Brewers not likely to sign draft pick Chris Levonas; How does this impact bonus pool?

In a stunner, reports are indicating that the Milwaukee Brewers will not sign Competitive Balance B selection Chris Levonas ahead of the Thursday deadline to sign draft picks.

The Brewers selected the prep right hander out of Christian Brothers Academy in New Jersey with the 67th overall selection on Day 1 of the 2024 MLB Draft. His combination of explosive stuff, athleticism, and projectability gave him one of the highest ceilings of anyone in the Brewers Draft class.

Levonas has a college commitment to Wake Forest, which is a top tier college baseball program that seems to be pulling him to school. At this point, it would be considered an upset if the Brewers were able to sign Levonas.

What does not signing Chris Levonas mean for the Brewers Draft?

Beyond just losing one of the top talents in the Brewers Draft class and not getting Levonas into their farm system, the Brewers are also losing the slot money associated with the 67th overall pick. That pick carries a value of $1,226,800.

The Brewers have already signed everyone else in the top 10 rounds with plenty still to spare for Day 3 selections, but now they will have much less.

The overall bonus pool for the Brewers with this Draft was $12,984,400. Without Levonas, the total pool amount drops to $11,757,600.

The Brewers can spend up to 5% over their bonus pool allotment. Previously, that overage totaled $13,633,620. Without Levonas signing, that maximum overage is 12,345,480. That's a maximum loss of $1,288,440 in spending power for Milwaukee.

Following the signing of 13th round pick Joey Broughton for $535k, where $385k counts against the bonus pool, it appears the Brewers have a maximum dollar figure of $2,115,580 left to spend against their bonus pool on the remainder of their Day 3 draft picks. Only dollars above $150k count against the pool for Day 3 selections.

That still should be plenty of money to get a couple more Day 3 picks to sign. The big target with Broughton now inked has to be 14th round pick James Nunnallee. Signing him away from his University of Virginia commitment will be tough, but potentially doable.

Even though losing the slot money for Levonas' selection hurts, he was going to cost well over slot anyway, which would've taken away pool money from potential Day 3 signings, so there actually should be a little more available for those players.

Should the Brewers end up not signing Levonas, they will receive a compensation pick at a similar point in the order in next year's Draft. That is a solid silver lining for Milwaukee as the 2025 class is expected to be much stronger than this year's.

Missing out on this pick does put a big damper on this 2024 Brewers Draft class. Levonas and Meccage were the two highest ceiling players and the crown jewels of this strategy. They went heavy underslot with their first two picks in Braylon Payne and Blake Burke in order to afford Meccage and Levonas. If they had known Levonas wouldn't sign, they may have attacked those first two picks differently.