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2012 Draft: Yankees sign fourth rounder Corey Black

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Via Jim Callis, the Yankees have signed fourth round pick Corey Black for $215k. Slot value for the 157th overall pick was $275k, so the team saved a little draft pool space. Four of their top ten rounds selections remain unsigned, including first rounder Ty Hensley. All of New York’s picks can be seen at Baseball America.

Black, a right-hander out of Faulkner University, is one of the most intriguing arms the Yankees selected this summer. He had Tommy John surgery a year ago and is a huge arm strength guy, running his fastball into the mid-90s regularly with a few 98-99s mixed in. His changeup is his second best pitch but he also throws a slider. Black is undersized — listed at 5-foot-11, 175 lbs. — but he has the stuff to start. If that fails, he could be a dynamite power reliever.

2012 Draft: Yanks sign 6th and 16th round picks

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Via Jim Callis, the Yankees have signed sixth round pick RHP Nick Goody for $140k. Slot money for that pick is just north of $154k. LSU was knocked out of the NCAA postseason about a week ago, allowing their closer to turn pro. Goody is said to “consistently (pound) the zone with a 90-93 mph fastball and a short, late-breaking slider with good power.”

In other news, the Yankees have also sign 16th rounder RHP Stefan Lopez according to Chris Landry. Last weekend we heard that Lopez passed up a pre-draft deal in the tenth round, but Landry says the team wooed him by agreeing to pay tuition whenever he goes back to school to finish his degree. That’s not uncommon. Any bonus money they give Lopez in excess of $100k will count against the draft pool. Lopez is another college closer and actually led the nation with 19 saves this year. He relies heavily on a low-to-mid-90s fastball. All of the team’s picks can be found at Baseball America, and check out our Draft Pool page for the latest on that front.

2012 Draft: Yankees sign second rounder Austin Aune

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June 15th: Via K. Levine-Flandrup and Jim Callis, Aune has officially signed for $1M. Slot money was just shy of $550k, so they went over big time for him. Check out our Draft Pool page for the latest on that front. Interestingly enough, Aune will begin his professional career as a shortstop, not as an outfielder. He did play short in high school and I was wondering if they would have him at least have him try it after signing. No reason not to, really.

June 5th: Via Adam Boedeker, the Yankees already have an agreement in place with second round pick Austin Aune. The high school outfielder from Texas was committed to TCU, and New York selected him with the compensation pick they received for failing to sign last year’s second rounder, Sam Stafford.

Slot money for the 89th overall pick is $548,400, though it’s unclear how much the agreement is worth. In their subscriber-only scouting report, Baseball America said Aune “offers an impressive package of tools, starting with plus raw power and arm strength … He has a balanced lefthanded stroke and solid speed, and scouts praise his makeup as well.” I don’t remember the Yankees ever having an agreement in place with a draft pick this quickly, but I suppose this is a result of new Collective Bargaining Agreement. Teams had to make sure they could sign their guys before committing.

2012 Draft: Yankees sign nine more picks

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Via Matt Eddy, the Yankees have signed nine more draft picks: RHP Derek Varnadore (9th round), 1B Matt Snyder (10), LHP Caleb Frare (11), LHP James Pazos (13), LHP Tim Flight (17), LHP Dietrich Enns (19), OF Danny Oh (27), LHP Eric Erickson (34), and RHP Charles Basford (37). A recent tweet by RHP Nick Goody (6) indicates that he’s close to signing as well, if he hasn’t already. Frare is the only high schooler in this group, everyone else comes from the college ranks.

The Yankees have already signed (or agreed to sign) OF Austin Aune (2), RHP Taylor Garrison (7), OF Taylor Dugas (8), RHP Andrew Benak (14), and 1B/C Saxon Butler (33). First rounder RHP Ty Hensley is supposedly in Tampa for a physical, so he should be signing soon as well. All of the team’s draft picks can be found at Baseball America, and their draft pool status can be found on our 2012 Draft Pool page.

2012 Draft: Yankees sign 14th rounder Andrew Benak

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Via Jim Callis, the Yankees have signed 14th round pick Andrew Benak for the full $100k slot value. The deal has zero impact on the club’s draft pool for the top ten rounds. You can see all of New York’s draft picks at Baseball America.

Callis says the right-hander from Rice can run his fastball up to 93 mph with good slider at times, and this Joseph Duarte article explains the series of arm problems Benak has endured. He had Tommy John surgery in high school and has had multiple procedures to remove bone chips from his elbow in college. Benak struck out 72 and walk 18 in 66.2 innings across 14 starts and two relief appearances this spring.

Draft Updates: Stewart, Frare, Lopez, Flight

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First rounder Ty Hensley is on his way to Tampa to take his physical, but here are some updates on a few Day Two and Day Three draft selections…

  • “I’ll be holding center field down next year in a (Florida State Seminoles) uniform,” said D.J. Stewart to Corey Dowlar, an indication that the 28th round pick won’t be signing. Stewart, along with fellow outfielders Vincent Jackson (23) and Ty Moore (25), was one of those high-upside high school plays in the late rounds. The Yankees saved draft pool money by selecting five college seniors in the top ten rounds so they’d able to sign one or maybe two of those guys, but it doesn’t sound like it’ll be Stewart.
  • High school left-hander Caleb Frare (11) will officially sign after taking his physical on Monday, reports Ryan Minch. Slot money for all picks after the tenth round is $100K with any overage being applied to the draft pool. “They asked if I wanted to sign an 11th round contract and I told them ‘yes,’” said Frare. “It was a team-by-team basis for the most part but going in there was a few teams that if they drafted me, I would have signed regardless of which round it was … (The contract) looked good. They are going to honor my scholarship to Utah when I’m done playing baseball whether that is next year or 20 years from now. That makes the decision a little bit easier.”
  • Right-hander Stefan Lopez (16) told Chris Landry that he and his representatives were scheduled to meet with the Yankees last night in an attempt to hammer out a contract. The Southeastern Louisiana closer also said the team contacted him during the draft to see if he would sign for what they were offering in the tenth round, but he said no. They instead took a late-round flier on him rather than risk losing draft pool money if he hadn’t signed in that tenth round. “I don’t want to short-change myself,” said Lopez, who pitched through a torn ACL at the end of the season.
  • Left-hander Tim Flight (17) and his advisor will soon meet with area scout Matt Hyde to discuss a contract according to Kevin Gray. The decorated Southern New Hampshire University ace — he was named Division II Pitcher of the Year this spring and is up for the Tino Martinez Award as the top player in Division II — told the Yankees he is willing to sign but is hoping to land and above slot bonus. Again, everything over the first $100k gets applied to the draft pool.

2012 Draft: Hensley headed to Tampa for physical

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According to his Twitter feed, first rounder Ty Hensley is heading to Tampa for a few days to take his physical. That’s a pretty good indication that the two sides are very close to an agreement if one isn’t already in place. Slot money for the 30th overall pick is $1.6M and I’m guessing his bonus will come very close to that. Maybe a little over, maybe a little under.

Hensley told reporters shortly after the draft that he hopes to sign quickly and reach the big leagues by age 21. The signing deadline was moved up a full month to July 13th this year, so he should be able to throw some rookie ball innings once he officially joins the organization. Everything you need to know about the kid is right here.