Unofficial 2009 Draft Signings

As the Indians sign their 2009 Draft picks I'll be posting the official releases as the team issues them. That said, until then, I will have word on some signings in advance. These are listed as "unofficial" as the team has not yet released the info, but these players have signed. I will update this as I learn of more players in the coming days:

UPDATE (06/21/2009 9:04 PM EST):
The Indians have signed 17th round pick OF Casey Frawley (Stetson U) and 26th round pick RHP Antwonie Hubbard (Oklahoma).

UPDATE (06/18/2009 12:54 AM EST):
As noted earlier in the day on Wednesday, the Indians officially signed five players by inking 5th round pick RHP Austin Adams, 8th round pick RHP Cory Burns, 9th round pick RHP Preston Guilmet, 16th round pick RHP Dale Dickerson and 27th round pick RHP Tyler Sturdevant.

North Carolina plays Arizona State again in an elimination game in the College World Series on Thursday night, so the loser between either 1st round pick RHP Alex White or 2nd round pick OF Jason Kipnis will be available to sign as soon as Friday. The Indians plan to get to work at signing both as soon as their season’s officially end.

33rd round pick 3B Chris Kersten signed his contract on Wednesday morning and has reported to Arizona. 7th round pick OF Jordan Henry had arrangements made to meet with club officials this week to hammer out a deal. No word yet on how those talks have gone, but the Indians expect to sign all of their top 10 picks. 13th round pick RHP Jeremy Johnson likely will sign as well.

More Summer Draft-And-Follows: 21st round pick OF Jeff Rowland is playing in the Cape Cod League, 24th round pick RHP Michael Hamann is playing for American Legion Post 83, and 25th round pick RHP Blake Hauser is playing summer ball as well. The Indians will be following all three players this summer and look to make a deal with some or all of them close to the August 15th signing deadline.

UPDATE (06/17/2009 12:17 AM EST):
Three more signings will become official in the next few days. 9th round pick RHP Preston Guilmet has signed and will be in Mahoning Valley on Wednesday. Also, 3rd round pick RHP Joe Gardner and 4th round pick 3B Kyle Bellows are set to arrive in Cleveland on Wednesday, take their physicals on Thursday, and then sign their contracts on Friday morning before heading to Mahoning Valley for their season opener Friday night.

This is unconfirmed at the moment, but 5th round pick RHP Austin Adams may have signed on Tuesday. Hopefully more on this in the next update and where he might be going. Also, it appears that 38th round pick RHP Robert Sabo will play summer ball and be a draft-and-follow guy this summer.

Last, these signings that I listed in past updates are still considered to be done deals, just the Indians have not officially released the signings (this may happen on Wednesday): 8th round pick RHP Cory Burns, 15th round pick LHP Mike Rayl, 16th round pick RHP Dale Dickerson, 18th round pick C Dwight Childs, 33rd round pick 3B Chris Kersten, and 48th round pick LHP Vidal Nuno.

UPDATE (06/16/2009 12:30 AM EST):
A much smaller update tonight compared to yesterday's big update. As noted in yesterday and Saturday morning's update, the Indians indeed have officially signed 6th round pick 1B Ben Carlson, 10th round pick RHP Brett Brach, and 14th round pick SS Kyle Smith. The one interesting development is the signing of 11th round pick LHP Kirk Wetmore, which was not previously mentioned.

8th round pick RHP Cory Burns will sign this week, and will actually report to Mahoning Valley. 22nd round pick RHP Merrill Kelly is uncertain whether he will sign, and compared to all of the other players who have signed or will in the next few days, it appears he is nowhere close to signing anytime soon. 30th round pick 3B Bryson Smith is having an unknown surgery or just had here in the last few days post-draft. No word yet on the extent of it, what it was, or how it has affected his signing status.

UPDATE (06/15/2009 12:46 AM EST):
Big update today. 3rd round pick RHP Joe Gardner is expected to be signed by the end of the week after he arrives in Cleveland and takes/passes a physical. No word on where he will start, but it is likely he will open in Mahoning Valley. Also, 14th round pick SS Kyle Smith (Cal Poly) was to sign yesterday (Sunday) and is supposed to report to Mahoning Valley on Tuesday. 15th round pick LHP Mike Rayl has signed and is expected to report to Arizona. 16th round pick RHP Dale Dickerson and 18th round pick C Dwight Childs are expected to sign on Tuesday (a lot of players will be signing on Tuesday). After signing, Dickerson is expected to go to Arizona and Childs will go to Mahoning Valley.

While the five players mentioned above are a certainty, three other players I have learned are set to sign or may be very close to signing. 8th round pick RHP Cory Burns is expected to be signed by the end of the week and may open in Arizona. 6th round pick 1B Ben Carlson may have already signed and would go to Mahoning Valley. 33rd round pick 3B Chris Kersten is expected to sign by the end of the week and likely will open in Mahoning Valley. These are not confirmations of their signings, just to be clear. But, it appears that they should be signed, sealed, and delivered by the end of the week if not earlier.

Last, 19th round pick LHP Nick Kirk and 20th round pick RHP Kyle Smith plan on signing at some point.

Summer Draft-And-Follows: 31st round pick 2B Raynor Campbell and 39th round pick 3B Brian Hernandez have not signed and will play summer ball in the Cape Cod League. 43rd round pick OF DJ Gentile has not signed and will play in the Alaskan League this summer.

UPDATE (06/14/2009 12:54 AM EST):
10th round pick RHP Brett Brach has signed and will report right away to short-season Single-A Mahoning Valley, and 48th round pick LHP Vidal Nuno has signed and will report to the new rookie level Arizona League Indians.

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