A signing bonus of that amount usually comes with higher than minimum minor league salary guarantees. It's likely that kid would still have much more than half of his bonus left (probably close to all of it).
The baseball talk is missing a major piece that Godwin conveniently is omitting.
1) Every HS player that signs in the draft, also gets 4 years, 100% college tuition paid for, so long as the player starts taking classes 2 years after they are no longer in affiliated ball. A really strong move by MLB to get kids to DELAY, not forego college.
2) So worst case scenario, these “26 year olds with 50k” (not accurate) actually have a full ride for 4 years. That beats the doors off a 25/50/66% scholarship. Shoot, in most cases, anything over 125k signing bonus, the numbers work out better for the player. Take 125k and 4 years 100% is much better than 66% scholly and potential of $0 bonus in 3 years. The MLB scholarship plan is taxed as income when used after playing days are over, but numbers still benefit the player, if pure dollars and cents is the argument. If the argument is development or “having the college experience as an 18-21 year old”, that is a completely different discussion.
3) This is why the 11.7 scholarship limit in baseball sets coaches so far behind the 8 ball. They only have a couple to give and if not given just about any player not on 100% is financially incentivized to go pro if available. Football on the other hand are full 100% scholarship, and I am unaware of any NFL scholarship plan paying for Dortch to come back to Wake for 2 years. Apples to oranges.
If Dortch could come back to Wake, paid by the NFL, him leaving early was a no-brainer. But even without still not a terrible decision why he left. If he stayed, it sounds like there was little to no chance Hinton would have stayed to be his backup. Good for Greg, good for Hinton, and good for Wake if they welcome Dortch back with open arms any time he wants. Was a really fun player to cheer for.
