Yankees universe sees Brandon Drury through the looking glass
By Cory Claus
Gettin’ Miggy With It
Alright, if you’re still here, you deserve a bit more meat on the bone before we do any carving.
As a review, it was Miggy who was given the highest bonus ($750,000) of any player the Yankees took in the 2012 international class, above fellow signee Luis Severino. Drury was drafted in the 13th round, 404th overall, in 2010 by Atlanta.
Andujar is currently ranked as the 65th best prospect in baseball after steadily making progress in the minors, while Drury was never ranked in the top 100. And while their minor league stats are comparable, the home run totals are a bit deceptive.
Brandon finished his minor league career with 60 in 2,501 AB; home runs are always low in the minors. Miguel likewise ended with 51 in 2,271. But if you follow this link, and then this one, you will see that Andujar made steady progress and his home run totals organically grew as he did.
Drury, though, seems to have somewhat of an inflated and deceptive total.
Back in 2014, when Brandon was 21, he had an offensive explosion that ended with him hitting 23 of his career 60 minor league homers. He immediately regressed, however, hitting just five the next season in roughly the same number of AB. And he’s never come close to that number again.
To top it all off, Andujar has been asked for in many trades but is still in pinstripes, while Drury has been traded twice.
A Very Difficult Decision
So, we have one player who was more highly thought of when they were young, had a more powerful minor league career with more projectable numbers, is more highly rated by independent evaluators and who is currently one of the best and most dangerous hitters in the Yankees line-up, versus a guy who everyone keeps thinking can be a good player maybe, perhaps, someday, if he ever gets over his chronic migraines and low power numbers.
Tough choice.
Now, I don’t know about you, dear reader, but I have a pretty good effing idea of who I think should be the Yankees third baseman for the foreseeable future. Maybe it’s just me, but it all seems so very, very clear. Yet some still remain confused.