Written by Greg Fertel
|
30 May 2008
I have already written some ideas for who the Yankees should draft with their first round pick at
#28, and with their sandwich-round pick at
#44. If any of those guys that I mentioned are not drafted by the time the Yankees' pick comes around again, the Yankees should definitely take a flyer on them. I'm going to mention some intriguing, talented players that should be available to the Yankees at some point because of some complicating factor (injury, bonus demands, strong college commitment, etc.), and I think they are high-ceiling talents that could be steals when they are drafted. Mike from River Ave. Blues already
mentioned a few guys, but here are 2 more that I would love to see the Yankees take a chance on. All scouting information (unless mentioned otherwise) comes from the milb.com
draft reports.
Tyler Sample, RHP, Mullen High School (CO):
Sample is a 6'7" 220 pound righty with a fastball that reaches 95, a plus curveball, and a changeup. His control is spotty, but could improve with time. 6'7" guys that can touch 95 with a plus curve rarely fall past the first round, so why might Sample be available? The answer is that he had Tommy John surgery that forced him to miss all of the 2007 season. While he is healthy now, teams might shy away from him because he does not have a long track record of performance and health. I'd like to see the Yankees take a chance on him, though with his lack of high school innings he might be somewhat of a project, albeit one with an exciting ceiling. He is committed to Arkansas, not exactly an impossible school to break a commitment with.
Derrick Saito, LHP, California Polytechnic State University
Like Sample, if you just go by the scouting report, you would expect Saito to be a shoo-in for the first round. He is a lefty with a 92-94 MPH fastball with plus life, a plus curve, a plus change, and a cutter that he can also throw for strikes. The only other college lefty with similar stuff, Brian Matusz, is expected to be a top 3 pick. So why will Saito be available? In a word, size. He is listed at 5'9" and 155 pounds, tiny for a major league player, especially a pitcher. Teams tend to be wary of pitchers that are shorter than 6 feet, and Saito certainly falls below that mark. His size also kept him from being recruited, as he was a walk-on to the Cal Polytechnic team, but came to the school to learn engineering. Saito sounds like an exciting pick stuff-wise, and might be able to overcome his lack of size and be an effective major league lefty pitcher, whether out of the bullpen or in the rotation.
