Blue Jays draft pick talks moving fast

Matt Smoral is Dundein-bound, but that doesn’t mean the Toronto Blue Jays have signed the 50th overall pick in this week’s MLB draft.

At least not yet.

On Wednesday afternoon, Peter Gammons of MLB Network tweeted the Toronto Blue Jays had signed the 18-year-old, high school left-hander.

Later in the day however, Smoral disputed the report in an interview with John Lott of the National Post.

During an afternoon conference call with reporters, Blue Jays director of amateur scouting Andrew Tinnish explained MLB clubs are allowed to send un-signed drafted players to team complexes, such as Dunedin in the case of the Blue Jays, to undergo physicals without jeopardizing their NCAA elgibility.

And as for the criteria determining which players may be appearing in Dunedin over the next few days:

“It depends on the player, the schedule and the flexibility and where the family is at, where we’re at,” Tinnish explained. “What timeline we foresee with this particular player as far as getting them in a Blue Jays uniform. Obviously the goal is to try and get these players signed as quickly as possible.

“I think that by (sending them to Dunedin) that it just gives you an idea of what you’re going to be able to, what you are and aren’t able to do going forward so we’re going to work quickly to try and get a lot of this stuff done.”

In the case of Smoral, he was once considered a possible top-10 pick in the 2012 draft, but slipped due to a series of injuries, including a stress fracture in his right foot that sidelined him for much of the 2012 season.

With a scholarship offer from North Carolina in hand, many would not be surprised if he elected to head to college in an attempt to re-establish his value before re-entering the draft.

On Wednesday, Smoral hinted he has other plans.

“Off to Dunedin!” he tweeted.

Without identifying Smoral by name, Tinnish said “three or four” 2012 picks are either already at, or are on their way to Dunedin.

This coming weekend the Blue Jays will host a mini-camp at their spring training site for many of their 2012 picks, some of which have already signed.

“Some of the players have actually — and I don’t want to give the specific names yet — some of the (college) seniors that we’ve taken, we’ve already agreed to terms and signed,” said Tinnish.

On Sunday, some of those players, assuming they pass their physicals, will be begin the process of being assigned to their respective teams within the Blue Jays minor league system.

The slotted bonus money for Smoral’s No. 50 pick is $1 million, but the Blue Jays can entice him with a sum larger than that without incurring any penalties as long as they stay within their total allotment of $8,830,800 for their first 14 picks.

Teams that exceed their limit are subjected to a tax that begins at 75 per cent on the overage and rises to 100 per cent and the forfeiture of future picks.

Of that $8,830,800, $2 million has been assigned to Toronto’s first pick (No. 17 overall), high-school outfielder D.J. Davis, and $1.8 million to their second pick (No. 50 overall), college right-hander Marcus Stroman.

Of the Blue Jays first 14 picks in the 2012 draft, just six were from high school: Davis, Smoral, Mitch Nay (No. 58), Tyler Gonzales (No. 60), Chase DeJong (No. 81) and Anthony Alford (No. 112).

With files from Shi Davidi