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MLB Draft Signing Watch: Nolan Watson Signs With Royals

...completely ruining my Lorde joke if he had spurned KC and suited up in Black and Gold.

By Andrew VU '04
Nolan Watson will be joining fellow Indiana HS pitcher Ashe Russell (pictured) who was taken higher in the first round by the Royals.
Nolan Watson will be joining fellow Indiana HS pitcher Ashe Russell (pictured) who was taken higher in the first round by the Royals.
Ed Zurga/Getty Images

Before I write this, I want to say one thing: I only expect 4 commits from our 2015 recruiting class of 18 high school seniors to sign with major league teams.  Almost all were on various top 500 prospect lists, but only 8 were drafted (4 of which were "shot in the dark" late round picks teams make just in case the kid changes his mind, and all four of these kids have publicly stated that they're honoring their commitments to Vandy) due to the seriousness of their college commitment.  If all four sign that I expect will, we will have the #1 recruiting class in the nation - by a large margin.  In fact, if you sliced it right down the middle, King Solomon style, we'd have two #1 recruiting classes in the nation.  Seriously.  It is not hyperbole to say we will be adding the equivalent of two #1 recruiting classes to our roster next season.  More on this here.

However, inevitably, when you recruit some of the best baseball players in the nation, you're going to lose a few to MLB teams who will back up the Brinks truck to their doors.  This is where we track who opens that door and lets them install a Scrooge McDuck-esque pool of gold doubloons.  If you want to do this yourself, I suggest this nifty resource from MLB.com (note: it only tracks the top 10 rounds).

Drafted players have until July 17th to sign with teams if they want to do this instead of college:

*Artist's rendering.

2015 MLB Draft Signings Tracker (Vanderbilt Edition):

1. ARI Dansby Swanson - SS Vanderbilt

8. CHW Carson Fulmer - RHP Vanderbilt

24. LAD Walker Buehler - RHP Vanderbilt

33. KC Nolan Watson - RHP Lawrence North HS (Ind.) - $1,825,200 (exact slot value)

42. CLE Triston McKenzie - RHP Royal Palm Beach HS (Fla.)

66. STL Bryce Denton - 3B Ravenwood HS (Tenn.)

101. LAD Philip Pfeifer - LHP Vanderbilt

103. WSH Rhett Wiseman - OF Vanderbilt

113. CHC Darryl Wilson - OF Canton South HS (Ohio)

168. TEX Tyler Ferguson - RHP Vanderbilt

Rounds 11-40

12th. MIN Zander Wiel - 1B Vanderbilt

19th. TEX Xavier Turner - 3B Vanderbilt - Signed on 6/15 (amount not known)

24th. TOR Reggie Pruitt - OF Kennesaw Mountain HS (Georgia)

29th. MIL Donny Everett - RHP Clarksville HS (Tenn,)

30th. CLE Chandler Day - RHP Watkins Memorial HS (Ohio)

36th. CHC Alonzo Jones - SS Columbus HS (Georgia)

39th. CHC John Kilichowski - LHP Vanderbilt

For sentiments on Nolan Watson's signing, I'll leave that to @VuHawkTalk:

As for things that actually matter to the Vanderbilt baseball program, here's Aaron Fitt of D1Baseball with a guess at tonight's pitching match-up:

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