Thursday, June 4, 2015

Looking Ahead to the 2015 MLB Draft


The New York Yankees have a trio of picks in the first two rounds of the 2015 MLB First Year Players Draft leaving many prospect humpers (trademark pending) like myself extremely excited for the draft on June 8th. All three picks will be showcased on MLB Network while the Yankees are off that night meaning that all the stars are aligned for a good night for the Bronx Bombers and their fans. In this article we’ll take a look at a few of the possibilities that the Yankees could take with that #16 pick and that #30 pick respectively and who the team might have on their board if they were to fall due to injury concerns or signability issues.

First and foremost if the Yankees feel they can wait on a prospect to recover from an injury, namely Tommy John surgery, they could see the likes of former #1 pick Brady Aiken and potential #1 pick before injury Mike Matuella fall into their laps at #16.

Out of the trio of high-end players coming out of Vanderbilt this season New York has been attached to one of them, Carson Fulmer, in recent mock drafts. Fellow pitcher Walker Buehler could be intriguing with the #30 pick after battling some elbow soreness early this season while shortstop Dansby Swanson, who will likely be off the board by the time the Yankees pick and likely off the board first to the Arizona Diamondbacks, would also be a nice find for the Yankees and their draft committee if they can snag a couple of those players. These three Vanderbilt products will look to join fellow Alumni David Price, Sonny Gray, Mike Minor, Pedro Alvarez and Ryan Flaherty in the major leagues.

Brendan Rodgers may be the best or second best shortstop along with Swanson in the draft this season making him the perfect fit for the Yankees system that seriously lacks many middle infield talents. Unfortunately for the Yankees Rodgers is also expected to be taken early in the draft leaving the team to rely on and wait on Jorge Mateo for their shortstop of the future. While New York would have to wait for Rodgers they would not have to wait too long on UC Santa Barbara’s Dillon Tate or Illinois LHP Tyler Jay who could both be available at that #16 spot for New York. Jay is a dominant bullpen arm that could follow the same quick journey to the major leagues that Jacob Lindgren did while Tate is a starting pitcher that struck out 111 batters in 103.1 IP in 2015.


New York has a ton of options but the MLB Draft is about as uncertain as all of these mock drafts have been showing New York interested in about 15 different players in 15 different mock drafts. The only way to find out who New York takes is to tune in at 8:00 pm ET on Monday, June 8th to see who the Yankees take. 

2 comments:

  1. All three picks should be arms and a focus on a lefty arm would be nice. We all know the elf has a terrible time delivering the goods on pitchers

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    1. I want Carson Fulmer, he is absolutely disgusting this season (in a good way) but I wouldn't mind that high school catcher whose name escaped me (Jon Betts maybe?). Good news is the Yankees are supposedly going talent first, maybe Aiken and/or Matuella, and not need in the draft early.

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