The College Pitcher Picks

As much as the 2010 Yankee draft was Prep heavy, it was even heavier in college pitchers. In all, the Yanks took 21 college pitchers in the draft, and several of them have already signed as we can see from the list at Yankees.com thttp://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/team/draft.jsp?c_id=nyy . Unfortunately, that list doesn't include the picks' schools, so as a rule of thumb, those born in the `80s are the college picks, those born in the `90s are the prep picks.

Of the unsigned college pitcher picks, probably 8 have signability issues that will have to be resolved this summer. There are a few that are thus far unsigned, who are just hoping to get a slot deal from the Yanks. RHP Dustin Hobbs is one of those guys.

The signability guys are: RHP Thomas Kahnle; RHP Daniel Burawa; RHP Kevin Jacob; RHP Martin Viramondes (pictured); RHP Zach Nuding; RHP Michael Hachadorian; and LHP's Hobson and Hunter whom we discussed in the DES article. Other than, Viramondes and the two lefties, all of these other guys are high velocity college relievers.

Let's talk about college relievers for a minute. In general, I am against trading for relievers or paying lots of money to FA relievers. Of course, I'm into paying Mo whatever he asks for, but he's a rather exceptional exception. The thing with all non-Mo relievers is that they are funginble. Their value to a team constantly fluctuates throughout their careers.

Ideally, I'd prefer it if the Yanks get all of their relievers from their own farm because the dollar costs are minimal and we don't have to trade good prospects for relievers. I'm sure many of you remember certain sports radio jocks wanting to trade "Jobber" for "Gagne" a few years ago. It's just bad business.

How do we get those relievers into the system? We can either convert some of our starters to relief roles or draft some relievers. As a note, we never give a big bonus to a reliever in the international free agent market, and that makes tremendous sense. They're not worth it.

Why are starters worth so much more than relievers? Basically because they can start and give you starters innings, and failing that they can still be turned into relievers, as we saw with Phil Hughes last year, Joba from time to time, and we've seen the Red Sox do with their closer. Mo was a starter before he was a closer. When you buy a reliever, in most cases, he can only be a reliever, so if he fails, you're out of luck.

In the recent past, the Yanks have drafted three sort of high profile college relievers, they are: JB Cox, who is currently trying to make his way back from surgery and a brief retirement; Mark Melancon, who has dominated the minors then failed in the majors, then struggled a bit; and David Robertson; who helped pitch us to a championship and is once again a major part of our pen. So, we're about 1-3 so far, but Melancon could still succeed.

Knowing all of this, the Yanks are going to summer follow Kahnle, Burawa, Jacob, Nuding, and Hachadorian, to see who's volatile velocity best fits their needs. All of them throw very hard. Kahnle's an interesting case. They've seen him up to 98, but he also has problems with walks. I have a feeling they wanted to sign him for 5th round money, but he's opting to try to make more in summer league. I would bet against that happening and because of his wildness, I'll bet the Yanks either get him for around slot, or end up not signing him.

Burawa is the St. John's closer. He has a live arm and was a late riser as the draft approached. You have to wonder if the local connection will mean anything with this guy. If he does well in summer league, that could tip things one way or the other.

Kevin Jacob, from Georgia Tech, may be the hardest thrower of all, but was shut down with some arm trouble for part of the season. Red Flag! He's also a Boras client, so he will want extra money for having the balky arm earlier this Spring. I'm kidding about that, but if he does pitch well and shows plus velocity, Boras might be inclined to be a little reasonable, especially since that arm is now suspect. If he proves to be healthy and the best of the bunch, I think the Yanks will sign him.

Zach Nuding is another hard thrower, and I think he might be a ringer. He's a beast at 6'4" 250 and he's from Weatherford in Texas. That's Yankee super scout Mark Batchko's turf. If he does well this summer, I'd think the Yanks would go for him, even if they are already signing one of the others. Melancon and Robertson were from the signability rounds of the 2006 draft, and I think they will once again make room for 2.

Michael Hachadorian feels like a longshot, but he'll get his chance if he pitches well this summer.

In all, with the college relievers, I think we'll hit is twice, if we find 2 are worth it, and the signees with have to overwhelming stuff and K's for them to be worth it. I hope we have the conviction to let them all go if none of them pitches at a projectable Yankee level.

This brings us back to Martin Viramontes. He's a starter and, thus, worth more. He's also a picture perfect righty who's been as high as 96 on the gun this season and was throwing an easy 94 in the first inning of his first summer league start. Now, he's a Boras client with the nonsensical DES draft designation, and should be laughed at, but, still, he seems to be really good. He's 6'5" (like Phil Hughes), but just 190 now, so there's even some physical projection left. The more I learn about this prospect, the more I feel he could be a Yankee, and that the Yanks should make it happen.

Cameron Hobson and Kyler Hunter are the 2 DES lefties. Both are from that seemingly vast group of lefties who throw 87-92 but always seem to be around 89 when you see them on TV. Besides the 91-93 RHP's this has got to be the largest group of pitching prospects there are. It must be absolute murder to try sorting out which ones are going to have future value. This whole model of pitcher became popular when Tom Glavine was at his peak in Atlanta. Guys like this were even being drafted in the high rounds for several years, as it took organizations ten or twelve years to sort out the fact that the extra ten inches Glavine got on either side of the plate, didn't come with all the clones.

We've looked at the signability college pitchers and Viramontes is the only really intriguing guy in my opinion. If some of the relievers are super dominant over the summer, great, sign them up. If not, don't sweat it.

Meanwhile, as noted above, the Yanks have already signed a bunch of college pitcher, and just because they signed quickly does not make them fodder. Under Damon Oppenheimer, the Yanks don't really waste picks, so, many, if not most, of the college signings have something to recommend them, usually velo, or movement, or an out pitch, or intriguing pitchability. Two of the big success stories for the Yanks this year are David Phelps and Adam Warren. Both were somewhat lightly regarded when they were drafted and people were even mad over the Warren pick. But the Yanks saw something in both of them, and both have seen their stuff improve as they've buzzed through their minor league opponents.

So, this year, don't sleep on guys like Varce, Whitley, Claiborne or Mullee, though a completely different group could prove to be the scout specials. We will see some value in the early signings and even if they're not Yankees, it's great to have tradeable players that other teams want.

If you're keeping score at home, I still want to sign 6 prep pitchers, a bunch of prep OF's, and this Martin Viramontes guy. Make it happen, Yanks!