By Michael Aronson and Luke Holthouse

Lucas Giolito ’12 signed with the Washington Nationals, less than a minute before the 5 p.m. deadline, for a estimated value of about $3 million.

Keith Law of ESPN reported that the signing bonus Giolito signed was worth $2.925 million. Reports of the deal were announced after the signing deadline had passed. 

Giolito was picked as the 16th overall pick by Washington in the 2012 MLB Draft. His signing bonus is just under a million dollars more than Major League Baseball’s Collective Bargaining Agreement suggested he sign for as the 16th overall pick.

Giolito, who suffered an elbow injury at the beginning of this year’s baseball season, was projected by some scouts to be the first overall pick in this year’s draft. However, his injury brought questions of his durability and caused his draft stock to slip.

Giolito, who committed to play college baseball at UCLA, could have played three years for the Bruins then reenter the draft in 2015 with the hopes of three healthy seasons boosting his draft stock. If he improved his stock enough to be the first pick in 2015, he could have signed for closer to $5 million according to the MLB’s CBA slot suggestions. 

However, Giolito elected not to risk further injury at UCLA, which would have hurt his draft stock even more, and take the money now. 

Giolito becomes the second Harvard-Westlake alum to sign with an MLB team this summer, as former teammate and seventh overall pick Max Fried ’12 signed with the San Diego Padres for a $3 million bonus.