With just about 48 hours until Monday’s 5 pm ET deadline, Derek Curiel signs his professional contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates. His signing bonus is $6.2 million, well below slot value of $8,336,500.
Curiel delivered two fantastic season in Baton Rouge, helping LSU capture their 8th National Championship as a freshman in 2025. In his first season, he hit .345 with a ridiculous on-base percentage of .470. He started his career by reaching base in 43 consecutive games, a freshman record, breaking that of his predecessor Dylan Crews. Getting on base in nearly half of his at-bats let to 67 runs scored in the leadoff spot. He also drove in 55 RBIs.
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As a sophomore, Curiel upped his batting average at .353, scoring 64 runs in 10 less games, and driving in 46 RBIs. Those numbers are especially impressive considering he had a slow start in 2026 due to a broken ankle that he sustained in November. Curiel revealed after the season on After Further Review that the rumors of his ankle injury were, indeed, true.
“I had three weeks to prepare for the season. It was my back foot and it was kind of hard for me to load in to my back leg,” Curiel told Matt Moscona.
The injury made his .292 average through the first few weeks of non-conference play make a lot more sense. He caught fire, once LSU started conference play, hitting .331 against SEC opponents. Mid-week opponents got scorched by a then-healthy Curiel, as he went 16-32 for a .500 average during that stretch.
The decision to bet on himself and pull his name prior to the 2024 MLB Draft turned out to be a great one. While he was ranked as the #10 high school player by Perfect Game, Baseball America and MLB Pipeline had him at #78 and #117 among all draft prospects, which pitted him somewhere in the 3rd-4th round and in the $600K-$700k range.
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Two years later, that decision has led Derek Curiel to be the #5 overall pick, $6.2 million richer, an All-American, National Freshman of the Year, a National Champion, and forever a Tiger.
