their drafting teams by Monday\u2019s 5 p.m. ET signing deadline. Aidan Knaak, a fifth-round pick of the Milwaukee Brewers, also failed to sign.<\/p>\n

Both teams will lose the bonus pool allotment for those selections, and Cleveland will receive a compensatory pick in the second round in next year\u2019s draft. The Brewers will not receive an extra pick next year, as only selections in the first three rounds come with comp pick protections if a team fails to sign a player.<\/p>\n

Guardians GM Mike Chernoff said the front office \u201cknew it might be an uphill battle\u201d to secure Schmidt to a deal when they drafted him. They deemed it a risk worth taking, given Schmidt\u2019s upside and the fact they had a safety net of being awarded an extra draft pick next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe took him knowing there was uncertainty,\u201d Chernoff said. \u2026 \u201cUnfortunately in this case we weren\u2019t able to (sign him) and we wish him the best. We feel like he has a really bright future and we were really hopeful he\u2019d sign, but we just couldn\u2019t find an agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schmidt announced on X<\/a> on Sunday night that he and the Guardians had failed to agree on a contract. He holds a commitment to LSU for next season, but he could also opt to go to a junior college next year if he wants to return to the draft in 2027. If he goes to LSU, he won\u2019t be eligible for the draft until 2029.<\/p>\n

Coming into the 2026 draft, Schmidt ranked 53rd on Keith Law\u2019s top 100 prospect list<\/a> and was one of the top high school pitchers in the class. A Southern California left-hander with a 96-mph fastball and a deep pitch mix, Schmidt looked like an ideal fit for a Guardians organization that has thrived at scouting and developing young pitching. Schmidt was the only player in Cleveland\u2019s 20-pick class not to sign.<\/p>\n

The No. 59 pick came with a $1,598,900 slot bonus, and according to MLB.com, the Guardians could have signed Schmidt for up to $1,678,845 without incurring a penalty that would cost the team a future first-round pick. Instead, they will get the No. 60 pick in next year\u2019s draft (and its bonus slot) for failing to sign Schmidt.<\/p>\n

Though it is unusual for teams not to sign all of their picks in the first three rounds during the bonus pool era, it isn\u2019t unheard of. Last season, the Pirates failed to sign second-round pick Angel Cervantes. They were awarded the No. 50 pick in this year\u2019s draft, which they used on Auburn second baseman Chris Rembert.<\/p>\n

Knaak, a right-hander out of Clemson, will return to college for his senior season. The 21-year-old ranked 91st on Law\u2019s pre-draft list. According to Law, his changeup is plus, but overuse of the pitch might have been behind his regression over his three seasons so far at Clemson. He had a 3.35 ERA as a freshman and a 5.81 ERA last season. Knaak also features a low-90s fastball and a curveball.<\/p>\n

The 163rd pick in the draft came with a $425,400 slot value. Like Schmidt, Knaak is turning down an opportunity to turn pro with an organization that has a strong reputation for developing pitching. He will be eligible for next year\u2019s draft but will have significantly less negotiating leverage as a college senior.<\/p>\n

Though the Brewers lost out on Knaak, they were able to save enough bonus pool money to exceed the $150,000 cap on round 11-20 picks, signing 13th-round pick Carson Hart, a high school outfielder, to a $380,000 bonus ($230,000 counts toward their bonus pool) and 14th-round pick Keaton Maiorana, a high school right-hander, to a $230,000 bonus ($80,000 counts toward their bonus pool), according to MLB.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Logan Schmidt, the No. 59 pick in the 2026 MLB Draft by the Cleveland Guardians, was one of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":830101,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,491,493,462,82],"class_list":["post-830100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cleveland-guardians","tag-milwaukee-brewers","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=830100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/830101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=830100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=830100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=830100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}