Just in the nick of time, the Arizona Diamondbacks have agreed to terms with the first pick in the 2015 MLB Draft, Dansby Swanson of Vanderbilt, avoiding a situation that occurred last year between Brady Aiken and the Houston Astros

Swanson, a 21-year old shortstop, jumped into the national spotlight his Sophomore season when he led the Commodores to the 2014 College World Series championship while being named Most Outstanding Player with a .323 batting average, five runs scored, and two runs batted in. This season he continued his rise to stardom by achieving career highs in batting average (.335), home runs (15), runs batted in (64), and triples (6). With his outstanding season, the 2015 Golden Spikes Award finalist ended up quintupling his home run total from the previous season, in addition to almost doubling his runs batted in amount. He even led Vanderbilt to their second College World Series championship game appearance. Yet, after the final out of his collegiate career was recorded, the real drama started.

On June 8th after defeating Illinois in the Champaign Super Regional, Swanson was selected as the first pick in the 2015 MLB Draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks. Although there was no problem with the selection, the issue soon became getting the prized prospect to sign on the dotted line before yesterday's signing deadline. The year before, the Houston Astros and high school star Brady Aiken could not agree on a deal prior to the deadline, resulting in him pitching at IMG Academy as a postgraduate student, tearing his ulnar collateral ligament, and getting drafted by the Cleveland Indians with the 17th pick in June's draft. 

As the deadline neared and Friday grew older, no news from Phoenix surfaced on Swanson signing with Arizona. "Would another number one pick, for the second year in a row, not sign with the team that drafted him?" Not this year as the Arizona Diamondbacks' twitter broke the news with a tweet that read "OFFICIAL: #Dbacks agree to terms with shortstop Dansby Swanson, the first-overall selection in the 2015 @MLB Draft."

The 2015 Louisville Slugger Second Team All-American agreed to a deal with a $6.5 million dollar signing bonus ($2.1 million dollars less than the recommended slot value assigned to his pick) and will fly to Phoenix on Sunday, stay a few days to play in the Arizona Rookie League, and join Single-A Advanced Visalia to begin his rise through the system.
 

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About the author
Peyton Wesner
Editor, that has loved and watched sports. He enjoys traveling the country to watch division one college basketball and professional baseball, basketball, and football. In addition, Peyton is a huge enthusiast of Missouri Valley Conference basketball and International League (Triple-A) baseball as he focuses about these topics and many more on his sports blog Courtside with PW at http://courtsidewpw.blogspot.com/?m=1. You can contact him through his email, [email protected], or his twitter, @courtsidewpw.