The trend of MLB teams locking up their top young stars continued Wednesday.
The Detroit Tigers have signed stud rookie infielder Kevin McGonigle to an eight-year contract extension, the team announced Wednesday. The 21-year-old’s deal is worth $150 million, noti.group’s Jon Heyman reports, and could reach $160 million with escalators. There are no options.
That surpasses the recent nine-year, $140 million contract signed by 19-year-old Pirates shortstop Konnor Griffin, who was ranked by MLB.com as the No. 1 prospect in baseball entering the season; McGonigle was ranked No. 2.
McGonigle has been impressive since making the team out of spring training, going 19-for-61 (.311 average) with one homer, eight RBIs, six doubles, 12 runs and 11 walks in 17 games. He has a .908 OPS.
He already has a 1.1 wins above replacement (WAR), according to Baseball Reference, which is tied for sixth among position players.
The rookie smacked his first career home run in a win over the Marlins on Sunday and has helped Detroit (8-9) win four straight games entering Wednesday after a slow start.
McGonigle hit third in the order for the first time during Tuesday’s win over the Royals. That came after a run of three straight games batting leadoff.
Teams have been trying to lock up their top young prospects to long-term contracts, giving them more money than they’d normally make early in the deal in the hope that they’ll have the players locked up below their market value later in the deal.
The Mariners recently signed 20-year-old infielder Colt Emerson, who is still in Triple-A, to an eight-year, $95 million contract.
Brewers shortstop prospect Cooper Pratt, 21, signed an eight-year, $50.75 million contract earlier this month.
During his rookie year last season, 21-year-old Red Sox outfielder Roman Anthony signed an eight-year, $130 million contract extension.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
