While the Yankees farm system does not rank among the best in the league, it has certainly improved over the past few years. It got into such bad shape in the first place because in addition to picking in the 25 to 30 range every year, the Yankees also sign free agents, sometimes costing them first-round picks, and otherwise trade young talent for veterans. There is one place where the Yankees can still tap talent, though. The international market brings no draft order restrictions, so teams are free to bid on any player they want. As Ben Badler of Baseball America shows, the Yankees have more top-30 international signees than any other team in baseball.
The obvious caveat here, which is obvious when looking under the Notable Prospects section for the Yanks, is that the prospect doesn’t necessarily have to be in the system today. Badler counts players signed by the organization, regardless of whether they were subsequently traded. As Badler also notes, the Yankees have already seen production from two of their notable international signees. Arodys Vizcaino and Jose Tabata (along with international signee Melky Cabrera) have turned into Javy Vazquez, Xavier Nady, and Damaso Marte.
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