Frankie Piliere yesterday revealed on Twitter some rumors concerning the Yankees and the draft. Here’s the skinny, straight from the man himself:
“Large amount of NYY draft buzz this yr. Hearing Yanks are also heavily in on Dillon Howard & Brandon Martin @ 51. Howard asking big $….So for those of you keeping score at home that’s Goeddel, Cave, Martin, Howard…4 prep players heavily linked to the Yankees now #MLBDraft….”
The mentioned names are Dillon Howard, Brandon Martin, Tyler Goeddel and Jake Cave. Here are some quick reports on them:
Dillion Howard, RHP, Ark HS
Howard has been the top prospect in Arkansas all year and has a chance to be the highest prep player ever from the state. He’s got a good build at 6’3”, 210 and is an impressive athlete. He has a solid history of performance and has been on prospect radars for some time now. Howard features a four seam fastball, a two seam fastball, a changeup and a curve ball from a low ¾ arm slot. In terms of velocity, he sits in the low 90s and there’s a report he hit 98 during a summer league game. When he’s at his best, his changeup is his best pitch, with great arm action and sink. He has surprising polish on his secondary offerings for a prep prospect. His senior year though hasn’t been as dominant as some scouts had expected. He has a commitment to the University of Arkansas although he should get drafted early enough to keep him away from school.
Brandon Martin, SS, Ca HS
Martin has been a much discussed middle infield prospect this year because he’s showing some pop with his bat that have some scouts excited. Primarily a glove first SS, Martin has good range, an above average arm and good hands. He displays some ability to get on base and can hit for average. Scouts who have seen him this year see a little more pop than they initially expected. He’s got average speed but nothing to get very excited about. At 5’11”, 170 pop may not translate into power, although he does everything else very well.
Tyler Goeddel, OF, Ca HS
Here’s what I wrote about Goeddel in my OF Watch last week: Tyler Goeddel, Mountain View HS, CA- Has a very projectable frame (6’4”, 170) with good speed and an above average athlete. Plays 3B but scouts project him as a CF with his plus arm. A bit raw but has good tools at the plate, with a quick swing that stays in the zone for a long time. Power is all projection at this point but given his frame, it’s easier to forecast in the future.
As for Jake Cave, a LH prep pitcher out of Virginia, Baseball America has him as a 5-6th round prospect and I can’t find good info on him at the moment. I’ll update this post as soon as I do though.
Obviously the link here is that all 4 are prep players who should be commanding a decent chunk of change. Goeddel and Martin are up the middle athletes, raw and show a lot of promise. Nothing out of the ordinary here.
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7 Responses to Yankee Draft Rumors
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TIQ IQ
Large pitchers, Short Stops, and Centerfielder… That’s the Yankees MO for a draft all right.
My son played showcase ball with Jake Cave this summer and actually caught him a couple of times. The times I saw him pitch he was upper 80′s low 90′s from the left side. He also features a change and curve. He played in the AFLAC game and hit 96. One of the games the Yankee’s scout was actually there to watch him swing it as he plays outfield as well, has good power from the left side. He is committed to play baseball at LSU as a two way player.
Soriano heading to see Dr Andrews, I wonder who our AL East rival plans to take with our pick.
You know, because Levine thought the Yanks ‘had to do something’ and Soriano was going to sell tickets.
Did anyone have a worse offseason than Randy Levine? Especially after reading how his one on one meeting wtih Jeter convinced Levine to up the Yankees offer by a few million.
If the Yankees draft another shortstop with their first pick, what does that say about their selection of Culver and Gumbs with the first two selections last year? No, I think they’ll go in another direction. They are on record as saying the organization needs power bats, and it can always use power arms.
The Yankees are on record as saying they like drafting up the middle because those types of players have the ability to move over. You can draft a CF type and move him to the corners, and you can draft a SS and move him to 2nd or 3rd. They’ll take the best athlete, and best tools available regardless of depth at that position.
Even if they envision Cito or Gumbs as “the next Jeter” there is still so much that can go wrong from now until then ading more depth doesn’t hurt.
Just look at our catching situation… Montero, Sanchez, Romine, and Murphy are all considered a potential major league producer in some fashion or the other and they have varying levels of age and ability. I actually believe in Murphy more than most do, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up being the starting catcher for the Yankees at some point. I suppose the Yankees “perfect scenario” is to have Montero be starting DH and backup catcher, with Sanchez as the starter.
[...] has been linked to the Yankees already by Frankie Piliere. I wrote about him earlier, but here’s his report again. Martin has been a much discussed middle infield prospect this year [...]