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Only the College World Series now stands in the way of Houston finishing up the top 10 rounds of this year's draft class. Though Brady Aiken hasn't officially been signed (nor has Daniel Mengden or Brock Dykxhoorn), he's reportedly reached a deal in principle.
That left Virginia outfielder Derek Fisher and California prep right-hander Jacob Nix as the two top 10 round guys left unsigned. Multiple sources reported Tuesday that Nix had agreed to terms with the Astros for $1.5 million, about $1.2 million more than his bonus pool amount. According to Brian McTaggart, Nix's signing will be announced at Minute Maid Park next week.
"After not being drafted on the first day I was expecting to go to school, and we ended up sorting out a better deal in the fifth round," Nix said. "I had my dollar figure, and if I got my dollar figure I'd turn pro, and if it were a dollar less I was going to college. It was a fairly easy decision."
Nix fell a bit in the draft thanks to a hard commitment to UCLA that scared teams off. Picked No. 196 overall, Nix was ranked No. 104 on the Baseball America Top 500 list for the 2014 draft. That means Houston got something like a third-round talent in the fifth round and did so basically with the savings from the Brady Aiken signing.
Here's what our minor league staff had to say about Nix after he was picked.
Here's another guy with much higher stock in 2013 than he did at draft time. Jacob Nix has a lot of upside in his arm but for various reasons, had a round senior season that dropped his stock. The upside is still there, he's just not as polished as some thought he might be. So the value of this pick is there once again.
The only player left from the Top 10 rounds who has not agreed to terms with the team is Fisher, who's still playing in the College World Series. Fisher cannot sign with the Astros until his college team finishes playing.
What do you think? Glad that Nix is down and that Houston has so much of its class locked up two weeks after the draft?