The Yankees hold the 18th overall selection and Baseball America currently has them taking New York HS RHP Ian Anderson. He’s from Shenendehowa up near Albany. MLB.com ranked Anderson as the No. 11 prospect in the draft class. Here’s the nuts and bolts of their free scouting report:
Tall and projectable with the ability to add strength, Anderson throws his fastball in the 91-95 mph range with good downhill angle. His breaking ball can be plus at times, getting swings and misses. It has slurve action at this point, but could tighten up and become a true slider in time. Anderson has good feel for an average changeup as well. He’s generally around the strike zone and attacks hitters.
It’s worth noting Anderson is committed to Vanderbilt, which has a history of getting its recruits to put off pro ball and come to school. It typically takes an above-slot bonus to keep kids away from Vandy. That’s how Dellin Betances landed a $1M bonus as an eighth rounder back in 2006. He was ticketed for Vanderbilt.
The Yankees haven’t had a lot of success developing projectable high school arms like Anderson in recent years, which is why they’ve started to skew towards college players. That isn’t to say they definitely would not draft Anderson this June, just that it would be going against the grain. We’ll see.
Baseball America had the Yankees taking California HS RHP Kevin Gowdy in their first mock draft last month. Gowdy seems much more up New York’s alley. Here’s my write-up on him. The mock draft is not behind the paywall, so make sure you check it out. Good way to keep tabs on each player’s stock.
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