Yankees Must Not Miss in the MLB Draft

By Wayne Cavadi |

The New York Yankees are known as a team that wins a lot of championships. Some people feel that the Yankees “buy” their championships and they do it on the backs of the league’s biggest superstars and ludicrous contracts in which no one else could compete. They have not, however, been able to do it with their farm system over the past decade or so.

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Joel Sherman of the New York Post wrote a very compelling article on a plain and simple fact: the Yankees can NOT afford to miss on this year’s draft pick. The Yankees — who pick 16th tonight — have their highest selection since 1993.

Those were the drafts of the Yankees bad years. Those were the drafts where Derek Jeter was a first round pick (6th overall in 1992). Those were the years the Yankees built a farm system on strategic draft picks and inexpensive international signings like Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera and Bernie Williams that created a dynasty. By the turn of the century, the Yankees draft picks became lower and lower. And they also became big misses.

Sherman points out a frightening number. Entering June, 768 players that had been acquired via the draft had appeared in the Major Leagues this season. 18.1 percent of them, or 139, were drafted before the Yankees were even on the clock.

That doesn’t seem like a big number, but think about it this way. Which players become superstars in the big leagues? Which players become the next Derek Jeter and turn around a franchise and restore its glory? That number is small, maybe the upper 10 percent. The Yankees, for the past 15 years, haven’t even had a shot at those types of players.

Instead they have watched their farm system fall lower and lower in the ranks and not produce much homegrown talent. Keep in mind, as Sherman points out, the Yankees two biggest names that came up through the farm in the 2000s were Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera. Neither were drafted as they were both international free agents.

No, the Yankees have invested their lower first round draft picks in misses. Cito Culver, Slade Heathcott, Jeremy Bleich, Andrew Brackman. The names that did “hit” like Ian Kennedy, Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain did so for a small window or once they got to another team. It hasn’t been pretty for the Yankees in the draft.

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But in the 2013 draft, the Yankees had three first rounders at the back end, and they seemingly righted the ship. Aaron Judge, Ian Clarkin and Eric Jagielo are now household names amongst Yankees’ fans who eagerly await their arrival in New York. Last year’s first pick, Jacob Lindgren who wasn’t even drafted until the second round, has already found his way to the Major Leagues. The Yankees have turned the corner.

That’s why the Yankees can’t miss tonight. This is their highest pick in over 20 years and their first chance to snag a legitimate superstar. The Yankees current roster has a bunch of old bones. Carlos Beltran, Mark Teixeira, CC Sabathia and Brian McCann are closer to retirement which means a future with Aaron Judge, Rob Refsnyder, Gregory Bird and Luis Severino is not too far away.

Imagine if the Yankees can snag that next Derek Jeter in tonight’s draft. Not so much in numbers, not so much in persona, but drafting a true franchise changer, someone they can ride for the next two decades to multi-championships.

Tonight can begin a new era in Yankees baseball.

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