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DotF: Florial returns; Frazier goes deep twice in Scranton’s win

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It’s been a while, so let’s update the minor league standings today. First, some notes:

  • In case you missed it earlier, LHP Justus Sheffield will represent the Yankees at the Futures Game in two weeks. The rosters will be officially announced tomorrow and it’s possible the Yankees will send a second player. Not sure who it would be though.
  • The Yankees have signed Georgia Southern RHP Blakeley Brown (24th round) to a $132,500 signing bonus, reports Jim Callis. He counts as $7,500 against the bonus pool. The Yankees have less than $10,000 in bonus pool space remaining before having to give up next year’s first round pick. The signing deadline is tomorrow. Our Day Three draft recap has more info on Brown.
  • The Yankees have also signed Vanderbilt RHP Justin Wilson (23rd round), according to his Twitter feed. Neat. I didn’t think he’d sign. MLB.com says he received a slot $125,000 bonus. He doesn’t count against the bonus pool at all. Our Day Three draft recap has more info on Wilson.
  • Matt Eddy reports the Yankees have released OF Cody Brown, OF Jonathan Capellan, SS Jose Carrera, LHP Jeff Degano, OF Cesar Diaz, OF Edel Luaces, OF Luis Martinez, and 1B Matt Snyder. Degano came down with the yips after being the team’s second round pick in 2015. The last two years he had 34 walks, five hit batsmen, and 15 wild pitches in 6.2 innings. Poor guy.
  • Here’s some video of a recent RHP Roansy Contreras start. Contreras, my preseason No. 24 prospect, has a 1.62 ERA (3.09 FIP) with 32.8% strikeouts and 9.0% walks in 16.2 innings with Short Season Staten Island this year. He’s developing nicely.
  • 1B Tyler Austin has already started running the bases, according to DJ Eberle, so it seems his stint on the disabled list will be a short one. Austin was placed on the Triple-A disabled list with a back issue last Friday.

Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (9-6 win over Buffalo) they’re in second place at 44-30 and are 4.5 games back

  • CF Clint Frazier: 3-4, 3 R, 2 HR, 4 RBI — here are videos of his first homer and second homer … hitting .317/.393/.586 with ten homers in 46 Triples-A games … he is simply too good for this level
  • 1B Billy McKinney: 3-4, 1 RBI — first game at first base this season … the plan to give him work there got put on hold when he hurt his shoulder earlier this year … 1B Tyler Austin (back), 1B Mike Ford (oblique), and 1B Ryan McBroom (day-to-day after fouling a pitch into his foot) are all hurt though, so Scranton needed someone to play first base today, and McKinney it was
  • LHP Nestor Cortes: 6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 8/3 GB/FB — 66 of 83 pitches were strikes (80%)
  • RHP Tommy Kahnle: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 1/0 GB/FB — 13 of 24 pitches were strikes (54%) … still sitting mostly 94-96 mph, reportedly … I dunno, shouldn’t that be enough velocity to get big leaguers out?
  • RHP Cody Carroll: 1 IP, zeroes, 1 K, 1/1 GB/FB — eleven of 16 pitches were strikes

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2017 Draft: Beck, Mangum, Williams, Abbott, Burns, Brown

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Burns. (@MLBDraft)
Burns. (@MLBDraft)

Now that the Yankees have made their selections and the 2017 draft is over, it’s time to see who they actually sign. The signing deadline is Friday, July 7th this year, so three weeks from tomorrow. That’s really close! Anyway, here are my Day One, Day Two, and Day Three recaps. Here are all of the Yankees’ picks, and here’s some draft news and links:

  • In his AL recap, Keith Law notes he doesn’t like the deliveries of South Carolina RHP Clarke Schmidt (1st round) and California HS RHP Matt Sauer (2nd), though he does say, “some teams were fine with the way (Sauer’s) arm works despite all of that and saw a mid-rotation starter.”
  • In their AL East draft recap, Baseball America wrote “college RHPs Trevor Stephan (3), Glenn Otto (5) and Dalton Higgins (7) and LHP Dalton Lehnen (6) all have at least one swing-and-miss offering.” The Yankees always use those middle rounds on Day Two to hoard power arms.
  • Catawba College RHP Bryan Blanton (21st) has a deal in place and is traveling to Tampa today, reports Mike London. Blanton, a reliever, had a 2.70 ERA with 50 strikeouts and 15 walks in 33.1 innings for the Indians.
  • Stanford RHP Tristan Beck (29th) is not going to sign, reports John Manuel. Bummer, but not surprising. Beck was a consensus first round talent before a back issue caused him to miss the season. He was reportedly seeking upwards of $4M to sign.
  • Missouri State OF Jake Mangum (30th), a draft-eligible sophomore, is going to return to school for his junior year, he announced on Twitter. Mangum was a top five rounds pick based on talent, though he slipped due to signability concerns.
  • If you’re into such things, Chris Mitchell’s KATOH system projects Duke OF Jimmy Herron (31st) as one of the best college picks on Day Three at +1.5 WAR. “A draft-eligible sophomore, Herron smacked 17 doubles, stole 17 bases, and struck out in just 12% of his plate appearances this year … Herron doesn’t turn 21 until late July, so he’s a few months younger than most of his draft-eligible college peers, making his performance all the more impressive,” said the write-up.
  • Georgia HS C Steven Williams (35th) will not sign and instead follow through on his commitment to Auburn, he wrote on Twitter. Williams was considered a possible top five rounds pick as an offense-first catcher, though his strong commitment to Auburn caused him to slide to Day Three.
  • Virginia HS LHP Andrew Abbott (36th) is not planning to sign, based on his Twitter feed. That’s not really a surprise. He was considered unsignable from the start. Abbott throws three pitches, including an excellent curveball, though he sits mostly in the upper-80s right now with his fastball.
  • Alabama HS RHP Tanner Burns (37th) will not sign, according to his Twitter feed. Jim Callis mentioned him as one of the most notable picks on Day Three. “Burns drew comparisons to recent first-rounders due to his big arm and advanced command, but his commitment to Auburn must have been too strong for teams to take a chance on him early,” wrote Callis.
  • The Yankees have signed Missouri State OF Cody Brown as an undrafted free agent, according to MSU. He’s heading to Tampa to sign tomorrow. Brown, a lefty swinger, hit .323/.433/.539 with nine homers and ten steals in 64 games this spring.

By the way, our annual Draft Pool Tracker page is now up and running. You can keep tabs on the Yankees’ bonus pool situation there between now and the signing deadline. It is available at all times under the Resources pull down menu in the nav bar at the top of the site.