With a few days left to sign top draft picks, Royals ink pitcher Jackson Kowar

The Royals on Monday agreed to terms with pitcher Jackson Kowar, their second pick and the 33rd overall selection from the 2018 draft held last month.

Kowar received a $2,147,500 signing bonus, about $28,000 above the slot value of $2,118,700 assigned to the 33rd pick. He was also awarded a $2,500 contingency bonus that will not count against the Royals' MLB-best spending pool of $12,781,900 million.

Kowar, a 6-foot-5 right-hander who was Baseball America's 15th-ranked prospect ahead of the draft, posted a 10-5 record and 3.04 ERA while striking out 115 during his junior season at Florida.

With a few days remaining to sign their 2018 draft selections, the Royals have yet to ink their first overall pick Brady Singer, Kowar's right-handed rotation-mate from Florida, or Eric Cole, their fourth-round pick from the University of Arkansas who last week lost the College World Series to Oregon State.

But in recent weeks, the Royals nailed down deals to ink the other three pitchers they selected on the opening night of the draft, spending about $3.92 million to convince lefties Kris Bubic and Daniel Lynch and right-hander Jonathan Bowlan to forgo their final college seasons.

With Kowar signing and 12th-rounder Rylan Kaufman signing for a $722,500 bonus, the Royals have about $4.39 million at their disposal to sign Singer and Cole. Singer's slot is valued at $3,349,300, while Cole's is $451,200.

The deadline for teams to sign players, other than those who were college seniors, is Friday.

This story was originally published July 2, 2018 at 8:22 PM.