Jace LaViolette gets considerable payday from Cleveland despite draft slide

The down year for Texas A&M baseball was something that went beyond just upsetting fans of the program— many of the Aggie faithful felt that momentum had been all but completely halted over in Olsen. On top of that, the draft-eligible Aggies who were slated to go highly almost universally fell in estimation.

The most high-profile of those names was power slugger Jace LaViolette, who, despite setting an all-time record for home runs in an Aggie uniform, had a pretty down year by his standards. That meant that he fell from a potential first overall selection to the back part of the first round, where he was selected by the Cleveland Guardians.

Despite the slide, though, Jace is still a super high potential pick for the Guardians. That's why it was unsurprising when it was announced today that Jace had signed with Cleveland for well over his slot value, raking in a huge payday.

Jace LaViolette signs with Cleveland Guardians for highest over slot value in first round

Jim Callis of MLBpipeline.com broke down the numbers in his tweet below:

As he says, this is the biggest number over slot value in the first round, and one of only three players who ended up signing over the slot value.

It's not hard to see why the Guardians were so determined to sign him, of course. Jace is not only immensely talented, he's a true iron man and is destined for stardom in the league. It's only a matter of time until he's in the majors.

Though it always seemed like a certainty that Jace would end up in the league after this year, part of every Aggie fan wanted to see him come back to College Station to finish out his college career. Could the possibility of a return have helped buoy this number up higher than it would have been otherwise? We'll never know— but it's an interesting notion.