The Diamondbacks selected 21 players in the 2023 MLB First Year Player Draft earlier this month, headlined by Stanford infielder Tommy Troy in the first round. Troy was the first of 20 straight college players taken in the draft. The selection of 20 college players is a major change in direction compared to the past two drafts, where the team had taken 14 and 13 college players. Scouting director Ian Rebhan denied any possibility of a strategy in play with these picks, insisting that's just how they lined up on his draft board.
This year's draft features players from some of the top collegiate programs, with the organization picking out of powerhouse programs such as Stanford, Dallas Baptist, Tennessee, and Florida. They also selected 14 college arms in the draft, with the focus mainly on landing high octane arms from the sixth round and later with an emphasis on strikeouts and raw stuff. 12 of their final 15 selections were college pitchers.
In terms of draft bonus figures, as of the time of this writing, 13 players count towards their $11,084,300 draft pool. Here are the players and their reported signing bonuses.
Making a note of some of the significant bonus numbers, Troy gave the D-backs a significant discount in the first round. He signed for more than $600K under slot, with all of the savings going to Grayson Hitt in the fourth round. Hitt had shown impressive stuff in the fall, but it backed up in spring before needing Tommy John surgery. He'll be out until the middle of the 2024 season.
On Day 2, they made a bunch of underslot picks from the 5th through 10th round, using most of the savings to sign Hayden Durke. Durke gets $350K, with only $200K counting towards the team's pool. Durke was a big stuff pitcher who missed the 2023 season due to suspension stemming from a failed drug test, otherwise he would have pitched at Rice for his junior season.
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