25th Round - Brandon Bonilla - LHP - Grand Canyon U

[Slade-OH]

Recognize that last name? Bonilla is the son of former Orioles outfielder Bobby Bonilla.

He was considered one of the better draft prospects in the WAC coming into the year.

Bonilla stands at 6'4", 205 pounds and is a hard throwing lefty. He didn't pitch at all this year due to academic ineligibility which is probably why he lasted this late.

From MLB.com..."Bonilla’s father, former All-Star Bobby Bonilla, and godfather, Barry Bonds, combined for more than 1,000 home runs in the big leagues. Brandon Bonilla's power, however, is in his left arm, not his bat. Bonilla’s fastball has reached 97 mph and sits in the low-90s. His slider gives him a solid second pitch. He throws a splitter in lieu of a changeup, but may need to learn a changeup to profile as a starter. He’ll also need to refine his delivery to improve his control. Bonilla was academically ineligible this year and didn’t throw a lot of innings in his first two years of college. But teams are always interested in finding left-handers with a fastball-slider combination like his.

[eb45]

He throws lefty, bats righty. Which is a little weird, but he'll be pitching as a pro so it doesn't really matter.

[sportsfan8703]

It would be cool if he made it just so we can be paying the Bonilla family for like 40 years straight.

[bobmc]

This guy sounds like a sleeper...

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Now on <a href="http://t.co/jXD28tg4N8">http://t.co/jXD28tg4N8</a> O's pick hard-throwing Bonilla, son of former All-Star <a href="http://t.co/WftqnkFwgy">http://t.co/WftqnkFwgy</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23orioles&src=hash">#orioles</a></p>— Brittany Ghiroli (@Britt_Ghiroli) <a href="

">June 7, 2014</a></blockquote>

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[bobmc]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Gary Rajsich on Brandon Bonilla: "He has potential 2 have a huge arm, mid 2 upper 90s. Him and Grimes out of today's draft throw hardest."</p>— Steve Melewski (@masnSteve) <a href="

">June 8, 2014</a></blockquote>

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[Rene88]

It would be cool if he made it just so we can be paying the Bonilla family for like 40 years straight.

That is the Mets, not us.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bobmc]

That is the Mets, not us.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Apparently both Mets and O's....

"Bonilla is also being paid $500,000 annually by the Baltimore Orioles until 2015 for a similar buyout and he holds a “special assistant” job with MLB that pays him $200,000 a year.

http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb/story/2011-05-16/mets-will-be-paying-bobby-bonilla-for-next-25-years?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl10%7Csec1_lnk2%7C63332

[bobmc]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>There's 5pm deadline 2day 2 sign draft picks. O's may add 1 more pick, which would make 31 signed. Will NOT get round 25 Brandon Bonilla.</p>— Steve Melewski (@masnSteve) <a href="

">July 18, 2014</a></blockquote>

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>O's never got close to signing Brandon Bonilla (Bobby's son), who is expected to head back to school.</p>— Steve Melewski (@masnSteve) <a href="

">July 18, 2014</a></blockquote>

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[Can_of_corn]

Once they went overslot on the first pick I figured they wouldn't have enough money left to tempt Bonilla.

Was worth a 25th round pick to see where he was at.

[bobmc]

I thought he was having his troubles with school - didn't he sit out last year due to "academic issues"?

From above - "Bonilla was academically ineligible this year and didn’t throw a lot of innings in his first two years of college. But teams are always interested in finding left-handers with a fastball-slider combination like his."

Hopefully he gets it together....

[bobmc]

Once they went overslot on the first pick I figured they wouldn't have enough money left to tempt Bonilla.

Was worth a 25th round pick to see where he was at.

Oh - have you mentioned this before web brick?

[Can_of_corn]

Oh - have you mentioned this before web brick?

I thought it relevant since Bonnilla wasn't likely to sign for 100K and the O's had very little slot money to play with after forfeiting their top three picks.

Of course it is possible that no reasonable amount of money would have tempted Bonnila.