River Avenue Blues

6/14 to 6/17 Series Preview: Tampa Bay Rays

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Wilson Ramos and Mallex Smith (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

After splitting with the Nationals, the Yankees welcome the Rays for four games after not playing Tampa for over two months.

The Last Time They Met

Somehow, the Yankees and Rays have only played two games this season. The Yankees swept a two-game set to start their 2018 home slate on April 3-4.

  • Opening Day was snowed out in a throwback to 1996, perhaps a good omen for things to come. Once things got underway, Didi Gregorius had a day to remember with eight RBI and two three-run homers in an 11-4 win.
  • Giancarlo Stanton had a forgettable game in his first home appearance at Yankee Stadium, striking out five times. He quickly made up for it with a home run off Blake Snell the next day.
  • Stanton, Gary Sanchez and Aaron Judge each had two-run shots as the Yankees completed the sweep with a 7-2 win behind Luis Severino.

For more information, check out Katie’s Yankeemetrics post on that series.

Injury Report

Five potential Rays starters are on the shelf, including Jose De Leon, Anthony Banda and top prospect Brent Honeywell undergoing Tommy John surgery. Chris Archer (abdominal strain) could miss another month and Jake Faria is on the 60-day DL.

Adeiny Hechavarria and Kevin Kiermaier should each be back later this month (but not this series) from a hamstring and thumb injury, respectively.

Their Story So Far

The Rays come into the Bronx at 32-35, good for third place in the top-heavy American League East. They’ve gone 4-6 in their last 10 games and are 17-19 away from Tropicana Field. Despite casting off most of their big names, they’ve been solid offensively, hitting .255/.324/.394 (101 wRC+) entering Thursday.

While their pitching numbers don’t look too special on the surface, they’ve received 39 2/3 fewer innings out of their starters than any other team with 301 innings in 67 games. That’s because of their “openers,” relievers who start the game and face the top portion of the lineup before handing the ball over to the normal starter.

Lineup We Might See

The Rays have added a couple prospects (Jake Bauers and Willy Adames) to their lineup since the Bombers last saw them while shedding Denard Span via trade.

1. 3B Matt Duffy (.324/.351/.409, 112 wRC+)
2. 1B Jake Bauers (.308/.379/.538, 155 wRC+)
3. C Wilson Ramos (.282/.324/.442, 113 wRC+)
4. DH C.J. Cron (.251/.331/.470, 123 wRC+)
5. 2B Joey Wendle (.277/.322/.375, 93 wRC+)
6. SS Willy Adames (.227/.250/.409, 75 wRC+)
7. CF Mallex Smith (.294/.356/.387, 109 wRC+)
8. RF Carlos Gomez (.180/.255/.325, 62 wRC+)
9. LF Rob Refsnyder (.177/.323/.291, 81 wRC+)

Evo is back! (Mitchell Layton/Getty)

The “Starting Pitchers” We Will See

Thursday (7:05 PM ET): RHP Domingo German vs. LHP Blake Snell
Blake Snell is quickly turning into the pitcher that many thought he could be a couple years ago. He comes into this series with a 2.30 ERA over 82 1/3 innings and 14 starts. He has struck 89 batters and walked just 25, drastically cutting his walk rate (and his hit rate to boot).

He struggled against the Bombers in April to the tune of five runs in 3 1/3 innings, but he has allowed more than two earned runs in only two of his 14 starts. With Archer out, he’s the Rays’ ace and workhorse, yet he still typically only goes six innings or so. He’s won his last four decisions.

Last Outing (vs. SEA on June 9) – 6.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R (1 ER), 2 BB, 1 K, 1 HR

Friday (7:05 PM ET): RHP Jonathan Loaisiga vs. RHP Nathan Eovaldi
It’s so good to see Nathan Eovaldi back among the healthy. A torn flexor tendon and UCL ended his Yankees tenure and sent him to Tommy John surgery, keeping him out until this year. It looked like he’d be in the Rays’ No. 2 starter in their opening series, but then another elbow injury delayed his return.

And then he no-hit the Athletics for six innings in his first game back. He’s had less success in his last two starts, but he’s built up to over 100 pitches. He’s the same Eovaldi you remember: Still hits 100 mph on the gun, still can’t miss bats with enough consistency. He’s had solid control thus far, issuing just two walks in 16 innings.

Last Outing (vs. SEA on June 10) – 5.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 3 K, 2 HR

Saturday (1:05 PM ET): RHP Luis Severino vs. TBA

Sunday (2:05 PM ET): LHP CC Sabathia vs. TBA

OK, so it’s TBA, but it’s likely going to be a pair of relievers. Maybe Ryan Yarbrough will get a start, but he could also come in after whichever reliever manager Kevin Cash chooses to use. The way Cash typically uses the “opener” is keep the reliever-starter in for the first 5-6 batters, usually getting them into the second inning or so. Then comes the pitcher who normally starts (Yarbrough, Austin Pruitt, etc) for a couple times through the lineup.

The first time the Rays used the opener made perfect sense; They were facing a RHB-heavy Angels team and used Sergio Romo to counteract them. It was a really smart move. But it’s been overkill to use it 2-3 times every week. They’re doing it against platoon-balanced lineups and it’s really backfired a few times. Ultimately, this wouldn’t be happening if the Rays had rotation depth.

The Bullpen

No more Alex Colome after he was traded with Span to Seattle. It’s mostly been closer by committee with Sergio Romo and Chaz Roe as two of the late-inning options. Lefty Jose Alvarado gets high leverage opportunities as well while fellow southpaw Jonny Venters limits LHBs well. RHP Diego Castillo is four games into his career and has struck out eight in 5 2/3 innings.

Beyond those four, it’s a mix of long relievers and openers. Matt Andriese and Wilmer Font combined for seven innings on Wednesday (Castillo pitched the other two), so they’re unlikely to pitch early in the series. Austin Pruitt pitched 2 2/3 innings on Tuesday while Ryne Stanek opened with two shutout innings. Yarbrough and former Yankee Vidal Nuno round out the rest of the motley crew.

Yankees Connection

Cash had 10 games in pinstripes during the 2009 title run while Eovaldi and Refsnyder are recent Yankees. Roe and his wonderful slider spent three games with the Bombers in 2014 and Nuno was a Yankee for 22 games in 2013-14. On the 40-man, recently acquired Ji-Man Choi was a stopgap at first base for the Yankees last season.

Who (Or What) to Watch?

  • Old Timer’s Day on Sunday! I’m excited to see Andy Pettitte don pinstripes again and hopefully we’ll see him try to pick someone off. Aaron Boone is also getting in on the action among the other newcomers.
  • Jonathan Loaisiga’s debut against Eovaldi’s return to the Bronx. The Yankees dip into their prospect wealth against one of their former young starters. A fun matchup for the Pinstripers.
  • Similar to Loaisiga’s debut, let’s see how Jake Bauers and Willy Adames do in their first matchups against the Yankees. Each is among the Rays’ top prospects and Bauers has gotten off to an impressive start over the last week.

Yankeemetrics: Dinger derby, Yankees split (June 12-13)

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(Newsday)

#DidiDingers
Two days after suffering their first shutout loss of the season against the Mets, the Yankees bounced back on Tuesday night with a 3-0 victory over the Nationals in the Bronx. It was their fourth shutout win of 2018, more than halfway to their total in 2017 (seven).

The win also guaranteed that they’d keep their “haven’t-lost-three-games-in-a-row streak” alive for at least a few more days. It is the Yankees’ longest such streak to start a season since 1954, when they didn’t lose back-to-back-to-back games until August 22 in their 124th game on the schedule.

(AP)

CC Sabathia produced a second straight superb outing, pitching into the sixth inning without giving up a run. He put a lot of traffic on the bases (four hits, three walks, hit batter) but was tough-as-nails when the pressure was greatest, pitching out of jams in nearly every inning to keep the Nats off the scoreboard.

This type of gutty performance is nothing new for Sabathia, who has limited batters to a .439 OPS with runners in scoring position this season, the second-best mark among AL pitchers and sixth-best in MLB (min. 50 batters faced).

And he did it in typical re-invented Sabathia form, by generating weak contact. As you can see below, only two balls in play against Sabathia were hit with solid contact (the pink/red zone in the chart):

The big lefty also notched a few milestones on Tuesday night. With his 124th regular season win as a Yankee, he broke a tie with Mike Mussina for 12th place on the all-time franchise list. And his fourth-inning strikeout of Michael Taylor was the 1,500th of his Yankee career, the fifth pitcher in team history to reach that mark and the fastest to do so.

*Number of games to reach 1,500 K
Strikeouts Games*
Andy Pettitte 2,020 338
Whitey Ford 1,956 381
Ron Guidry 1,778 303
Red Ruffing 1,526 560
CC Sabathia 1,500 267

Didi Gregorius, slowly emerging from his miserable May slump, snapped his power drought in style. He launched two home runs in his first four plate appearances, after going deep just once (on May 23) in his previous 143 plate appearances dating back to the last week of April.

It was his third multi-homer game in 2018, the most by any shortstop in a single season in franchise history, and his fourth as a Yankee. He’s already tied with Frankie Crosetti for the second-most career multi-homer games by a shortstop; only Derek Jeter, with 10 in his 20 pinstriped seasons, has more.

(Getty)

Teenage kryptonite
The Comeback Kids came up just short on Wednesday night, losing 5-4 in a wild, back-and-forth game. The loss also dropped them to 8-8 all-time at home versus the Nationals/Expos franchise. The only other franchise that has a .500 or better regular-season record in the Bronx against the Yankees is the Braves (10-7).

Despite my best efforts to fix/reverse-jinx him, Sonny Gray’s struggles at Yankee Stadium continued. He entered the game with a 7.22 ERA in six starts in the Bronx this season, the second-worst home ERA in the AL (min. 25 IP), and exited with the same 7.22 ERA after giving up four runs in five innings. Looking ahead … the highest single-season ERA at either version of Yankee Stadium by a Yankee pitcher (min. 10 starts) is 6.32 by Phil Hughes in 2013.

(New York Post)

Three of the four runs allowed by Gray came via a home run by Juan Soto, who hit a 338-foot wallscraper to left field in the fourth, and also launched a tie-breaking solo shot in the seventh off Chasen Shreve. Amazingly, this was Yankees first loss this season when tied at the start of the seventh inning; they were a perfect 8-0 in that situation before Wednesday.

At 19 years and 231 days old, Soto became the youngest player to homer against the Yankees since Andruw Jones (19 years, 180 days) in Game 1 of the 1996 World Series, and the youngest to do it in the regular season since Ken Griffey Jr. (19 years, 190 days) on May 30, 1989. All three of those guys — Soto, Jones, Griffey — hit two homers in their historic games.

Gleyber Torres did his best to match the teenage phenom, flexing his clutch gene with a career-long 435-foot blast in the fifth inning that briefly tied the game 4-4. It was his 12th homer, a new single-season Yankees record for a No. 9 hitter. Seven of the 12 have either tied the game or given the Yankees a lead — and those seven game-tying/go-ahead homers are two more than any other Yankee has hit since his debut on April 22.

With 19-year-old Soto and 21-year-old Torres both going deep in the game, STATS dug up this gem:

The Yankees had plenty of chances to put this game away with 10 baserunners (eight hits, two walks), but their slumping bats again failed in key scoring situations. After going 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position on Wednesday, they are 1-for-28 (.036) with RISP over their last six games, and 3-for-47 (.081) with RISP in their last eight games dating back to the second game of the June 4 doubleheader versus the Tigers.

Brett Gardner and his future beyond 2018

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(Presswire)

With approximately 40% of the 2018 season in the books, Brett Gardner has once again been a catalyst atop the lineup for the Yankees. He’s hitting .262/.357/.394 (109 wRC+) with five homers, six steals, and lots of walks (11.9%) so far this year. He’s had some huge hits too. Add in excellent defense and this is a very typical Brett Gardner season.

The Yankees have the best winning percentage in baseball thanks in part to Gardner — “He’s a savage up there at the top (of the lineup),” said Aaron Boone to Bryan Hoch over the weekend — and, for them to get back to the World Series, he’s going to have to continue to be a spark plug from the leadoff spot. Gardner’s importance to the 2018 Yankees is obvious.

Because getting ahead of ourselves is what we do around here, I want to look past 2018 and discuss Gardner’s future with the Yankees beyond this season. He’ll turn 35 in August and this is the final guaranteed year on his contract. His contract terms:

  • 2018: $11.5M salary
  • 2019: $12.5M club option ($2M buyout)

The 2019 club option is net $10.5M decision because of the buyout. Gardner has made it very clear in recent seasons that he wants to remain with the Yankees — “(I) wouldn’t really want to play anywhere else,” he said to Brendan Kuty earlier this week — though it is not entirely up to him. Realistically, the Yankees will have four options with Gardner after the season.

1. Pick up the option and keep him. Nice and simple. Age-related decline is a risk, for sure, but it’s a one-year deal, plus Gardner is playing well this season and he’s a clubhouse leader. The Yankees love Gardner and his value to the team transcends what he does on the field. That $10.5M in new money may seem pricey for a 35-year-old low power corner outfielder, but who cares? The Yankees have lots of money and they’re resetting their luxury tax rate this year.

2. Pick up the option and trade him. The Pirates did that this past offseason with Andrew McCutchen. They didn’t want to keep him but they didn’t want to lose him for nothing either, so they exercised the option and traded him. Keep in mind Gardner will pick up 10-and-5 rights later this month, giving him full no-trade protection. Once that happens, he’ll be able to put a stop to the whole “pick up the option and trade him” thing.

3. Decline the option and let Gardner walk. Pay him the $2M buyout, thank him for eleven years in pinstripes, and move on. Clint Frazier is waiting to be turned loose in Triple-A, after all. The Yankees have made difficult decisions like this before — remember when they let Hideki Matsui walk days after he won World Series MVP? — and they’ll make them again. Letting a 35-year-old walk so you can play the highly regarded 24-year-old is the natural order of things.

4. Tear up the option and work out a new contract. Gardner’s option is a $10.5M decision, and, during the offseason from hell this past winter, only three free agent outfielders received at least $10M guaranteed: Jay Bruce (three years, $39M), Lorenzo Cain (five years, $80M), and J.D. Martinez (five years, $110M). Yeesh. As good as he is now and as good as he’s been throughout his career, is 35-year-old Brett Gardner getting $10.5M in free agency? Probably not.

The Yankees could pass on the option and offer Gardner a new one-year contract at what, maybe $8M? That only saves $2.5M, but it is $2.5M in real money, and that’s a lot of money! They could also approach Gardner with a two-year contract, or a one-year deal with an option. Say two years and $14M? Or one year at $8M with an $8M option for 2020? Point is, the Yankees could pass on the option and try to bring Gardner back at a lower salary.

* * *

“‘I’ve been honest about not ever wanting to get traded, wanting to stay here, and thankfully I’ve been very fortunate to spend eleven seasons here and it’s a special team and I’ve gotten to know a lot of special people,” Gardner said to Kuty. “So hopefully this isn’t my last year here, but I think the way that I play on the field and trying to stay healthy for the whole season will dictate that.”

This isn’t a decision that has to be made yet, of course. Gardner is a core Yankee and an important part of the team, and he’s one of the guys who will be counted on to get the Yankees to the World Series. The option decision and Gardner’s future is something that will wait until after the season. We still have five or so months of information to gather. What if Gardner falls off a cliff in the second half? That could make the option decision easy.

I know this much: The Yankees love Gardner. Always have, dating back to his days as a prospect. They love what he does on the field and they love what he brings in the clubhouse. The current free agent climate might say Gardner is not worth the $10.5M in new money, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if the Yankees value him at that price internally. The Yankees did haggle with Derek Jeter a few years ago, so declining the option and working out a new deal to save a few bucks is certainly on the table, but it seems clear the Yankees really value Gardner.

There are still 99 games to be played this season (plus the postseason!), so we’ll see how things play out and where the Yankees and Gardner sit after the season. Right now, on June 14th, I think the smart money is on Gardner manning left field come 2019. How that happens (pick up the option, new contract, etc.) remains to be seen. Gardner wants to remain with the Yankees, and to me, his future in pinstripes seems secure.

DotF: McKinney continues homer barrage in Scranton’s loss

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Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (4-3 loss to Rochester)

  • CF Clint Frazier: 1-4, 1 BB, 1 K
  • SS Tyler Wade: 1-5, 1 R
  • 3B Brandon Drury: 3-5, 1 RBI, 1 K — up to .325/.448/.462 in 35 games with the RailRiders
  • RF Billy McKinney: 1-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI — took former Yankees farmhand LHP Dietrich Enns deep … eight homers in his last 15 games now
  • 2B Abi Avelino: 1-4, 1 E (missed catch)
  • C Kyle Higashioka: 1-4, 1 R
  • RHP Chance Adams: 7 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 1 HB, 10/4 GB/FB — 69 of 106 pitches were strikes (65%), plus he picked a runner off first … let’s see whether he can build off this, because literally every time he’s had a great start this season, he’s gotten hit around the next time out
  • RHP Cody Carroll: 1 IP, zeroes, 0/2 GB/FB — seven of 12 pitches were strikes
  • RHP Tommy Kahnle: 1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 1 HR, 0/2 GB/FB — ten of 15 pitches were strikes

[Read more…]

Nationals 5, Yankees 4: Soto’s two-homer night sinks Yanks

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A tough loss against a good team. The Yankees dropped tonight’s game against the Nats 5-4 after not being able to hold an early 3-1 lead. The story of the game was Juan Soto, a 19-year old wunderkind who, if you didn’t notice before tonight, can hit an absolute heck out of baseball. It was only the 4th one-run loss for the Bronx Bombers this season. Oh well, can’t win’em all. Let’s recap this thing.

(Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

The back-and-forth battle

Sonny Gray started the game by throwing 16 pitches to two hitters and getting neither out. Not great! Adam Eaton hit a ground-rule double and Trea Turner reached with an infield single to put runners on corners with Bryce Harper up. Gray did strike out Harper but by then, he had thrown a whopping 22 pitches. Anthony Rendon hit a sac fly to drive Eaton in and that was all the damage he allowed in the inning.

The Yankees got a run back in 10 pitches. Brett Gardner singled to center, stole a base and reached third when Spencer Kieboom’s throw got past the second baseman. Aaron Judge promptly drove him in with a sac fly.

Greg Bird, who was 5-for-40 entering tonight, gave the Yankees a go-ahead run in the 2nd with a solo HR to right. Erik Fedde hung a breaking ball up the zone and big league hitters don’t miss that, especially with Bird and his Yankee Stadium tailor-made swing. The Bronx Bombers added another in the third. Judge hit a big double (right off the plexiglass by the visitor’s bullpen) with one out, advanced to third on Didi Gregorius ground out, and Giancarlo Stanton drove him in with an RBI single just off Rendon’s glove. 3-1 Yanks.

That lead did not last long. In the fourth, Gray got the first two outs before allowing two baserunners via a Daniel Murphy walk and Matt Adams base hit. Enter Juan Soto. The youngster got a high-and-away Gray fastball and hit a towering fly ball that just kept carrying and carrying … and gone! The Yankee Stadium dimensions might have helped, but for a 19-year old to hit a 45-degree launch angle home run way opposite field, that’s some special pop on the bat. Anyways, it was a bad news for the Yanks. 4-3 Nats.

Here comes Gleyber Torres. Leading off the bottom of fifth, he hit a 435-feet bomb that hit the sign on the back of the visitor’s bullpen. That, of course, tied the game and also got him tied for the home run lead among American League 2nd baseman (with Yangervis Solarte). Let’s see it in GIF format since it is probably the most glorious thing the Yankee fans saw tonight:

You blink, you lose

Let’s fast forward to the seventh. With Chasen Shreve working his second inning of the night, Juan Soto absolutely unloaded on a fastball right down the middle for a home run over the Yankees bullpen. Statcast said it measured at 436 feet, but I don’t know if I believe that. That thing was absolutely crushed. Here is how Shreve located that 92-mph pitch:

and it went all the way there:

I thought it was … interesting Aaron Boone let Shreve work more than an inning. He’s been mostly limited to an inning’s worth of work (or less) this season. Prior to tonight, Shreve worked 18 out of 22 outings for an inning or less. In 3 out of 4 instances he went more than an inning, the Yankees were already on the losing side and the one they didn’t was during an extra inning game against Baltimore. In a tie game against a team that can do some damage, I don’t know if I would have let a reliever with a 1.74 HR/9 IP and 4.55 FIP that much leash.

The Yankees had a major opportunity to tie the game up in the eighth. Against Ryan Madson, who’s been in baseball as long as I’ve followed the MLB, Gregorius walked and Stanton singled to put two runners on with one out. That threat was dispelled relatively cheaply — Aaron Hicks struck out and Miguel Andujar flew out to end the frame. The Yankees followed it up with a quiet 1-2-3 inning against Sean Doolittle in the 9th to drop the ballgame.

Leftovers

Alright so Gray wasn’t that great today. He’s been better lately, but the outing will not do him any favors on the “Gray can’t pitch in Bronx” narrative. He went 5 IP, 7 H, 4 H, 2 BB, 1 K and 1 HR. Granted, the Nats lineup is pretty good but not being able to locate consistently in the zone cost him some pitch counts. Let’s make some contrasts. Here’s a pitching map from June 6 outing when Gray threw 8 scoreless vs. Jays.

And here’s one from tonight:

Even with simple eye test, you can see that there are noticeably more dots concentrated in the zone when he pitched well. Not as much tonight. It’s entirely possible that Gray was more conscious of the Nats hitters and/or being at the Yankee Stadium. Or he was just having an off-night with his command. Bottom line is, there’s quite a contrast between when he has a good or bad outing.

Some positive stuff: Bird went 2-for-4 tonight with a double and homer. Stanton had a three hit game as well! Gregorius went 0-for-2 but he walked twice. Those are the hitters that reached base more than once tonight. Hicks, Andujar and Romine, who are capable of better nights, went 0-for-12 combined.

Box score, highlights, standings and WPA

Here’s tonight’s box score, video highlights, updated standings and WPA. The Red Sox won tonight so the Yanks fall a game behind them in the AL East standings.


Source: FanGraphs

Up next

The Yankees host the Tampa Bay Rays for a four-game series. Domingo German will be on the hill and the Rays will send out their ace Blake Snell, who’s having a heck of a season (8-3, 2.30 ERA/3.31 FIP).

Game 63: Sonny For The Two-Game Sweep

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(Al Bello/Getty)

In their third attempt of the season, the Yankees and Nationals finally played a full nine innings last night. They had a game suspended last month and another one rained out. Last night’s win was a good one, a crispy 3-0 shutout. The Yankees have baseball’s best record at 43-19 and they’ve won ten of their last 12 games overall. Things are going pretty great.

You know what would be nice today? A blowout win. Spot starter Erick Fedde will be on the mound tonight — he has a 4.76 ERA in 56.2 Triple-A innings this season — and it would be swell to see the Yankees jump on him early and coast to an easy win. A.J. Cole hasn’t pitched in 16 days. 16 days! How about letting him throw some mop-up innings with a big lead? Could be cool. Here are the lineups:

New York Yankees
1. LF Brett Gardner
2. RF Aaron Judge
3. SS Didi Gregorius
4. DH Giancarlo Stanton
5. CF Aaron Hicks
6. 3B Miguel Andujar
7. 1B Greg Bird
8. C Austin Romine
9. 2B Gleyber Torres

RHP Sonny Gray

Washington Nationals
1. RF Adam Eaton
2. SS Trea Turner
3. CF Bryce Harper
4. 3B Anthony Rendon
5. DH Daniel Murphy
6. 1B Matt Adams
7. LF Juan Soto
8. 2B Wilmer Difo
9. C Spencer Kieboom

RHP Erick Fedde

It is cloudy and humid in New York and that means rain. Thankfully it is not expected to arrive until later tonight. The Yankees and Nationals should be in the clear unless this game goes long. Tonight’s game will begin at 7:05pm ET and you can watch on YES locally and ESPN nationally. Enjoy the game.

2018 Draft Signings: Breaux, Green, German, Bies

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Bro, it’s Breaux. (@MLBDraft)

The 2018 draft signing deadline is Friday, July 6th this year, and already the Yankees have signed nine of their top ten picks. The club made the announcement this morning. The one holdout is UNC RHP Rodney Hutchison, the team’s sixth round pick. He’ll sign once North Carolina’s season ends. They’re currently in the College World Series.

Our Draft Pool Tracker page is now live, so you can keep tabs on the Yankees’ bonus pool situation there. The Draft Pool page is available at all times under the Resources tab. You can see all of the team’s picks right here. Here are my Day One, Day Two, and Day Three draft recaps, and here are the latest draft signings.

Breaux gets $1.5M

Texas JuCo C Josh Breaux (2nd round) has signed, the Yankees announced. Here’s a photo of the signing, if you’re interested. Jim Callis says Breaux received an overslot $1.5M bonus. Slot money for the 61st overall pick is $1,086,900. MLB.com ranked Breaux as the 71st best prospect in the draft class. Here’s a snippet of their scouting report:

Breaux has well above-average raw power to all fields and an aggressive right-handed swing that generates uncommon bat speed … Scouts were skeptical of Breaux’s ability to stay at catcher when they saw him as a freshman, but he has improved defensively and projects as at least an adequate receiver. His arm strength is an asset behind the plate, though the Arkansas commit needs to improve his throwing accuracy.

Breaux hit .404/.532/.831 with 18 home runs and more walks (48) than strikeouts (32) in 56 games as a sophomore this spring, and he was slated to transfer to Arkansas, so he had some leverage during contract talks. That led to the overslot bonus. Between Breaux and first rounder Anthony Seigler, the Yankees addressed their lack of catcher prospect depth in a hurry.

Green gets $1M

Tennessee HS OF Ryder Green (3rd round) has also signed, the Yankees announced. Here’s video of the signing. Jim Callis says Green received a $1M bonus while Jon Heyman says it’s $997,500. Either way, it’s nearly double the $576,400 slot value for the 97th overall pick. MLB.com ranked Green as the 81st best prospect in the draft class. Here’s part of their scouting report:

Green has physical strength and plenty of bat speed from the right side of the plate. He has had some swing-and-miss issues in the past but is making more consistent contact this spring. That bodes well for his ability to fully tap into his power potential, which ranks among the best in the 2018 high school crop … He’s an average runner out of the batter’s box and quicker once he gets going. He’ll have to move from center to right field at the next level and has the arm for it

Why the overslot bonus? Because Green was committed to Vanderbilt, which is a very tough commitment to break, historically. The Yankees gave Dellin Betances a $1M bonus as an eighth round pick back in the day to buy him away from Vanderbilt, for example.

The discrepancy between Callis and Heyman is essentially an accounting trick. The standard minor league player contract includes $2,500 in bonuses so easily attainable that teams were reporting them as part of the signing bonus. Teams aren’t doing that now, and it’s saving them a little something against the bonus pool.

German, Bies sign below slot

Earlier this week we heard the Yankees had deals in place with North Florida RHP Frank German (4th round) and Gonzaga RHP Daniel Bies (7th round), and, earlier today, the Yankees officially announced the signings. Jim Callis has the bonus information:

  • German: $350,000 bonus (slot for the 127th pick was $430,400)
  • Bies: $150,000 bonus (slot for the 217th pick was $194,000)

I’m surprised German signed that much below slot. I thought he would be a slot money guy or very close to it. MLB.com ranked him as the 191st best prospect in the draft class and said he “has a solid three-pitch mix that points to a future as a starting pitcher at the next level.”

As for Bies, I was surprised to see him get so much because I was under the impression he was a college senior, but it turns out he was a redshirt junior with another year of eligibility. College seniors typically sign for about $10,000. Sometimes even less. Bies was able to leverage that extra year of eligibility into six figures. Good for him.

The Yankees also announced the signings of Troy OF Brandon Lockridge (5th round), Bucknell RHP Connor Van Hoose (8th round), Grand Canyon RHP Mick Vorhof (9th round), and UNC Charlotte LHP Josh Maciejewski (10th round). The deals had been previously reportedly, and now they’re official. Lockridge received a $300,000 bonus. Not sure about anyone else yet. Van Hoose, Vorhof, and Maciejewski are all college seniors who likely signed well below slot.