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.
17th 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.
18th 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.
19th 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 19th round.
20th 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.
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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)