Baseball America reports that the Sox have come to terms with first-round pick Deven Marrero, a slick-fielding shortstop out of Arizona State. According to Baseball America, the deal comes with a $2.05 million bonus for Marrero, who Boston took with the 24th pick in the draft earlier this month.
That bonus, which is slightly above the assigned $1.75 million for the corresponding pick, leaves the Sox with $331,700 for the assigned values of their remaining unsigned draft choices in the first 10 rounds.
Marrero, a shortstop out of Arizona State, is known for having a strong glove. He's also said to have a pretty decent bat, despite a drop-off in offensive numbers during his junior season in Tempe.
"It's just one of those things," he said in a conference call with reporters earlier this month. "All I can control is just hitting the ball and from then on, the ball controls where it lands and all that. It's just one of those things this year where I was focused, nothing really different happened with my swing. It happened to be I was hitting the ball hard at people. That's just the way the game goes."
Marrero's batting average dropped to .284 in his junior season after hitting .397 and .313 in his freshman and sophomore seasons, respectively.
Photo via Flickr/Jesse Pells
