Baseball draft fireworks have only just begun

On one hand, Clemson baseball coach Jack Leggett has to be giddy about how the opening night of the pro baseball draft unfolded.

On the other, there has to be the sense that the Tigers could be getting their hopes up, only to have been set up for a more disappointing fall.

Junior first baseman Ben Paulsen was the only team member or signee picked in the first three rounds Tuesday night, with rounds 4-30 conducted today.

Sure, Clemson would prefer to have Paulsen back, but no one would dare argue that this situation didn’t work out perfectly for Paulsen or blame him for leaving (as he basically told me he was going to do in today’s story).

Last year’s No. 90 overall pick, Arizona State catcher Petey Paramore, netted a reported signing bonus of $430,000 from the Oakland A’s – right at slot value.

It is highly unlikely Paulsen could come back and perform well enough to land that money as a senior with absolutely zero negotiating leverage.

But you can bet Leggett and staff will anxiously follow today’s proceedings, crossing their fingers that a pair of pitchers — signee Madison Younginer, a 6-3 righty fireballer from Mauldin, and 21-year-old freshman lefty Chris Dwyer – aren’t taken by a handful of teams, regardless of the round.

It doesn’t take long to list those clubs – the Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs, Tigers, Mets.

The ones with the financial wherewithal to tell major league baseball to shove their slot system; they’ll pay prospects however much they want to and load up on the guys priced too high for the rest of the league.

Clemson need look no further than last year, when pitcher D.J. Mitchell was projected as about a fifth-round pick, but he slid because his price tag was near second-round money.

The Yankees could afford to sit and wait, then pluck him in the 10^th round and pay him quadruple ($400K) that of the 10^th-round slot.

Younginer and Dwyer – and USC pitcher Sam Dyson, for that matter – could all fall in that category this year, albeit at a much higher cost to their prospective employer.

Younginer told teams it would take a $1 million bonus for him to eschew college, and his dad, John, said he turned down offers of $850,000 as draft day progressed.

That didn’t preclude a handful of teams from telling Younginer they plan to draft him today – although it should quickly be noted that teams routinely extend such lies, and he very well could be taken by a team that might only be interested in meeting his price tag if other top picks aren’t signed by the mid-August deadline.

I don’t know Dwyer’s demands. A year ago, he spurned overtures in the fifth round, seeking second-round money (estimated at $550,000 or more). And draft analysts predicted Dwyer – with leverage to return to school for sophomore and junior seasons – would bump up that price tag for this draft to perhaps $750,000.

So far, from what I understand, the two pitchers have stuck to their guns. But a lot can change overnight – either from a player antsy to begin a pro career, or a team that has deep pockets and sees one of those guys as a worthwhile value.

Meanwhile, Clemson’s roster hangs in the balance.