Meet a Prospect: Dillon Tate

The New York Yankees seemingly have a new philosophy these days as we finally close the chapter on the George Steinbrenner era and I think our very own Bryan Van Dusen said it best when he said, to paraphrase, “If you can’t draft in the first round then just trade for first round picks” and that’s exactly what the Yankees have done. The team has added a stable of great prospects that came with pre-draft hype to their organization including Gleyber Torres, our weekly check in showcase from this morning Clint Frazier and today’s introduction to the Yankees fan base, Dillon Tate. Tate was drafted with the fourth overall pick in the 2015 MLB First Year Players Draft and the Yankees took the chance on his upside when they traded away veteran right fielder Carlos Beltran, now let’s meet him. This is Meet a Prospect: The Dillon Tate Edition.

Dillon Michael Tate was born on May 1, 1994 and began his collegiate pitching career at the University of California, Santa Barbara. It was there that he caught the eye of the Texas Rangers who drafted him fourth overall in the 2015 Draft signing him to a $4.2 million signing bonus. In his first professional season Tate made his debut for the Class-A Short Season Spokane Indians before getting the call up this season to Low-A Ball where he will likely begin his Yankees tenure and career with the Charleston Riverdogs.

Tate is a buy-low candidate for the Yankees to be completely honest but the stuff is there. During spring training of this year Tate was throwing a 96 MPH with a plus-slider and an above-average changeup but the fastball velocity had dipped a bit and Tate spent time on the disabled list this season. The DL stint was for a hamstring and not his arm, which is encouraging, but without your legs you can and eventually will throw your arm out so with the dip in velocity you were just a bit.

Either way Tate possesses #2 starter potential and is a work in progress inside the Yankees system. Tate adds another high-end potential starter into the mix and one can never have too many of those so welcome to the team Dillon, welcome to the organization and most importantly welcome to the family.