Yanks Sign 35 of 41 2015 Picks

The Yanks did a really nice job of signing their picks this years, getting the vast majority to go pro.  This is largely because their draft was once again college heavy, but they did also sign some preps, JuCo's, Junior and DES players, and all of those are assumed to have some form of leverage -- though all but that of the preps is by consent of the clubs and harder ball should have been played with the rest of them historically. Anyway, that they were able to get so many in is a credit to the Scouts who stayed on guys like Josh Rogers who had initially turned them down.

Over the years, I've pointed out that for a Yankee draft to be a success, it has to produce 1 Yankee regular to pay for the entire class.  For example, Brett Gardner has now payed for his draft class two or three times over.  Likewise, the `06 draft which has produced everyone from IPK to Joba to Betances to Robertson and several other guys, has paid its class and the next few.

So, it's way too soon to tell if any one or more of the signed players with "pay for their class" but the system is accepting 35 new pitchers and position players and that's a big class and a nice mix of high ceilings and solid floors.  The system needed starters with so many on the shelf this year, and the Yanks added Kaprielian, Degano, Finley and others who should give them system a boost.    They system also needed more 19 and 20 year old hitters - with Judge and Refsnyder older and guys like Dermis Garcia, Nelson Gomez, et al, just 17.   They did manage to get that with Donny Sands, Isiah Gilliam,  Brandon Wagner, and Terrance Robertson.

The college picks, which represented the majority all had talents and numbers to recommend them, that reflected the marriage between the Yankee scouting and analytics departments, so they didn't realy make any gamble on greatness picks.

It should be remembered that though the #16 pick was high for the Yanks to hold, it wasn't really a very high pick and all and they still haven't had one of those in over 20 years.

We'll have a better grip on how good this class might be starting next year.  These partial seasons they play once they sign aren't particularly instructive.