Via Frankie Piliere, the Yankees are “heavily in” on high schoolers Dillon Howard and Brandon Martin with the 51st overall pick, their first selection. Howard, a right-handed pitcher, is supposedly asking for big bucks according to Piliere. Keith Law and Baseball America ranked him the 18th and 30th best prospect in the draft in their latest rankings, respectively. Howard has a big arm, routinely running his fastball up to 94 with crazy sink this spring, and he also throws a changeup and a curveball.
Martin, meanwhile, is more of true sandwich round talent. He’ll flash all five tools, but he’s not likely to have anything more than average pop at his peak. A compact line-drive stroke geared for hard contact is Martin’s offensive calling card, and he’s also a very good athlete with good range and arm strength at the shortstop position. His footwork and positioning need work, but that’s what the minor leagues are for. He didn’t crack BA’s latest rankings, but KLaw had him 54th overall.
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