Now that the actual draft is over, all of our attention turns to the August 16th signing deadline (the 15th falls on a Sunday this year, so the league pushed the deadline back a day). As we already know, the Yankees selected several “signability” types in the later rounds of the draft, players that fell not because of talent, but because their willingness to sign came into question. The team drafted some of these players with every intention of paying of them, others were chosen as backup plays should the higher picks reverse course and decide not to sign, Gerrit Cole style.

It’s hard to say which of these players are the most important signs, but I’m going to give it a shot anyway. I’m leaving first rounder Cito Culver and second rounder Angelo Gumbs out for three reasons. One, and probably most importantly, they’re not big overslot guys. Two, I assume the Yanks have the intention of paying them if they were willing to use such I high draft pick on them. Three, those picks are protected, so if even if they don’t sign, the Yanks will receive the same pick plus one next year. Granted, the player now is worth more than the pick next year, but at least there’s some kind of fallback option.

Teams typically sign 30-35 of the 50 or so players they draft each year, so it’s inevitable that some talent will walk away. Knowing which ones to let what is what’s important. You’re inevitably going to disagree with me on this list, and I encourage that. I’ve never tried to do anything like this, and frankly rating players based on how important it is to sign them is a bit … odd. On to the list…

1. Kevin Jordan, OF, 19th round
Perhaps the best prospect the Yankees drafted this year, Jordan is a special athlete with good bloodlines and the raw tools to be an above average player on both sides of the ball. He fell in the draft for a few reasons, but mostly because he battled a flu-like illness in the spring that cost him some weight off his already lanky 6-foot-0, 190 lb. frame and prevented him from played at 100% in front of scouts. Jordan has a strong commitment to Wake Forest, where he’d play centerfield every day as a freshman.

It may not been a matter of simple money here, because Jordan’s father Brian had a long and productive big league career that netted him more than $51M in earnings (according to B-Ref). The Yanks are not only going to have to pay him handsomely, but also sell him on the idea of being a Yankee. Not always as easy as it sounds.

2. Tayler Morton, RHP, 9th round
The Yankees shoot for the moon with high upside athletes in this draft, but they also backed that strategy up by grabbing power arms in the later rounds. Morton has a big and projectable frame at 6-foot-3, 190 lbs., and he’s already shown flashes of sitting at 93-95 mph with his fastball in the past. He also throws a very good changeup and a developing curveball, so the tools are there for him to become a big league starter. Committed to Tennessee, there’s a chance Morton could instead opt for the JuCo ranks and re-enter the draft next year after dominating the circuit.

3. Rob Segedin, 3B/OF, 3rd round
One of the very few established college bats the Yankees drafted, Segedin has a low maintainence swing geared for hard contact  from the right side. His position is a little up in the air, though he has the tools to stay at the hot corner but may profile better in a corner outfield spot. Segedin’s draft stock dropped because of an old back injury and his added leverage as a draft eligible sophomore. The Yankees lack polished, impact bats in the low minors, so the current Tulane Wave would be a welcome addition to the farm system.

If the Yankees are unable to sign Segedin, they would receive a supplemental third round pick as compensation, which would come between the third and fourth rounds.

4. Gabe Encinas, RHP, 6th round
Like Morton, Encinas is a classic projectable high schooler at 6-foot-4, 190 lbs. with a low-90’s heater, but he has a feel for changing speeds and setting hitters up. His appeal lies in his simple delivery and clean mechanics, plus his polish and advanced feel for his craft. Encinas is committed to Loyola Marymount, which has proven to be a tough school to buy kids away from in the past. He’s better than a sixth round talent, so it would be a nice coup if the Yanks were able to add an arm like Encinas to the system.

5. Mason Williams, OF, 4th round
The Yankees drafted many raw, toolsy athletic types this year, and Williams embodies that demographic. He’s a 6-foot-1, 160 lb. fast-twitch athlete with a sound swing and top of the line defensive abilities in center. Power will never be part of his game, so he’s more of a four-tool guy than a true five-tooler. Williams is committed to South Carolina and is reportedly seeking $2M to skip out on school, which is top ten money. Williams isn’t a top ten talent, but he is a damn good one. The Yankees have overpaid for a fourth rounder before, and I’m sure they’d be willing to do it again if they like the player enough.

My gut feeling is that the Yankees will sign one of Williams or Jordan, but not both.

6. Evan Rutckyj, LHP, 16th round
Big lefthanders are always a hot commodity, especially when they’re young and have started to refine their mechanics and smooth out their delivery. Rutckyj (pronounced root-ski) stands 6-foot-5 and weighs in at 210 lbs., and he already sits in the low-90’s with a fringy breaking ball. He’s a project, no doubt about it, but a project with enormous upside if it all comes together. He recently signed on with St. Petersburg College in Florida, a junior college that will allow him to re-enter the draft in each of the next two years. Reports indicate that Rutckyj is seeking first round money to sign despite being a consensus fourth or so round talent this spring.

7. Martin Viramontes, RHP, 27th round
An all talent, no results pick, Viramontes flashes premium arm strength (peaking at 96 mph) with a power curveball and a split-change hybrid, but he’s inconsistent with his mechanics and often doesn’t achieve the desired result. A Scott Boras client, Viramontes is a little old for a project, but it’s worth a shot with this kind of electric arm.

8. Kevin Jacob, RHP, 18th round
Another Boras client, Jacob is more refined than Viramontes but still has work to do. His delivery is unorthodox but extremely deceptive, as he leans all the way back and nearly touches the ground with the ball before moving his 6-foot-6, 225 lb. body towards the plate. Jacob’s fastball sits in the mid-90’s and has touched 98 in the past, and his slider is a legit put away pitch in the upper-80’s. A college reliever at a big time program in Georgia Tech, he’d fill the same role as a pro and be expected to move quickly.

9. Dan Burawa, RHP, 12th round
Similar to Jacob, Burawa is a power college reliever with unorthodox mechanics. He’s not quite as big at 6-foot-3, 190 lbs., but he’ll sit in the mid-90’s with an average breaking ball and the makings of a changeup. Burawa has a limited track record at St. John’s and teams will always be cautious of a guy with a nontraditional delivery, but different doesn’t always mean bad. Another long-term reliever, Burawa should move quickly.

10. Tommy Kahnle, RHP, 5th round
I feel like I should have just lumped Jacob, Burawa, and Kahnle all together as one player, Jacurawahnle, or something like that. Kahnle is another power armed reliever that sits in the mid-90’s and has flirted with 97, also offering a changeup and a slurvy breaking ball. Command and keeping his big and intimidating 6-foot-0, 220 lb. body in check isn’t always easy, but Kahnle has a track record of chewing up wood bats. He’s at Division II Lynn University, and will be the easiest sign of the four college arms at the back of my list.

One other player to keep in mind is tenth rounder Ben Gamel, the younger brother of Brewers’ prospect Mat Gamel. Like his brother, Ben is all bat, with a pure swing that gets some loft on the ball, but his fringy tools limit his value outside of the batter’s box. If you can hit you can hit, there will always be a place for you somewhere, but the game is rapidly gravitating away from the one-dimensional slugger in favor of player who can contribute more than just offensive. Mat was a good but not great prospect out of high school, but went to college and saw his stock soar. Ben could do the exact same thing in Florida State’s hitter friend park, which might be too good of an opportunity to pass up.

After three days, 50 rounds and (by my count) 16 total hours of selections, the 2010 MLB Draft has come to an end and the focus shifts to signing these player. Yesterday was your typical day of late round selections; the Yankees drafted mostly college players to fill out minor league rosters (those guys are important, they take a lot of the load off the actual prospects) plus a few high school lottery tickets, led by Pennsylvania righty Keenan Kish (34th round).

My summary of the Yanks’ draft strategy still applies simply because not much could have been done on Day Three to change things. In many ways this resembles the Eric Duncan-Tim Battle-Estee Harris draft of 2003, when the Yanks looked for athleticism and shot for the moon with upside. That might sound bad, but seven years ago the Yankees had no interest in using the farm system for developing players. They didn’t try develop players, they tried developed trade bait. The current Brian Cashman led regime certainly has a dedication in player development,which makes this draft much more promising. Scouting director Damon Oppenheimer drafted 20 high school players this year, easily the most in his six years at the Yanks’ helm. It’s very clear they were looking to not just infuse the farm system with some youth and upside, but develop that talent into cheap big league production.

Here’s what I assume is the last collection of links for this draft…

• You can see every pick the Yanks made here, and the best place to keep track of who signs and who doesn’t is NYY Fans. Of course we’ll keep you updated on the notable signings, and even the not so notable ones as well.
• First rounder Cito Culver said he’ll “almost certainly” sign with the Yanks, at which point he’d be assigned to the Yanks’ rookie level affiliate in the Gulf Coast League. I can’t imagine Culver wouldn’t sign, hard to pass up first round money.
• In case you didn’t notice, the Yanks took Paul O’Neill’s nephew Mike in the 42nd round yesterday. He better watch out, they’ll make him pay to replace the watercoolers in the minors.
• “I like what they did later on Day 2 more than what they did early,” said Keith Law in his recap of rounds 2-30. He notes that Mason Williams (4th) wants top-ten money (basically $2M), and that Evan Rutckyj (16th) is looking for a first round payday, which means at least $1.2M or so.
• “New York went after several highly regarded prep talents in the later rounds,” said Frankie Piliere in his Day Two analysis, “and while for most clubs this would be moot, considering the perceived price tag of high school talent late in the draft, the Yankees have the ability to throw money at these players and get them signed … Also striking about the Yankee strategy was their willingness to gamble on arms. Teams in their financial position can take a power arm with a flaw and see if they can turn him around, and that’s what they did taking right-handed college arms like Tommy Kahnle and Daniel Burawa. Both have not been stellar in college ball, but have the arms of back-of-the-‘pen type relievers.”
• Third baseman Rob Segedin (3rd) made Jeff Sachmann’s list of sleepers, in which he notes a studly combination of triple-slash stats (.430-.514-.780) and a microscopic 8% strikeout rate. For comparison’s sake, first rounder and consensus top college hitter Zack Cox put up a .424-.508-.603 batting line with a 13% strikeout rate. Remember though, doing what Cox did in the SEC is a lot tougher than doing what Segedin did in Conference USA. Segedin is a draft eligible sophomore, so he’s got a little bit of extra negotiating leverage.
• If you still haven’t had your fill, Jonathan Mayo looks ahead to next year’s draft and gives you ten names to keep an eye on. It’s obviously very early and a whole lot can change between now and then, but the 2011 draft is absolutely, positively stacked. There’s at least a dozen players that would have gone second overall this year, and Anthony Rendon of Rice probably would have gone ahead of Bryce Harper because it’s a similar bat much further along in it’s development.

The draft resumes at noon ET today, and you can listen in on the conference call via MLB.com, or follow along with Draft Tracker. Rounds 31 through 50 will go down today, but it should rather quickly as some teams drop out late. Use this as your open thread to talk about all things draft, because we’ll have regular Yankees-related content sprinkled throughout the day for you. Please follow our Ground Rules and keep your conversations in the appropriate places. Thanks in advance.

Even though teams have been selecting players for roughly 11 hours or so over the past two days, the 2010 MLB Draft is only 60% complete. The remaining 40% will be polished off today, but the Yankees and scouting director Damon Oppenheimer have made their intentions very clear: go big or go home. We’re used to seeing Oppenheimer mitigate his risky picks with high probability and safe college players in the middle rounds, but the proverbial dice have been rolled this year. Those middle rounds have instead been filled by very high risk, very high reward players that fill organizational holes created through trades, graduation, and attrition.

Give Me Upside Or Give Me Death

As outsiders, it’s easy to say the Yanks should go after guys with significant ceilings as much as much as possible. We’re not the ones dealing with the budget nor are our jobs on the line. The farm system is sorely lacking up-the-middle athletes with upside, so Oppenheimer deviated from his usual college-heavy approach and really focused on athleticism and future projection.

This all starts at the top with the Cito Culver, the highly criticized first round pick. “I had basically over 100 years of scouting experience go in and see this kid,” said Oppenheimer. “We were ahead of the game because we knew so much about him.” A switch hitter that the Yankees project to be an above average hitter down the road, Culver can not only stay at short long-term, but field the position at an above average clip.

The pursuit of upside certainly didn’t end there, as prep centerfielders Angelo Gumbs (2nd round) and Mason Williams (4th) basically kicked off the Yanks’ selections in day two. Gumbs has true five-tool potential, with blazing speed that works both ways and bat speed that allows him to catch up to the very best fastballs. Only 17-years-old, he’s a project considering his limited experience against quality offspeed offerings, but the potential return is enormous. The only thing Williams lacks is power, though he produces consistent hard contact with a sweet swing while providing above average defense in the middle outfield spot. He was expected to be drafted in the top three rounds, but last until the fourth.

Despite all of the potential offered by those three I just mentioned, centerfielder Kevin Jordan (19) just might be the best prospect they draft this year. Brian‘s son, Kevin started the year as one of the best high school players in the country before missing time with a flu-like illness that cost him 15 lbs. off his already lean 6-foot frame. The lefty swinger is an explosive athlete that shows very good raw ability on both sides of the ball with the innate ability to center the ball on the barrel of the bat. Jordan offers the same tremendous ceiling as Gumbs, though he’s further in the process of turning his physical gifts into baseball skills.

Jake Anderson (7) and Tyler Austin (13) are raw defensively in the outfield and behind the plate, respectively, but feature refined offensive approaches for kids their age. If just one of these six players makes good on their promise, they Yanks will have had themselves a successful draft. They’re all teenagers out of high school, and in fact 11 of the 30 players Oppenheimer has selected this year come from the prep ranks. He selected just a dozen high schoolers last year, and never more than 14 in his five previous drafts as scouting director. He should fly right by that total later today.

You Can’t Teach Arm Strength

As much as the Yanks’ system lacks position players with considerable upside, they might be hurting for pitchers with premium velocity even more. That problem has been addressed in a big through the first 30 rounds of the draft, with college arms surprisingly leading the way.

JuCo righty Tommy Kahnle (5), one of Keith Law’s top 100 draft prospects (sub. req’d), impressed in the Cape Cod League last summer by touching 97 with his fastball and teaching his changeup to stop in mid-air. College closers Dan Burawa (St. John’s, 14) and Kevin Jacob (Georgia Tech, 18) have both hit 98 with life in the past while backing up their gas with a put-away offspeed offering, so they should jump right on the fast track. Jacob will be especially tough with his deceptive delivery. Prep right Taylor Morton (9) sits comfortably in the 92-94 range and has shown more in the past, but his arm strength takes a back seat to his changeup and pitchability.

And after all that, the best pure arm the Yanks have drafted may belong to Loyola Marymount righty Martin Viramontes (27), who peaks at 96 with a split-change hybrid and a power breaking ball. Standing 6-foot-5, 190 lbs., and still just 20-years-old, there’s still room and time for him to fill out and add even more velocity. Nearly a third of the 17 pitchers Oppenheimer has taken so far have run their fastball up to 96 in the past, which is a rather staggering number.

Signability

Always on the look out for bargains, the Yanks drafted several promising players lower than where their talent warranted. Williams, Morton, Taylor, and Viramontes lead that group, but they’re not the only ones. Prep righty Gabe Encinas (6) has a strong commitment to Loyola Marymount, but a high six figure offer could be enough to bring his supreme pitchability into the organization. Tulane third baseman Rob Segedin (3) has added leverage as a draft eligible sophomore, and prep righty Josh Dezse (28) has scholarship offers from several Big Ten programs in hand. Canadian lefty Evan Rutckyj (16) is off in his own unique signability world because he yet to commit to a school, but the talent is undeniable.

Keep in mind that both Jacob and Viramontes are Scott Boras clients, and those guys never come cheap.

What’s Left?

Oppenheimer and the Yankees appear to have achieved their goal of adding upside and power arms to the farm system, though they still have 20 more rounds to play with. As ridiculous as it sounds, they could stand to add another “veteran” (i.e. college) catcher to Shane Brown (23) just to help take the load off all the young catchers in the lower levels of the system that do not yet have a full season of squatting behind the plate to their credit. A few more college starters to soak up innings would be welcome as well, but beyond that they should just keep gunning for athleticism, upside, and arm strength.

Once the draft concludes later today, the Yanks will shift their focus to signing as many of these players as possible. Teams will traditionally sign about 30-35 of their picks, so the Yanks are going to end up letting some talent walk away after the August 16th signing deadline. The key is signing the right players, the guys ready for the rigors of pro ball and with the potential to become great. They may not have landed the big sexy names everyone hopes for, but Oppenheimer & Co. very shrewdly put together the making of a great haul highlighted by high ceilings.