With just one day left to sign players selected in June’s First-Year Player Draft, the Nationals finalized a contract with highly-regarded pitching prospect Josh Smoker on Tuesday afternoon.
The club’s second pick on draft day, 31st overall, received a $1 million signing bonus and will report to the organization’s Gulf Coast League affiliate in Viera, Fla. on Saturday.
“He’s a dominating left-handed pitcher,” said General Manager Jim Bowden, whose staff has now signed 19 of its top 20 picks from the draft. “And when you get a chance to add someone like that to your organization you have to do it.”
Smoker, 18, was considered a bargain for the Nats at No. 31, the first of two compensation-round picks. He was ranked prior to the draft as the 11th-best pitching prospect by Baseball America, and 16th best overall.
In the spring, the 6-foot-2, 195-pounder was named Gatorade Player of the Year in Georgia. He was 13-0 with a 1.24 ERA and a school-record 152 strikeouts as a senior at Calhoun High and had signed a national letter-of-intent to play baseball at Clemson.
The lone unsigned draft pick for the Nats is sixth-round selection Jack McGeary, a talented prospect in his own right who slipped in the draft because he is solidly committed to Stanford. The Nats still have until 11:59 tonight to sign McGeary.
