Yanks Post Draft Stuff, Pt. 3

In each of the last three drafts, the Yanks have picked a prep RHP in the third round to start day 2.  Two years ago it was Austin DeCarr, last year it was Drew Finley, and this year it was Nolan Martinez. That seems almost formulaic, but I think the formula keeps developing and I think there are some how's and why's.

First of all, the Yankee drafts have gotten more sophisticated over the past few years with the advent of their anlytics and sports science people. Where they used to have a few to perhaps several sets of eyes looking at a kid, now they have machines and data sets examining the prospects.  This is really interesting, because at the beginning of the post Lin Garrett period of fallow drafting, they didn't even have cross-checkers.   That got switched a few years into the new system, but that's sort of what they were up against with the George and friends brain trust.   And now it's really grown.

Anyway, the 2016 draft felt a little funny because they didn't pick a pitcher till their 3rd round prep guy, and in the previous two drafts, and many of their drafts they've picked one no later than round two.  But as we learn more about the pitchers they took, it is seeming a lot like last year's crop, and last year's pitching class may indeed provide a bumper crop, given what Kap was doing, Chance is doing an how solid to excellent so many more of them have looked.  Josh Rogers, after a slight adjustment to High A is now crushing it, and may hit AA before the year is out. And Finley and DeGano haven't even played yet, but we should see them in SI as early as Friday.

So last week, they took 24 pitchers, with an unusual number of preps, but some things in common like swing and miss stuff.  Let's take a look.

3. Nolan Martinez RHP: This kid from Culver City covered the prep 3 thing, the SoCal thing, the spin rate thing, the projectable thing, and the swing and miss thing.  So he fills up a lot of what they are looking for, and will almost undoubtedly be their highest bonused pitcher from this draft.  He's got some similarities to Gabe Encinas, who was a prep the Yanks took that was looking like a future star befor he got hurt.  In the free article on Scout, Damon Oppenheimer said they believe he will throw harder, the the Paper out here has already had him at 95.  Nolan's got a free and easy atheltic delivery and a nice feel for pitching, so the upside is just terrific.

4. Nick Nelson RHP: Nick Nelson could well be this year's Chance Adams.  He's not popping out 98's like Adams did leading up to last year's draft, but he was popping out 96's, while also being the 3rd place hitter and first baseman for his JuCo team. You don't see that much anymore.  I remember Danny Borrell being an accomplished collegiate hitter before the Yanks drafted him as a pitcher.  And that was now a long time ago.  Anyway, Nelson's already signed and once he's just pitching full time, and getting on that rest and recovery schedule, his good stuff could become great stuff, like Chance's.

6. Brooks Kriske RHP: The USC closer.  The Yanks have made significant hey draft closers and otherwise college relievers over the past ten years, and Kriske joins a now proud tradition.  He became the closer this year and his fastball played up to 95/6 and he's also got offspeed stuff from his seasons as a starter. Brooks has already signed, and he could move pretty fast.

10. Trevor Lane LHP: This was one of their senior picks who just happens to strike out everybody. The guy is 5'11 and 185, which is not the size teams are looking for these days.  Of course, it was the size of Ron Guidry, and though I don't think Trevor has 95 and an exploding slider he has location or something that is creating so many K's.  It'll be fun to see what this can do.  Trevor is also already signed.

UPDATE on this guy.  Turns out the Yankees did have him at 94-95 as the season went on.  That's Gatorific and really intriguing.

11. Connor Jones LHP: This guy might be a ringer, and we'll have to see if the Yanks can get him signed. Connor is a full sized lefty at 6'3" and 190, and he does throw hard.  In the interview on Pinstripe Prospects, he said the Yanks had been at his best starts this past season, and he dominated in front of them.  This could be one of those college pitchers comes in and after some tweaks just starts moving up.  The stuff is reported to be primo but with some walks, and it feels like the Yanks are teaching guys to limit their walks again.

12. Taylor Widener RHP: This was their second big stuff college pitcher pick in a row.  Taylor Widener was used as both a starter and reliever at South Carolina during his career.  The pundits believe he'll probably be a power reliever in the pro's because he's just 6 feet tall, but power starters are still more valuable, and if the Yanks can keep him there, I hope they do.

13: Brian Trieglaff RHP: This one is a bit of a puzzler.  Trieglaff is a 22 year old junior who is 6'1" and 190 who has spent his TCU years in the pen. This year he pitched 41 innings and gave up 42 hits.  What's more he only K'd 33.  He had a good era of just 2.41, so there must have been grounders or bad contact.  He just doesn't seem like the swing and miss guys the Yanks have been predominantly drafting for the past several years.

15: Tony Hernandez LHP: This is the other JuCo pitcher and he is a power lefty who got it up to 95 this year.  He's 6'2" 215 with plus stuff for a lefty.  What's not to like?  We'll have to see how he does once he starts pitching, but the Yanks have been having good luck with their JuCo's of late, and this looks like another strong arm for the system.

UPDATE: SIGNED

16:  Zach Linginfelter RHP:  Zach is 19, and it doesn't looke like the Yanks will have the extra dough to get him in, but he will be a DES in two years and if it's meant to be it will happen then.

18. Greg Weissert RHP:  This is another athletic pitcher, this time from Fordham.  He got on the highlight shows this past season for a pair of athletic barehanded plays.  This was a more typical Yankee pick,  Greg was a starter who worked 78 innings, but only gave up 64 hits, while K'ing 82.  The thing he'll have to shed as a Yankee is the propensity to walk guys, although he didn't really have that problem at all as a Sophomore, so perhaps the Yanks can help him figure it back out.

20: Miles Chambers RHP:  Miles is 6'2" and 215 and throws hard. This past season as a reliever for Cal State Fullerton, he posted a sub one era over 27.2 IP, giving up 25 hits and 3 walks, as well as striking out 20.  K's are a little low, but I'd guess bad contact.  The Yanks will be able to help him find an out pitch if he needs one.

22: Blair Henry RHP: Alas, another kid the Yanks probably can't get under the current rules.  But perhaps they'll be able to do something next time he enters the draft.

26: Gage Burland RHP:  The Zag!  Greg started and relieved for Gonzaga and had a rough season, but he did K 28 in his 20.2 innings of pain, and is reported to be a hard thrower, and perhaps their's an out pitch.  20.2 tough innings can be overcome.

27: Philip Diehl LHP: Diehl's already signed and has already had arm surgery.  He's also a starter who struck out 90 in 80 innings of work this season though he gave up a few too many hits and walks, but it was a comeback from surgery and he was a lefty throwing hard and producing some big performances. This could be another ringer.  He's also great in an interview.

28: William Jones RHP:  He was a 5th year senior who worked a lot as a starter and struck out just under one per inning.  Worked 110 innings alread this year, so the Yanks will probably limit him if the sign him.

29: Bo Weiss RHP: The gutsy picture perfect son of Walt Weiss.  Maybe the Yanks can get him somewhere down the line.

31: Miles Sandum LHP: This is a kid I hope the Yanks target if they have any money left over from Rutherford and Martinez.  Miles is alread 6'2" and 215, and was dominant, working around a gruesome internal injury, against strong SoCal competition.  He's already 19 and been through something tough and come out of it.  He might be ready for the pro challenge if there's some extra dough.

32: Juan Cabrera RHP: This is sort of a lesser known prep, and I'm wondering if something can get done.  He's 6' and 175 and just turned 19 in April.  The Yanks have had some luck with late unheralded preps.

35: Zack Hess RHP:  This is a super heralded prep the Yanks should hope to meet again in his next draft year.  The money won't be close.

36: Tyler Honohan LHP: The kid from Stony Brook.  Word is he's already signed.  It's unknown if he ever ran into Will Tye in the lunch room at Stony. Meanwhile, he's coming off a tough season where he didn't K enough guys and walked too many.  Sometimes there's a fine line between strikes and balls and let's hope the Yankees help him get on the right side of it.

39. Brian Keller RHP: The Thin Man. Productive guy who upped his K's as a senior, but didn't quite make it to 1/1.  Maybe he'll continue to blossom or maybe he'll become important to the organization in some other way.

40. Nat Brown RHP:  With their final pick the Yanks took yet another kid who won't be coming in this time around. But as he heads off to school he has a new appreciation for the Yankees who drafted him.

In all the Yankees added 6 prep pitchers  and unless Blake Rutherford doesn't sign, they're probably not signing more than one or two of them.  So were the picks of guys like Henry, Weiss and Hess, wasted?  You could look at it that way -- though the large area of B players seemed to really thin out on day 3.  But really the Yanks were creating more first round type targets in case their first rounder doesn't sign.  They now have the fallback option of getting another great arm if something goes wrong with Rutherford.  It's not a bad position to have at all, but let's hope it doesn't come to that.

And though they didn't get a big time Friday Night starter like Kaprielian was last year, they didnt once again get their share of ascendant swing and miss guys, and added more athletic pitcher with velo to a system which is now geared towart their collection.

We'll start seeing which teams they are assigned to as early as tomorrow.