2012 MLB Draft: Mark Appel Lone Draftee Unsigned at Deadline

The deadline has passed for teams to sign their draftees to contracts. Within those who were selected in the first round, Stanford Cardinal pitcher Mark Appel was the lone one to not agree to a deal with his team.

Not the news that every Pac-12 program wanted to hear—he will return for his senior year for Stanford.

Appel was drafted eighth overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates on June 4, and most experts thought that he and the Pirates would agree to a deal.

"

"Our final offer exceeded the available bonus pool money and was essentially up to the last dollar we could offer prior to falling into the second-tier penalty, which would have resulted in the loss of a first-round Draft selection," said Pirates General manager Neal Huntington in a press release Friday.

"While, as we have shown in past years, we are willing to be aggressive with our financial offer, we simply did not feel it was in the best interest of the organization to forfeit our first-round selection in the 2013 [First-Year Player] Draft."

"

Because the two could not agree to a deal, the Pirates will try their luck by being awarded the overall No. 9 pick in the 2013 Draft.

When the day started, there were six unsigned first-round picks, but the others settled their deals before the 5 p.m. ET deadline Friday.

The trend this year was picks signing early, which is a dramatic difference than 2011.

Last year according to MLB.com, 98 of 331 picks went unsigned, but as of Friday, only 17 picks throughout the entire draft are without a deal.