11th-rounder Dan Grovatt, from the University of Virginia, has signed with the Pirates. The article reports that Grovatt "had high demands" from the Pirates, but the terms haven't been disclosed. This might be for over slot, but I bet it's not by as much as, say, the Ryan Hafner signing, because of this:
Openly asking for early-round money to give up his final year of eligibility, which would be above slot, Grovatt knew that a return to Virginia would be a gamble of sorts.
"The biggest thing, honestly, I had a partial tear in my UCL [ulnar collateral ligament] and looking at next year, granted, if I did come back I could have a great year, but I kind of have an MRI on the record of me having a torn arm," he said. "What if I get hurt again with my arm? I don’t know.
"I guess there is just a lot of risk with that with the injury, and the Pirates were willing to negotiate with me, sign me and there were no questions about my arm. If they were willing to do that it was probably the best chance that I had at a professional career."
Grovatt didn't hit particularly well last year, batting .289/.385/.471 on a team full of players who mostly put up much bigger numbers than that. His numbers in his first two years were better, so it's possible the injury played a role.
The Pirates will allow Grovatt to return to Charlottesville for the next two fall semesters to finish his degree.