Rays give No. 2 overall pick Grady Emerson record signing bonus for high-schooler

The Tampa Bay Rays signed Grady Emerson for $9.75 million on Wednesday, establishing a new draft record for signing bonuses awarded to a high school player.

The signing bonus received by Emerson, who was selected by Tampa Bay with the second overall pick in the 2026 MLB Draft earlier this month, surpasses the previous record of $9 million received by Colorado’s Ethan Holliday a year ago. The figure, first reported by Jim Callis of MLB.com, was confirmed by a person with knowledge of the matter, who spoke anonymously so as to freely discuss it.

Emerson earned Gatorade National Player of the Year honors after hitting .532/.648/1.013 with seven home runs and 50 RBIs in his senior season at Fort Worth (Tex.) Christian. He also joined Bobby Witt Jr., whom he considers a mentor, as only the second high school player to ever be a semifinalist for the Rawlings Golden Spikes Award in the 20 years prep players were eligible.

“A player of this caliber, you never want to limit, but you never want to put expectations on, either,” Rays scouting director Chuck Ricci told reporters earlier this month. “I think if Grady Emerson is Grady Emerson, that’s all we can ask. He doesn’t try to have to be somebody he’s not. We’re pretty happy with who he is.”

A four-time Team USA player who was named to the All-World Team as a 17-year-old, Emerson stole 31 bases. His hit tool grades high and Emerson could stick as a shortstop, the position he played throughout high school.

The Athletic’s Keith Law wrote this about Emerson: “The descriptions I hear from scouts and execs make it sound like they’re hoping he’s the next Kevin McGonigle. And maybe he is: Emerson does hit, making contact at a reasonably high clip last summer at showcases (13.3 percent strikeout rate, 23.3 percent whiff rate), while showing fringe-average power now that projects to above-average at his peak.”

The signing comes at a time when the eligibility of high-school players for the draft has become a sticking point in labor negotiations between the MLB and MLBPA ahead of the next collective bargaining agreement. MLB’s initial proposal last month included hundreds of millions of dollars in reductions to the signing bonuses teams pay to amateurs annually and the elimination of high-school draft picks. The union said Tuesday it had formally rejected the league’s proposal on the draft, and instead proposed something more akin to the current setup.