Clemson football fans will likely be paying a little extra attention to the MLB Draft that is set to begin this weekend than normal.
In a normal year, Clemson fans might keep up with the MLB Draft just to see where a few Tiger baseball players end up and to see which juniors might choose to come back to school for another season, as well as what signees might choose to enroll in school rather than head off to begin a professional career.
There will be a little more emphasis on Sunday this time around, though.
Two Clemson football and baseball signees are expected to go inside the first-round. According to the latest ESPN mock draft, 4-star QB Bubba Chandler (SS/RHP) is projected to be taken by the Cincinnati Reds with the No. 17 overall pick. 3-star ATH/QB Will Taylor (OF) is projected to go No. 9 overall to the Los Angeles Angels.
In CBS Sports’ latest mock draft, Taylor is taken with the No. 25 overall pick by the Oakland Athletics and Chandler falls outside of the first-round.
Clemson football fans should expect the worst to happen during the MLB Draft
If Taylor or Chandler are selected in the first-round, they would have a slotted salary of at least $2.4 million.
If either was taken inside the top-10, like Taylor with that projected No. 9 selection, they would have a slotted salary of $4.9 million and climbing. The top pick in this year’s draft will have a salary value of $8.4 million.
The point? Clemson football fans shouldn’t put a lot of hope in either Chandler or Taylor remaining on campus very long.
Even a lower first-round slotted salary would give those young athletes *millions* of reasons to go ahead and start their professional careers. When you note the fact that if they were to stay, they’d be a backup to D.J. Uiagalelei and likely beaten out by Cade Klubnik and potentially even the 2023 QB signee- like an Arch Manning- in the future, you can see why it would be extremely difficult to turn down the money.
Both have been vocal in saying they want the college experience and they value the opportunity to play two sports, but it’s also understandable if they chose to turn that down.
If both Chandler and Taylor were to leave, the Tigers would have just D.J. Uiagalelei and walk-ons Hunter Helms (redshirt freshman) and Billy Wiles (true-freshman) active on the roster.