So much for targeting high school catchers, huh? Actually, so much for targeting high schoolers in general. The Yankees wrapped up the 2014 Rule 4 Draft with their final 30 selections yesterday, and only six of those 30 picks come from the high school ranks. Scouting director Damon Oppenheimer wasn’t kidding when he told Chad Jennings they “might lean toward the college guy if everything’s equal” the other day.
The Yankees made 39 total picks in this year’s draft and the final tally is 24 pitchers, nine infielders, four outfielders, and two catchers. I swear it felt like way more than 24 pitchers while following the draft live. Only seven of the 39 were high school players, the other 32 were from either a four-year college or junior college. You can see every pick at Baseball America. Here is the Day One and Two review. Now let’s look over what happened on Day Three.
The Upside Plays
Despite their college heavy approach, the Yankees did land two prep upside plays on Day Three. Florida HS RHP Garrett Cave (17th round) already sits in the low-90s and will touch 95 with his fastball even though there is plenty of room to fill out his 6-foot-3, 190 lb. frame. He also has good athleticism, a promising curveball, and a work in progress changeup. New York will use some of their saved draft pool money to try to sign him away from Florida International. Oh, and as far as I know, he isn’t related to OF Jake Cave.
Five rounds later the Yankees selected Connecticut HS 3B Will Toffey (23), who also happens to be one of the top hockey players in the Northeast. He dropped hockey not too long ago and is now focusing on baseball exclusively. Toffey’s best tools are his speed and arm strength, though he projects to hit for both average and power from the left side as he gains more experience on the diamond. With a 6-foot-0 and 200 lb. frame with athleticism to spare, Toffey is something of a blank canvas with lots of potential. The team will have to buy him away from Vanderbilt, however.
The Lottery Tickets
Once you get into the late rounds, there’s not much a team can do other than gamble on super raw tools and athleticism. The Yankees drafted Stanford OF Dominic Jose (24) even though he was only a part-time player in college, hoping they could smooth out his swing and untap his power potential. Tennessee HS RHP Will Gaddis (36) is a raw thrower. On the position player side, New York also took California HS C Chris Hudgins (35) and South Carolina HS SS Madison Stokes (40). Stokes is expected to wind up at third and is more of a contact oriented, line drive hitter. The Yankees see something they like in each of these guys and will try to get them signed.
Big & Beautiful
It’s no secret the Yankees love physically huge players, especially on the mound. Day Three featured a run of massive college pitchers, including Eastern Illinois RHP Matt Borens (11), West Virginia RHP Sean Carley (14), Gonzaga LHP Derek Callahan (16), Concordia RHP Corey Holmes (20), Oregon LHP Porter Clayton (21), Indiana RHP Jake Kelzer (22), and USC RHP Lee Casas (28). Those seven average 6-foot-6 and 223 lbs. Boren, Holmes, Kelzer, and Casas stand 6-foot-7, 6-foot-6, 6-foot-8, and 6-foot-7, respectively. Carley, as you can see, bears some resemblance to Kenny Powers.
Carley and Kelzer are the best prospects of the bunch. They both sit in the low-90s with good sliders, almost non-existent changeups, and questionable control. It’s worth noting Kelzer was also on the swim team and has a really loose and athletic body. What more do you expect from double-digit round picks? Both guys were (mostly) relievers in college and figure to continue in that role in pro ball. Clayton walked more batters (26) than he struck out (25) in 36.1 innings this spring, but he has lefty specialist potential because of a low-90s heater and big breaking slurve. Borens should be able to start at the next level and both Callahan and Holmes are pure arm strength guys.
Corner Power
The Yankees draft four first basemen and only two shortstops this year, which is just weird. Usually teams load up on the up-the-middle players, but I guess they’re doing that in international free agency next month. Two of the three first basemen selected on Day Two are Grayson County JuCo 1B Chris Gittens (12) and Citadel 1B Bo Thompson (13), both of whom have huge raw power. The third, Oklahoma HS 1B Cameron Warren (39), projects to have power down the road. The other two have it right now.
Gittens is another huge guy at 6-foot-4 and 250 lbs., and he’s a better hitter than Thompson because of his bat-to-ball skills and advanced approach. Thompson is basically a brute masher, swinging from his heels and trying to yank the ball 500 feet every at-bat. The Yankees will try to teach him that he is strong enough to hit the ball out of the park with shorter, more controlled swings that make him a better all around hitter. None of the drafted first basemen stand out defensively, so the Yankees grabbed all of them for their bats. In the late rounds, power is a good tool to emphasize.
The Depth Players
Pittsburgh RHP Joe Harvey (19), Grand Canyon RHP Jorge Perez (30), and UNC Wilmington RHP Jordan Ramsey (32) are all bullpen prospects with good fastballs and not so good secondary stuff. Both Alabama RHP Justin Kamplain (18) and Pittsburgh RHP Matt Wotherspoon (34) have the three-pitch mixes necessary to start and I assume they’ll continue to do that in pro ball. Arizona State RHP David Graybill (33) played the infield this spring but has pitched in the past, and the Yankees plan to stick him on the mound full-time. That’s what they did with Chase Whitley back in the day.
On the position player side, Oppenheimer & Co. opted for experience with Washington State C Collin Slaybaugh (26), Jacksonville State OF Griffin Gordon (27), and William & Mary 2B Ryan Lindermuth (32), all of whom are seniors. They’ll help fill out minor league rosters. Same with UC Riverside OF Devyn Bolasky (31), a junior. Other miscellaneous arms include Boston College LHP Andrew Chin (15), Tampa RHP Dylan Barrow (25), and UH-Victoria RHP Andre Del Bosque (38). Some of these guys will sign, some won’t. Either way, they’re there to be role players around the actual prospects in the minors.
The Legacy Pick
The name says it all: Mariano Rivera Jr. The Yankees drafted Mo’s kid out of Iona College in the 29th round because that’s what teams do — they draft the kids of their all-time greats. It’s been going on for years. Junior told Stan Grossfield getting drafted is “an opportunity that I can’t let pass” back in April, though his father has made it clear he wants him to return to school to finish his education. Sounds like something the family will have to work out. Either way, Mariano Jr. is not his father and it’s unfair to put any kind of pressure on him or have any real expectations. (He doesn’t even throw a cutter.) He’s not much of a prospect and the draft pick was more of a thank you than anything. It’s nuts we’re at the point where Mo’s kid is getting drafted out of college though, isn’t it?
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Aside from Cave, Toffey, and Connecticut HS RHP Austin DeCarr (3), the Yankees did not draft a ton of upside this year. That is … kinda disappointing. They went very heavy on college players, particularly relievers, which are the types of prospects they’ve had success developing into MLB players over the last seven or eight years. They stuck to their strengths, basically. Boring but not entirely unreasonable, especially not with the rumored international spending spree on the horizon. This was far from the sexiest draft haul and its impact potential will depend on whether Cave and Toffey turn pro.
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