The Yankees' Draft Position

Written by Josh W. | 09 June 2010

It's very hard for the Yankees to build up their farm system through the draft. Some may ask, "with the Yankees resources, why don't they dominate the draft?" Well the truth is that the talent often just isn't there. Thanks to Sky Kalkman's and Victor Wang's work (and others), we know that the value of a late first round pick is closer in value (measured by WAR) to the 500th pick than the first pick. This is demonstrated by Sky Andrecheck's graph:

Does this mean the Yankees are doomed to a cycle of drafting mediocrity? Thankfully not, because with the Yankees' resources, and a bit of luck, the Yankees are sometimes able to snag a top-half 1st round talent (think Brackman).

The Yankees can have all the money in the world, but when the talent disparity between the first few picks and the rest of the draft is so large, drafting is a going to be a challenge.

This is further demonstrated by this table (of only the first round):

This is why 32nd picks have such lukewarm history.

It's important to undestand that while the Yankees do have more resources than any other team, they also consistently have a terrible position to draft from, and that it's much more difficult for them to get top talent than one would think.