By Scott Vosper, Palm Springs Semaphore
June 17, 2018

The Palm Springs Codgers have come to an agreement with their first round pick from the 2018 PEBA amateur draft, shortstop Royce ‘Jester’ Raines.  Raines was not only the Codgers’ first pick, but the first player chosen overall.

“It feels great to get the deal done so I can get out on the field again,” said Raines at a press conference held today to announce the signing.  “I’m excited to get my pro career underway.”

Palm Springs General Manager Denny Hills seemed pleased as well.  “When our pick came up and Royce was still available, I wept with happiness,” he commented.

Terms of the agreement, signed June 16, were not officially announced, but quickly leaked out via Twitter and Facebook: a ten million dollar signing bonus, plus a four-year major-league contract paying an additional million dollars per season.

While the monetary value of the signing is significantly higher than the league’s  recommended slot bonus value for a number one pick, GM Hills appeared sanguine about the amount.  “Honestly, the money is not a huge concern to me,” he said.  “The important thing is that Royce becomes the greatest player in the history of PEBA, as we expect.”

Raines certainly has a distinguished history.  The younger brother of Arlington‘s superstar first baseman Rob Raines, ‘Jester’ led the University of Minnesota to four postseason appearances and two USCBA championships during his four years playing for the Lucky Rodents.  The native of Poinciana, Florida was also selected to the USCBA All-Star Game all four of those seasons, and won the 2016 USCBA COL Outstanding Hitter Award.

Nevertheless, the Codgers apparently want him to start at the bottom and work his way up.

“We have high expectations for Royce, but he will begin his career at our short-season A affiliate in Lana’i City,” stated Hills.  “Everybody puts on their pants one leg at a time, no matter how impressive their resumé.  Well, unless you have some kind of contraption that holds your pants open for you, so you can jump into both legs simultaneously, but those are pretty hard to come by.  Believe me, I’ve looked.”