Hawaii MLB draft picks signed by teams


ScoringLive staff
June 29, 2018, 10:13am

Hawaii high school grads Micah Bello (Hilo '18), Anthony Hoopii-Tuionetoa (Baldwin '18), Beau Branton (Punahou '14) and Kekai Rios (Kamehameha '15) all signed to their respective MLB teams. ScoringLive photo illustration

The four basebell players with ties to Hawaii high schools picked in the recent Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft have signed with their teams, according to MLB.com's Draft Tracker.

First Team All-Hawaii outfielder Micah Bello, of Hilo, was a Competitive Balance B round pick (between second and third rounds) by the Milwaukee Brewers and signed for $550,000. The slot value for a No. 73 overall pick is $824,900.

All-Hawaii Player of the Year Anthony "Bubba" Hoopii-Tuionetoa from Baldwin signed for $100,000 with the Minnesota Twins, who took him in the 16th round. Days before the draft, Hoopii-Tuionetoa verbally committed to play college ball at Yavapai JC in Arizona and was reportedly still deciding between signing with the Twins or taking the JUCO route as of June 23. He was signed as a pitcher.

UPDATE (7/6/18): Despite being listed as having signed on MLB.com, it was reported that Hoopii-Tuionetoa did not sign with the Twins and will attend Yavapai College.

Punahou '14 alumnus Beau Branton, a 28th round draftee out of Stanford, was signed by the Seattle Mariners for $5,000, which is in line for a college senior sign. He is an infielder.

Kamehameha '15 alumnus Kekai Rios, also picked in the 28th round, signed with the Brewers for $90,000 out of the University of Hawaii. The catcher still had another season of college eligibility.

Other players with ties to Hawaii were University of Hawaii redshirt sophomore pitcher Dylan Thomas (Castaic, California), who was selected by the Twins in the 38th round and has until July 6 to sign if he decides to do so. Thomas has been spending the summer playing with the Hyannis Harbor Hawks in the prestigious Cape Cod Baseball League in Massachusetts. Through June 27, he has pitched 8.3 innings in six appearances with an ERA of 1.08.

UPDATE (7/6/18): Thomas did not sign and will return to the University of Hawaii for his redshirt junior season.

Fellow Rainbow Warriors pitcher Jackson Rees (Aliso Viejo, California) went undrafted but signed a free-agent contract with the Toronto Blue Jays six days after the draft. The redshirt junior led Hawaii in wiith 15 pitching starts in 79.3 innings pitched. He will forego his senior season.