Late last night, the Yankees and first round pick Ty Hensley agreed to a deal. Both Kevin Goldstein and Jim Callis thought getting Hensley at 30 was a great pick up for the Yankees. Here is the scouting report.
As the first round pick, Hensley is going to have a ton of attention on him from his first start in short-season ball to his Major League debut. Fairly or not, he’ll be expected to the next “next big thing” in the Yankee system and any bump in the road will be a mark against not just the player, but the system as well. That’s not what I want to happen and that’s not what should happen, but you all know as well as I do that there’s a good possibility it’s going to happen (at least in the minds of some).
Dating back to 2006, the Yankees first-round (and supplemental) picks have made up a mixed bag. We’ve seen fast-risers in Ian Kennedy and Joba Chamberlain; we’ve seen a high-upside gamble flame out in Andrew Brackman; we’ve seen another high-upside gamble–Slade Heathcott–on whom the jury is still out; and we’ve seen two picks–Cito Culver and Dante Bichette, Jr.–that many considered to be reaches. We also saw a high-upside non-signing that still pisses a lot of us off to this day (Gerrit Cole). Since he hasn’t played a single game, it’s obviously too hard and too early to no where Hensley is going to wind up on this scale. Unlike the positive Kennedy and Chamberlain and the negative Brackman, Hensley is a high school arm. He won’t be rising fast, but on the flip side, the Yankees will have time to mold him into what they want him to be and what they think he can be. Unlike Culver and Bichette, he’s a consensus first round talent and (hopefully) unlike Heathcott (though that report of ‘shoulder abnormalities’ scares me) he’ll be healthy enough to stay on the field and in the rotation consistently enough to move up at a steady pace. Good luck, Ty. We’re all pulling for you and hoping to see you in the Bronx ASAP.
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3 Responses to With Hensley signed, a review of first round picks and expectations
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TIQ IQ
The consensus usually falls apart at this point of the draft but Hensley was by and large mocked to go significantly higher than 30. So long as that shoulder abnormality remains asymptomatic and doesn’t become the cause for future pain, Hensley’s talent is such that he could steam roll thru the lower minors in short order.
There were reports that the rockies were gona take him at number 10 until the mark appel fiasco and the whole draft shook up. If those reports hold true then the yankees just got them selves at least a top 15 pick so that’s great since we pick so low in the first round anyways. He could really do wonders for the lack of starters in the system
Jeremy Bleich was another one considered a reach