Yankees Draft Day 2 Review

On Day 2 of the 2015 draft, the Yanks re-asserted their scouting principles by grabbing some swing and miss pitchers, and some on base guys with POP.   I think this leads to a bigger point which I'll get to later.

In the 3rd round, the Yanks electrified the fanbase by popping their first prep, SoCal HS pitcher Drew Finley - he of the 20K game.  Interestingly, as happy as everyone was about Drew, he is in many ways and 18 year old version of James Kaprielian.   They are both listed as 6'3" and 200 and both combine advanced breaking and offspeed stuff with projectable velocity.  Let's hope that Drew starts bumping 95's down the road, too.  Meanwhile, what does it say about us that we could be so perspicacious - to say the least - about Kaprielian last not and overjoyed about a younger version of the same model today.

In the 4th, the Yanks took OSU CF Jeff Hendrix.   Jeff's pop is questionable at this point, but he's a plus runner who can go and get it in the field and was OPS'ing over .900 this season in college.  So who knows if there's projection or not left in his game.  He'll either add some pop or end up a 4th OF.

It is interesting that the first 2 hitters the Yanks took had "questions" about their bats.  That wouldn't last.

In the fifth, the Yanks took just the latest of their swing and miss relievers when they popped JuCo RHP Chase Adams.  On the short side, but so was DRob.   Chase backs up his mid-90's heat with a knockout slider.  He could move quickly.

In the sixth, the Yanks started a little run on bats with Texas JuCo Player of the year, Brandon Wagner.   This season, Wags hit homers at a Ruthian rate in his league.  It will be interesting to see if he can hit the ground running.   Because the power seems both now and big.

In the seventh, the Yanks grabbed another thunderous bat in Jhalan Jackson.  Jhalan was their first senior pick, but he was also well worth a 7th rounder for that bat.  He's 6'4" 220 and hit 20 bombs this year and plays RF.  Let's hope it translates to wood, because the Yanks could use more homers on the farm.

In the eighth the Yanks reached back into the prep ranks and grabbed Arizona 3B Donny Sands.   Donny has come from a tough situation and I'm not sure if he even got to play of travel teams or anything like that.  But, he did have over 1100 OPS this past season and was able to make it to Tampa to show the Yanks who he is.  Let's root like crazy for this young man.  UPDATE:  Donny says he's flying to Tampa tomorrow to sign his contract.

In the ninth, the Yanks took a fourth bat, when they grabbed MSU 1B Ryan Krill.   Krill is a big man with a strong lefty swing that might just be cut out for Yankee Stadium.  He'll probably be the 1B for SI right off the bat.

And with their final pick of day two,  the Yanks took LHP James Reeves.   Reeves is an athletic guy with the same listed size as Kaprielian and Finley.   His K's went way up this year and he even threw a no-hitter.  Not bad for a senior pick, huh?

So, in all, the Yanks had a nice second day, adding more swing and miss guys and more bats.  On the face of it it seems odd that Holder and Hendrix were the Yanks first two bats -- they seem different than the hitters we've been taking.   But maybe they are not so different.   They're both OPSing over .900 this year, and more and more we know the Yanks have been relying on their analytics department for insights.  So, perhaps they have reasons to believe Holder and Hendrix will hit, to wit, they've been talking quite a bit about Holder's contact rate for example.

We'll probably find out in SI or one of the other short season leagues.

In any event, Day 2 looks good.