Yanks’ 30th round pick, #920 overall
By · CommentsWith their 30th round pick, the Yanks selected Ben McMahan, C, Bishop Moore HS (Fl.)
Scouting Report: Known as a defense first catcher, McMahan also has a potent bat and runs very well for a catcher. His defense is Gold Glove caliber, and he could blossom into a .280-.350-.420 hitter. He’s a strong student and committed to Florida. Here’s his scouting video.
My Take: Great pick. Let’s hope they keep him away from the Gators.
Outlook: If they sign him, we won’t see him in any games until 2009 because it’ll likely go don to the wire. He could survive a full season assignment next year based on his defense alone.
ByWe’ve all heard about Mark Melancon. We know he’s one of our Tommy John Rehab Watch guys, and we know that the buzz is growing surrounding Melancon. We heard he could be the next eighth inning guy for the Yanks and a possible replacement for Mariano Rivera when that time finally comes. But just who is Mark Melancon? Today, Tyler Kepner answers that question in a profile on the 23-year-old. Check it out. · (6) ·
Wang’s problems reminiscent of unpopular Yank
By · CommentsRemember April? It’s easy to start off an article that way, since things are so vastly different now than they were then. Now Jason Giambi is helping carry this offense. Now Melky Carbera has cooled off, to say the least. And now Chien-Ming Wang is having his bout with ineffectiveness.
During the season’s first month, Wang was 5-0, picking up his sixth win without a loss on May 2. Since then, he’s 0-2, and has seen his ERA balloon from an even 3.00 to 4.57. The “Wang is an ace” crowd was getting rather indignant in April. They’re not quite eating crow yet, but their arrogance was certainly overstated.
According to pitching coach Dave Eiland and catcher Jorge Posada, Wang’s troubles are in the form of a mechanical issue. I’m loathe to write this phrase, since it was also attributed to Randy Johnson when he came to New York, but it appears Wang is “flying open” during his delivery. This leads him to “drop his right elbow and push the ball rather than drive it down. That means no sink on his sinker and a loss of command.”
Posada notes that because he uses different arm angles for his slider and sinker, he’s having trouble moving from the former to the latter. This seems a bit strange to me. If he’s using different arm angles for specific pitches, isn’t that an easy tip to hitters? Then again, that could be another facet of his recent struggles.
So we’re getting less than expected from Pettitte and Wang, and realizing the worst case scenarios from IPK and Hughes. Yes, we’re getting far more than anyone could have expected from Mike Mussina and Darrell Rasner, but that hasn’t quite balanced things out yet. But as the offense returns to its true form, we’re going to rely on these pitchers to drive us a 15th straight playoff appearance.
Yanks’ 9th round pick, #290 overall
By · CommentsWith their 9th round pick, the Yanks’ selected Mikey O’Brien, RHP, Hidden Valley HS (Va.)
Scouting Report: A short (5’11″) righthander, O’Brien works with a low-90′s fastball, a good changeup and a solid curve. He commands his pitches exceptionally well, and could add a tick or two as he fills out. He can hit a little too, leading his team in RBI as a senior.
My Take: I love the pick. He’s got a strong commitment to Winthrop, but anytime you take a 5’11″ player named Michael (just like me), you done good. And, well, he sounds like a heck of a pitcher too.
Outlook: If they sign him, he’ll get a few innings in the Rookie level GCL.
ByWell, if there was ever good news, this is it. Buried a bit in this notebook, the main part of which I’ll discuss shortly, Ed Price notes that Brian Bruney has been cleared to throw from 60 feet, and could make his way back this season, as early as the All-Star break. I know many of you aren’t convinced that Bruney can cut it, but he looked impressive early on. Considering our current options in the pen, his comeback would be more than welcome. · (18) ·
Welcome to Day 2
By · CommentsHard to believe there’s still 44 rounds left in the draft, huh? The draft starts back up at noon (I think), and you can follow along all day via MLB’s Draft Tracker. I’m not going to blog all of the Yanks’ picks today, just the signability guys and any other ones I feel like chiming in on. Here’s some quick notes:
- Lane Meyer of NoMaas fame dug up some good info on 6th rounder Brett Marshall. Brett’s father Eddie said it’ll take around $1M to sign his son away from Rice, and to that I say: Fuck the heck dad, pay your own mortgage! Seriously though, the Yanks wouldn’t have taken the kid this high if they didn’t have the intention of signing him.
- I’m a pitching guy for whatever reason, I’ve always tended to gravitate towards the guys on the mound more than the guys in the box, especially high schoolers. That said, there’s some great pitching left available, led by Pepperdine RHP Brett Hunter, prep RHP’s Alex Meyer & Danny Webb, and prep LHP’s Nick Maronde & Brett Mooneyham. All five are signability guys at this point, and I want Maronde more than any of the other three. Taking him right out of the chute in the 7th round would already be a steal.
- The best hitters left on the board are Pepperdine LF/DH Eric Thames, and prep 3B’s Zach Cox and Harold Martinez. Thames missed the end of the season with a quad injury, Cox is a signability guy at this point, and Martinez just had a terrible draft year. Any of the three is a coup regardless of where they are drafted at this point.
- John Manuel and JJ Cooper of Baseball America wrapped up the first and sandwich rounds in a great 15-minute podcast. Manuel raved about the Jeremy Bleich pick, noting that he has first round talent but fell off the radar because of a minor elbow injury.
- KLaw wrapped up the first round best pick/worst pick style.
- Paul DePodesta live blogged each of the Padres’ picks. DePo’s blog has become a must read, make sure you don’t miss it.
Finally, I just wanted to mention that we shattered all sort of records yesteday (and by we, I mean you). Over 25,000 readers checked in, more than double a typical game day. I guess a walk-off win and the draft will do that. Over 720 comments were left on the draft posts alone, and that oblierated the RAB single day record by like, 300 comments. Thanks for making us part of your daily rotation, and if you just found the site yesterday, thanks for sticking around in the future.
DotF(o shizzle)
By · CommentsWhat a day. First a walk-off win, then the Yanks draft Gerrit Cole, then Manny and Youk get into a fight in the dugout, and then on top of all that, it was a pretty kick ass night in the system. Our annual draft day technical meltdown was cause by the enormous amounts of traffic coming to the site, which is a nice change from the shitty server induced meltdowns of years’ past. In case you missed any of the draft action, go here.
Here’s the box scores: AAA, AA, A+ and A-.
- Ben Broussard traded in one of those doubles for a homer.
- Eric Duncan picked up two hits, one a double.
- Jeff Marquez had his best start in AAA, but he didn’t strike anyone out over 7 innings. He had an 18-3 GB/FB ratio though.
- Austin Jackson & Jose Tabata each doubled in run some runs. Eladio Rodriguez had a pair of two-baggers.
- Al Aceves had his worse start of the year, giving up 5 runs in 6 IP.
- Bo Hall picked up the win with 2.2 hitless innings of relief.
- Mitch Hilligoss, Andres Perez and James Cooper each picked up a pair of hits.
- Ivan Nova got rocked, giving up 7 hits and 6 runs in 5 IP. He did strikeout 7 though.
- Charleston’s game is not quite done yet, but they’ve already drawn 13 walks as a team. Crazy.
- Abe Almonte reached base 3 times before being lifted. The River Dogs were winning big, so I’m guessing it was just to rest him up a bit.
- Justin Snyder laced a pair of doubles. Lots of doubles tonight, eh?
- Bradley Suttle, Jesus Montero, Austin Romine, Brandon Laird & Carmen Angelini all picked up a hit and either lots of RBI or lots of walks. The offense was just ridiculous tonight.
- Adam Olbrychowski pitched well for 3 innings, but Wilkins DeLaRosa came in and shobed it for 4 innings: 2 baserunners, 5 K, 5 groundballs.
Anyone hear Michael Kay during the game today say that Girardi should have the entire team on the field an hour early tomorrow to learn how to bunt? Hysterical. Regular DotF returns Saturday after I recover from the draft.
Update: Forgot to mention this link. Baby-Bombers.com is selling game used Staten Island Yankees’ jerseys, which is pretty cool. They have everyone imaginable, from Dellin Betances to Eric Duncan to Darrell Rasner to Eric Wordekemper to Mike Gillespie to David Parrish to Steve Karsay to Dan McCutchen to Jose Contreras, you name it, they have it. Cool stuff.
Yanks’ seventh pick, #200 overall
By · CommentsWith their 6th round pick, the Yanks’ picked Brett Marshall, RHP, Sterling HS (Tx.)
(can’t find a pic)
Scouting Report: The first “signability” guy the Yanks grabbed, Marshall works at 91-94 with his fastball and has a knockout slider when right. Struggles to the throw trikes because he’s inconsistent with his delivery. Only 6’0″, 185 lbs, but Baseball America rated him the 87th best prospect in the entire draft class. Here’s his draft video.
My Take: Love it. Time to start flexing those financial muscles.
Outlook: If they sign him (committed to Rice), it’ll probably go down to the wire, so he may not get into any games this season. More than likely he’d head to Instructional League where they can work on his delivery.
They’re done picking for the day. Rock Solid haul with some intriguing prep position players and two stud high school arms. Back at it tomorrow.
Yanks’ sixth pick #170 overall
By · CommentsWith their 5th round pick, the Yanks’ selected Chris Smith, LF, Centennial HS (Ca.)
(not finding a picture with a name like that)
Scouting Report: Can’t find anything on him. Baseball America rated him the 105th best prospect in the state of California though. Here’s his scouting video.
My Take: Dunno enough to say. Maybe he’s a tooled up uber-athlete like Austin Jackson. Seems like a little bit of an overdraft.
Outlook: Rookie level GCL I guess.
Looks like they’re going one more round. Those cooky front office execs.
Update: This boy can hit. His line this year: .708-.744-1.361-2.105.
