Meet a Prospect: Yankees Picks Rounds 16-20

At the time of this writing the New York Yankees had signed picks in rounds #17 Mandy Alvarez, #18 Greg Weissert, #19 Evan Alexander and their #20 round pick Miles Chambers. The Yankees have had luck in these later rounds in their history so it’s worth taking a look at these guys now as potential solid MLB players in the future. Sure they aren’t drafting many Derek Jeter’s in these later rounds but it is well documented about the jewels in the later rounds that have been found so here’s to hoping the Yankees found another or two with one of these young men.

17^th Round – Mandy Alvarez (3B) Eastern Kentucky

Alvarez was a senior third baseman at Eastern Kentucky University at the time of his drafting but that doesn’t mean he can’t be a solid pickup for the Yankees with this pick. Some may think that Alvarez dropped this low because of how much he has moved around during his collegiate career but I personally think that may help him in the long run.

Alvarez began his college career at Florida International before transferring to Miami-Dade College. Alvarez finished his last two seasons of college with Eastern Kentucky but no matter where he went he was a scrappy hitter that was not easy for any pitcher to retire. Alvarez works the whole fie4ld while hitting and he doesn’t give away at bats either.

Alvarez’s biggest issue is his defense and his arm strength. He is likely not going to stick at third base in his professional career and a move to second base is likely in the cards for the young infielder. His power, hitting and defense are all considered to be average at this point but a team is not built with stars it’s built with the right player playing the right position at the right time. That player may be Alvarez going forward.

18^th Round – Greg Weissert (RHP) Fordham

Weissert is one of those large framed pitchers that the Yankees have seemingly fell in love with over the past few drafts. Weissert stands at 6’2” and 215 pounds and his big frame and live arm earned him the honors of being named the top pitcher in the Atlantic-10 Conference according to the Baseball Draft Report.

Weissert offers up a 93 MPH fastball, a 79 MPH cutter and a 75 MPH curveball and all three pitches can be thrown for strikes at any point in the at bat. For this reason Weissert seems destined to stick in the starting rotation as long as his body allows him to although his K numbers, which stood at 9.46 in 2016 per nine innings, may translate better in the bullpen when all is said and done.

19^th Round – Evan Alexander (CF) Hebron High School

Evan Alexander owns a special little piece of my heart for no real apparent reason. You ever just get attached to a prospect based on one game or one gesture while you’re at the ballpark or for silly reasons like Evan is your first born child and Alexander is the middle name for your second born child? Maybe it’s just met.

Anyway the 6’2” and 175 pound high school center fielder is a left-handed hitting outfielder that was named the District 6A First Team in 2016. Alexander also was named as a 2016 Rawlings Perfect Game Honorable Mention in the All-American Texas Region. He’s a high school kid so he’s raw but the sky is always the limit with these picks. Worth taking a chance on in the 19^th round.

20^th Round – Miles Chambers (RHP) Cal State Fullerton

Chambers is another big frame pitcher standing at 6’2” and weighing in at 200 pounds and is also another reliever that could move relatively quickly through the system given the chance. Chambers is not going to blow anyone at with his 90 MPH fastball but no one can argue that he hasn’t been effective pitching to a 0.98 ERA with a 21/4 K/BB ratio in 27.2 innings in 2016. Also it doesn’t hurt that his favorite team is the New York Yankees. I mean that has to count for something, right?

There you have it. We’ve now met every Yankees draft pick that has signed to date through the first 20 rounds of the draft. While it was hard enough to find the information on these 11-20 picks it’s even harder to find much solid information on picks 21-40 so I don’t know if we’ll continue with these looks but if something big or tangible comes up I’ll definitely throw it up on the blog. Also if Blake Rutherford and/or Nolan Martinez sign we will also obviously throw up a post for them. Either way this has been fun for me to do and I hope you enjoyed reading these as much as I enjoyed writing them. This has been a special edition of Meet a Prospect. Have a great day and a great weekend Yankees family.