When Major League Baseball announced its annual draft would be cut from 40 rounds to just five, it was a given that players ordinarily selected in years past would be left on the outside looking in.

That proved to be a fact.

With the exception of Emerson Hancock (6th overall pick to Seattle) and Cole Wilcox (80th overall pick to San Diego), no other Bulldogs heard their name called.

Players can still sign, but thanks to an agreement between MLB and the Players Union, the most bonus money any undrafted player can receive is $20,000.

Wilcox, doesn’t have that problem.

Despite being selected in the third round with the 80th pick by the Padres, head coach Scott Stricklin believes the draft-eligible sophomore received the offer he was looking for, even if he had been taken in the first round.

“We knew what his asking price was, I hope that he got that, I fully expected him to get it in the first round,” head coach Scott Stricklin said. “In Major League Baseball, the draft is so much different than the other drafts. It’s not structured. Your third-round pick can get more than your first-round pick. Cole basically got what he was supposed to get in the first round.”

Stricklin said he expects Wilcox will accept the offer.

“It’s not official, but yes,” Stricklin said. “We fully expect that, unless something crazy happens, we fully expect it to get signed like it will with Emerson. But yeah, it’s going to get signed. We don’t know when that will be officially, but we fully expect both of those players to sign their contracts. One of their goals in coming to Georgia was to be a high-round pick, get closer to the big leagues and they both did that.”

Teammates of Hancock and Wilcox weren’t so fortunate.

Although numerous overtures were made, neither pitcher Ryan Webb, shortstop Cam Shepherd, outfielder Riley King nor outfielder Tucker Bradley heard their name called.

While it remains unclear whether King, Bradley and Shepherd will accept a free agent offer or return to Georgia for another season, Webb’s has already made his decision.

The junior lefty tweeted out and later confirmed to UGASports that he will be returning to Georgia for another year.

“I’m not going to sulk about it. I know God has a plan, and I think there’s a better plan in store for me,” Webb said. “I’m excited to be back at Georgia. I love Georgia. I say it all the time, I think it’s the best college in the nation and I honestly couldn’t be more excited.”

Webb said he was contacted by several teams who offered to take him during the course of the evening. He declined.

“I had multiple teams call and offer but at the end of the day I decided the best thing for me to do was to go back to school and show that I’m worth what I believe I am,” said Webb, who was 2-0 with a 1.20 ERA with one save and 26 strikeouts in 15 innings.

Stricklin said he’d love to have the others return, but that’s a decision Shepherd, King and Bradley will have to make.

“It’s not the signing bonus they should be getting, they should be getting more, but there’s nothing they can do about it,” Stricklin said. “They’ve just got to do what’s best for themselves. We’ve already had talks with all of them, and it’s a little bit of a coin flip. We should know more in about a week.”

Stricklin did have some good news.

Although a handful of his incoming signing class received overtures, Stricklin said all 15 incoming freshmen will be coming to Athens.

“When you get calls from your recruits on draft day, your heart drops, and I had several yesterday. Teams were interested in a bunch of our guys,” Stricklin said. “I’d say there were six that were called and a couple got really good offers and they decided to come to Georgia. The class is fully intact.”