We are now less than three weeks away from the 2014 amateur draft, which will surely be fun even though the Yankees do not have a first round pick. There’s a ton of pitching in this draft and more than a few quality arms will be available for their first pick in the second round, the 55th overall selection. Here’s a collection of miscellaneous draft links:
- Keith Law’s Mock Draft v1.0 (subs. req’d): Law has the Astros taking California HS LHP Brady Aiken, the consensus top talent in the draft, with the first overall pick. He also has NC State LHP Carlos Rodon falling to the Cubs with the fourth overall pick. The mock draft is for the first round only, so the Yankees are not included, but there’s a ton of info in there about which way clubs are leaning.
- Baseball America’s Mock Draft v2.0 (no subs. req’d): Meanwhile, Baseball America has Rodon going to Houston. Interestingly enough, hard-throwing (like 100+ mph) Texas HS RHP Tyler Kolek is said to be sliding because he throws so hard and teams are worried about his mechanics and his 6-foot-5, 250+ lb. frame. Again, the mock draft only covers the first round, so no Yankees.
- MLB.com’s Mock Draft v1.0: And finally, MLB.com also has the Astros taking Aiken first overall in their latest mock draft. No Yankees again, unfortunately. First round only. Based on the information in these three mock drafts, it doesn’t seem like ECU RHP Jeff Hoffman or UNLV RHP Erick Fedde are expected to fall out of the first round despite recently having Tommy John surgery.
- Baseball America’s Top 100 Draft Prospects: The recently updated list is free but the individual scouting reports are subscriber-only. By my count, 62 of Baseball America’s top 100 prospects are pitchers, so yeah, lots of arms this year. The Yankees have a ton of position player prospects and could use some more pitchers. I’m not saying they should pass on quality position players in favor of pitchers this year to fill a need but there’s a good chance the best available player for their first few picks will do his work on the mound.
- Keith Law’s Top 100 Draft Prospects (subs. req’d): Sixty-one of Law’s most recent top 100 draft prospects are pitchers, including 15 of 20 prospects in the 45-65 range. Talent tends to come of the board linearly these days thanks to the spending restrictions (the best players go first, they rarely fall), so the players in that 45-65 range are as good a bet as any to wind up being selected by the Yankees with that 55th overall pick.
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