Pirates sign 4th-round pick Owen Kellington, completing prized draft class
The Pittsburgh Pirates signed fourth-round pick Owen Kellington, a right-handed prep pitcher from Vermont, to a $600,000 bonus Saturday to complete a prized draft class without going a penny past the 5% overage.
Kellington signed for $28,600 above the slot value for the No. 102 pick in the MLB Draft, as the Pirates spent all of their allotted $14,394,000 draft pool plus the $719,700 overage and a 75% tax ($539,775).
The Pirates have signed 19 of their 21 draft picks, including five players ranked as top-100 prospects by MLB.com and Baseball America. The only holdouts are left-handed pitcher Chazz Martinez of Orange Coast College and shortstop Daniel Corona of The Baylor School in Chattanooga, Tenn., who committed to play at Wake Forest.
The 6-foot-3, 193-pound Kellington, who had committed to Connecticut, has a low 90s fastball and a sharp breaking curve with above average potential in his repertoire.
Kellington dominated the competition in leading U-32 High School to the Division II state championship. He was 7-0 with a 0.22 ERA and 133 strikeouts in 49 innings and batted .667 with seven home runs and 26 RBIs to win Vermont’s Gatorade player of the year.
Kellington got 91% of his outs by strikeout. He threw a pair of no-hitters and a 14-strikeout one-hitter. In the playoffs, he tossed a 17-strikeout complete game in a semifinal win over top-seeded Hartford.
After impressing at the inaugural MLB Draft combine in North Carolina, Kellington became the highest Vermont prep player ever selected (the previous was Kevin Aubin, the No. 135 pick in 1990).
Kellington is the fifth Pirates draft pick to sign an above-slot bonus. Left-hander Anthony Solometo signed for $800,700 above the No. 37 pick in the second round; outfielder Lonnie White Jr. signed for $449,700 above the No. 64 pick to pass on playing wide receiver at Penn State; right-hander/shortstop Bubba Chandler signed for $2,129,300 above the No. 72 pick to pass on playing quarterback at Clemson; and 14th-round outfielder Braylon Bishop signed for $143,700 above slot.
“We are really excited about how the draft worked out,” Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said.
Kevin Gorman is a TribLive reporter covering the Pirates. A Baldwin native and Penn State graduate, he joined the Trib in 1999 and has covered high school sports, Pitt football and basketball and was a sports columnist for 10 years. He can be reached at kgorman@triblive.com.
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