Baseball: Three former Buckeyes, one recruit sign contracts to play professionally; Lonsway does not sign

Then-junior outfielder Tre’ Gantt is greeted by teammates outside the dugout after scoring a run over the weekend in the Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge in Surprise, Arizona. Credit: Courtesy of Press Pros Magazine

With the MLB draft signing deadline ending at 5 p.m. Friday, three former Ohio State players — outfielder Tre’ Gantt, catcher Jalen Washington and pitcher Shea Murray — have signed contracts with their respective teams, as has pitcher Xavier Moore, a former Buckeye commit.

Though incoming freshman Seth Lonsway was selected in the draft, the pitcher will not sign with his team and instead will come to pitch for the Buckeyes.

The first Buckeye selected in the draft was the potential recruit Moore, who was selected in the 16th round (494th overall) by the Texas Rangers. He signed with the ball club with a bonus of $125,000, according to the MLB Draft Tracker.

Murray was the first former Buckeye selected. The pitcher-turned-outfielder was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates as a pitcher in the 18th round with the 538th overall pick in the draft. He received a signing bonus of $12,500.

The second Ohio State alumnus drafted was Washington, who was picked up by the San Diego Padres as a catcher with the 858th overall pick in the draft in the 29th round of the draft. The MLB Draft Tracker reported his signing bonus to be $1,000.

The final Buckeye to sign in the draft was Gantt, who will head north to Cleveland after the Indians selected him in the 29th round with the 882nd overall pick. Since he still had a year of eligibility remaining, his bonus was the highest of the former players as he received $100,000 for signing with the professional team.

After the signing deadline had past, the only drafted player to head to Columbus for the 2018 season was Lonsway. The 6-foot-1 southpaw was selected in the 19th round by the Cincinnati Reds with the 557th overall pick, but did not sign with the club after it used the remainder of its allotted bonus pool to lock up second-overall selection to Hunter Greene, who signed for a bonus of $7.23 million.

Lonsway was ranked as the 148th-best draft prospect by MLB Pipeline. The Celina, Ohio, product was originally expected to be selected in the third round of the draft, his description on the site says, but dropped 16 more rounds before being selected by a big-league ball club.