PrevSearchNext The awesomeness of drafting Michael Matuella.

“I can’t think of a better day that I’ve had in my 24 years of scouting with the Texas Rangers.”

So said Rangers Senior Director of Amateur Scouting Kip Fagg — after Day Two of the 2015 amateur draft.

For the first time in his career, Fagg noted, Texas came away with four of the top 20 players off its board.

And it wasn’t as if the club had multiple first-rounders. The Rangers’ first four picks were in slots 4, 45, 78, and 108. Yet Dillon Tate, Eric Jenkins, Michael Matuella, and Jake Lemoine were all top 20 talents, as far as the Rangers were concerned.

Coming away with Matuella (whom I discussed a bit in yesterday’s report) at 3.78, minutes after Day Two got underway on Tuesday, stood out the most, considering that, coming into the 2015 season, he was thought of as a strong candidate to be gone before the Rangers’ first pick at fourth overall. Baseball America wrote, in advance of this draft: “When he’s on the field, Matuella has arguably the best stuff (and control) of any college pitcher in this draft class.”

Regarding the opportunity to take Matuella, Fagg said: “I’m ecstatic . . . probably one of the best moments of my scouting career . . . he can be a front-of-the-rotation guy . . . has that kind of arm and that kind of stuff.”

If Matuella does come back 100 percent from the Tommy John surgery he had two months ago, and if he isn’t slowed by a lower back condition he pitched through at Duke, there will be plenty of teams wondering why they let Matuella slide.

And frankly, if the Rangers wanted Matuella that badly — they clearly did — I’m sorta blown away that they had the guts to pass on him at 45, and take the high school outfielder Jenkins instead.

You might assume that one factor, and maybe the biggest, that chased teams off of Matuella was his signing bonus demands, given that he was headed for something north of $5 million had he not been sidelined this spring.

But teams don’t choose players, especially on Day One or Day Two, without knowing generally what it will take to sign them. That doesn’t guarantee a deal, but the Rangers had to know the parameters of what Matuella and his advisors at CAA (it’s not Scott Boras, as many have reported) are seeking.

The fascinating part of this is that MLB’s assigned slot value for Matuella is $777,600. Any amount above that which Texas pays Matuella necessarily costs someone else among the club’s other picks in the first 10 rounds . . . and the Rangers didn’t load up on college seniors in rounds 4 through 10.

A quick look at the Rangers’ 2012 draft, for illustration:

Round Player Slot value Bonus

1 Lewis Brinson $1,625,000 $1,625,000

1s Joey Gallo $1,324,800 $2,250,000

1s Collin Wiles $954,800 $975,000

2 Jamie Jarmon $601,500 $601,500

2 Nick Williams $515,600 $500,000

3 Pat Cantwell $381,700 $50,000

4 Alec Asher $277,600 $150,000

5 Preston Beck $207,900 $207,900

6 Royce Bolinger $155,900 $50,000

7 Cam Schiller $141,400 $10,000

8 Cody Kendall $132,000 $5,000

9 John Niggli $125,000 $10,000

10 Casey Shiver $125,000 $15,000

Texas wouldn’t have taken Gallo 39th overall without a good idea that, in rounds 3-10, it would be able to sign players for significant amounts below slot. A key point: If a player doesn’t sign, his slot value is subtracted from the team’s assigned bonus pool. In other words, taking a player and choosing not to sign him doesn’t help you pile up extra money for another player. It actually hurts.

Without Cantwell, Asher, Bolinger, Schiller, Kendall, Niggli, and Shiver agreeing to sign for considerably less than their slots called for, Gallo doesn’t get done — and without Texas having confidence in advance on those players’ willingness to take less, Gallo doesn’t even get picked.

So here’s where we are as far as the Rangers’ Day One and Day Two picks go:

Round Player Slot value

1 Dillon Tate $5,026,500

2 Eric Jenkins $1,360,100

3 Michael Matuella $777,600

4 Jake Lemoine $528,000

5 Chad Smith $395,300

6 Tyler Ferguson $296,000

7 Dylan Moore $221,700

8 Blake Bass $176,300

9 Peter Fairbanks $164,700

10 Leon Byrd $153,700

If Matuella won’t sign for less than several millions — even though he wouldn’t be back on a mound until late next season for Duke, if at all — then Texas will need to create that overage by signing other players on the above list at a discount.

Is Tate willing to take less?

Is Jenkins, who many thought would go higher in the draft than he did?

In 2012, Cantwell and Bolinger and Schiller and Kendall and Niggli were college seniors, with little leverage as a result. Asher’s medical history impacted his value.

In 2015, on the other hand, the Rangers took only two college seniors on Day Two — Moore and Bass — and hardly went conservative otherwise, admitting after the day ended that Lemoine (whom they also drafted in 2012 out of high school, before he opted for the University of Houston) was a top 20 player on their board in spite of a shoulder injury that limited him this spring; selecting the projectable 17-year-old Smith in spite of his commitment to the University of Georgia; and taking the Vanderbilt righthander Ferguson, who has dazzling stuff (touching 98 with a power curve) but fought through an awful bout of wildness in 2015. He has all the reason to go back to school in 2016 to resurrect his value — which would hurt the Rangers in their effort to get Matuella signed.

For what it’s worth, Matuella told reporters yesterday, regarding the likelihood that he’ll sign with the Rangers: “I’m very optimistic. The Rangers have made it clear to me that they want to sign me and I’m confident we can work something out.”

On top of that, because the Rangers have a track record in situations like this, my own confidence on Texas and Matuella getting something done by the mid-July deadline is high. I’m fired up.

Said Baseball Prospectus’s Chris Crawford: “I have no idea how the Rangers are going to get these guys signed, but in terms of upside, this class is outstanding.”

And this should be said: If Texas adds both Michael Matuella and Dillon Tate, each thought (one going into the 2015 season, the other in last couple weeks) to be a strong candidate to be the first player taken in the entire draft, to a system already brimming with high-end talent, it has a great chance to dull the pain, once and for all, for any Rangers fan bemoaning the 13-3 finish to the 2014 season that cost the club the top pick in this draft.

It’s been a really great two days for the hottest team in baseball, both on the field and off.