Yankees’ draft successes shaped roster with World Series in sight

CLEVELAND – Aaron Boone decided to play the righty-lefty matchup and install Jose Trevino over Austin Wells to start ALCS Game 3 against southpaw Matt Boyd.

Had he not, the Yankees would have featured a middle of the diamond of four of their first-round picks, Wells, Clarke Schmidt, Anthony Volpe and Aaron Judge. Even at three, it speaks to the Yankees doing better in this area.

Consider that in 2013, the Yankees had three first-round picks and the two guys who sandwiched Judge at 32, Eric Jagielo at 26 and Ian Clarkin at 33, never played in the majors; nor did the Yankees’ first-round picks from the three previous years: Cito Culver, Dante Bichette Jr. and Tyler Hensley. You can add 2015 first-round selection Kyle Holder and likely 2018 top pick Anthony Siegler to that heap.

So that Schmidt (2017), Volpe (2019) and Wells (2020) have done well and that 2021 first-round choice Trey Sweeney was a key contributor to the Tigers’ stretch run into the playoffs should provide greater comfort that the last three picks – Spencer Jones, George Lombard Jr. and Ben Hess – will provide contributions, if not more.

A penalty of being a high-end contender is the Yankees have not had a top-10 pick since taking Derek Jeter sixth overall in 1992. They took Matt Drews 13th the following season and have not picked higher than 16th since; and the domestic draft tends to be top-heavy. Still, it is the job of an organization to find (and then develop) talent.

And the Yanks have – at minimum – continued to produce prospects that are attractive to other teams.

There were 62 players who appeared in an MLB game this year who signed their first pro contract with the Yankees out of the draft, as an undrafted free agent or internationally. That was third behind the Astros (68) and Dodgers (63). It also was familiar. For example, the Yanks in the previous four years finished with the sixth-most original sign players in 2023, second in 2022 and third in both 2021 and 2020.

Perhaps this reflects a good hype train by the Yankees when it comes to their prospects and/or what they stress in the minors – hard contact for hitters and big stuff for pitches – is attractive to so many like-minded organizations.

Still, no team had more of their original signs make their MLB debut this year than the Yankees with Josh Maciejewski, Carlos Narvaez, Ben Rice and Will Warren doing so.

Among others who debuted in the majors this season, you see pieces that helped the Yankees get key contributors to their current roster. Kevin Alcantara, who is MLB.com’s No. 67 overall prospect, was part of the trade that landed Anthony Rizzo. Richard Fitts was a key to the Alex Verdugo deal. Drew Thorpe was essential in the package for Juan Soto.

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Additionally at the trade deadline, the Yankees used three homegrown entities, including MLB.com No. 97 overall prospect Agustin Ramirez, to land Jazz Chisholm.

The Yankees’ acquisitions of scheduled Game 4 starter Luis Gil, Clay Holmes, Giancarlo Stanton and even Trevino required at least one original sign product. And though they left and came back, Nestor Cortes and Tommy Kahnle were Yankees’ draft picks.

If you want to play a longer game, the Yankees used a package of prospects, including Jagielo, to acquire Aroldis Chapman, who they traded to the Cubs for notably Gleyber Torres.

The need for the Yankees to be able to develop useful to better than that contributors is stark with Hal Steinbrenner continuing to insist that he wants to retain Juan Soto, yet drive down the payroll from more than $300 million. The only way to do both successfully means that Jasson Dominguez needs to become a starting outfielder next year. That Warren and/or Chase Hampton have to follow the steady improvement path that took Schmidt to the rotation. That Oswaldo Cabrera and/or Oswald Peraza (perhaps Chad Durbin) can rise to succeed Torres at second base.

The Yanks will only have regrets that they included Josh Smith — their second-round pick in 2019 after Volpe went in the first – in the failed Joey Gallo trade. Because Smith, who broke out for Texas this year, would fit so seamlessly as the second baseman of the future.

Among original-sign Yankees who played in 2024, only Judge (11.5), Wells (3.5), Volpe (3.4) and Cortes (3.1) had a higher Fangraphs Wins Above Replacement than Smith (2.8). Schmidt looked as if he was headed toward that area too before missing more than three months with a lat injury, yet still finishing at 1.7 WAR.

This is tricky. Not long ago the Yanks thought Greg Bird, Gary Sanchez and Luis Severino would join Judge to form a Core Four lite, if a 2.0 sequel was just too outrageous to hope for. So who knows how far this current homegrown group will go. In 2024, at least, it has helped form the kind of internally grown depth and production long lacking.