Teams hand out signing bonuses during the draft so that they don't have to pay them fair wages while they're in the minor league system -- draftees essentially live off of that money until they retire or make it to the majors. With that being said, most players don't make it to the big leagues so it makes sense that there isn't a lot of guaranteed money for later draft picks because they're supposed to flame out & retire within three to four years. $125,000 is the maximum bonus players picked in rounds 11-20 are allotted in the new draft system. (You can go over but teams face a penalty if they do.) But most draftees picked in those rounds don't sign for anywhere near $125k. Former Hokies taken in 2021 examples: Anthony Simonelli was taken in the 16th round last year and signed with the Royals for $75k -- below the $125,000 slotted bonus. Shane Connolly was picked in the 10th and signed for $72,500 -- again, below the slotted bonus. Meanwhile, NFL players picked in the 6th & 7th rounds sign for much, much more because the idea is that they're NFL ready right away so it's worth that investment. Baseball ... not so much. Baseball is, really, the only sport that does this since every player picked isn't ready for MLB, rather than the NBA or NFL where draft picks are ready from day one. So yes, to answer your question, MLB heavily favors projection rather than immediate performance.