Saturday, June 1, 2013
By: Ben Embry
The MLB Draft is just five days away and I'll have a couple articles as a preview, starting with this one. Early in the week I'll update my compilation rankings for one final time. Then following the draft I'll have an article reviewing the picks.
One facet of the draft is players that decide not to sign. I thought it would be interesting to take a look back at the past few drafts and check in with 6 kids that declined to sign with New York. Some of the kids turned out well, and some not so much...
Ty Moore (2012 Draft - 25th Round - pick 787)
Ty Moore was an OF from baseball (and sports in general, actually) powerhouse, Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, California. Ty was the 246th ranked prospect in the Baseball America Top 500. He was an USA Today All-American and named California's State Player of the Year, which is impressive considering Lucas Giolito and Max Fried were also from Cali. Ty was known going into the draft as a tough sign, explaining why he lasted until the 25th round and the 787th pick. The OF was known for having a solid bat but lacking in speed.
He followed through on his UCLA commitment and appeared in 27 games for the Bruins, starting in 19. Ty struggled at the plate, going 15 for 72, (.208 BA), with .292 OBP and .293 SLG, (.585 OPS). The Bruins went 40-17 during the season and hosted a regional in the NCAA Tournament. He has two seasons to recuperate his draft stock, which has surely taken a serious hit with that line. A bat-first, undersized OF (he was listed as 5'11" last June), will need to exhibit better hit and power tools than his 2013 slash line would indicate.
DJ Stewart (2012 Draft - 28th Round - pick 877)
DJ Stewart was another high school OF taken in the late rounds by the Yankees. Like Moore, DJ was known to have a strong commitment to go to school, with DJ committed to attend Florida State. He was a 2 sport star, (baseball and football), at the Bolles High School in Jacksonville, Florida. He had a stalky, solid frame standing at 6' and weighing in at 215 lbs, which sounded more like a fullback body than an OF body. That being said, he was known to be a good athlete with a strong arm and a good power bat.
At Florida State, DJ started in 56 of the 60 games the Seminoles played. Florida State played extremely well, finishing the season in the top 10. On top of hosting a regional, the team was the number 7 national seed which put them in line for a super regional, (at the time of this writing there's only been 1 regional game played), if they win their regional. DJ had a much stronger year than Moore statistically; he hit .356/.458/.543 with 4 home runs and 58 RBIs. He was always on base! Going forward there will be knocks against his body but if he can continue to perform at this level, he'll make a lot of top 100 lists when he's eligible for the draft again in 2015.
Vincent Jackson (2012 Draft - 23rd Round - pick 727)
Vincent Jackson is the third OF from the 2012 draft for us to look at, and going into that draft he was considered by Baseball America to be the best of the three. BA ranked Vincent the number 174 prospect for the draft, which is a pretty strong ranking. Vincent stood 6'4" and weighed 190 lbs going into the draft. The Georgia OF had crazy athleticism with the possibility of sticking in CF, but long term probably RF, (his strong arm making him a RF instead of a LF).
Unlike Stewart and Moore, Jackson's team, the Tennessee Volunteers, failed to make the NCAA tournament. In fact, the team did so poorly they didn't even make the SEC tournament, which is pretty staggering considering all but 2 of the 14 teams in the league was invited to the tournament. Vincent performed ok for UT; he hit .290/.317/.426 with 2 HRs and 15 RBIs in 155 AB and 43 games, (he started 38 games). He's definitely going to need to exhibit more power than this, but he seems comparable to 2013 draftee Austin Wilson physically and athletically. I actually was able to watch Jackson play against the Razorbacks last month and I was really impressed with his fielding. This guy was catching everything hit to his field. I am hoping he will be on New York's radar in 2015.
Sam Stafford (2011 Draft - 2nd Round - pick 88)
LHP Sam Stafford was considered quite a reach when New York took him with the 88th pick in the 2011 draft. Baseball America hadn't even listed him in the Top 200 prospects for the draft. He wasn't even in Texas's weekend rotation, though not because he lacks stuff. The 6'4" lefty had exhibited good velocity (96 mph) on his fastball and a passable curve, though his control was a real problem. He had been drafted once previously by the red sox in the 2008 draft. Most writers saw him as a reliever long-term.
Now like the others on this list, Stafford declined and went back to school. And in the 2013 draft, New York passed on Stafford and it was actually the Texas Rangers that selected the Longhorn, in the 13th round with the 426th pick. Sam was not rated heading into the draft due to an injured shoulder and missed season. He's playing for the Rangers' A- affiliate Hickory, which is not great considering he's 23 years old. Further he has an ERA of 9.00 and 2.47 WHIP which are both pretty terrible, (to his credit, his K/9 is a pretty solid 8.05). I think the Yankees and their fans should feel relieved they didn't sign the Longhorn lefty. The egregious part is that they wasted the 88th pick of the draft on someone who wasn't considered worth it going in and has performed pretty poorly (when he wasn't injured) ever since.
Travis Dean (2010 Draft - 14th Round - pick 445)
New York signed the first thirteen players it selected in the 2010 draft, which was a pretty effective draft for the team. Three of the team's best farm hands were taken in that draft: Mason Williams, Angelo Gumbs, and Tyler Austin. The highest drafted player that went unsigned that year was Travis Dean, a 6'6" RHP from Boston, Massachussetts. Travis played travel ball for Yankee area scout Matt Hyde and was reportedly showing a 94 MPH heater. His 6'6" frame was very projectable going into the draft.
Despite the connection to the team, Dean honored his commitment to Kennesaw State. In 2011 he started in five of the six games he appeared in for the Owls to pitch a total of 23.2 innings and finished the season with an ERA of 4.94. In 2012 Travis made six starts for the Owls, none bigger than his dominating performance on May 26 versus Florida Gulf Coast in the elimination game on Championship Saturday in the A-Sun tournament. He ended the season with a 5.60 ERA and a 4-1 record, pitching 27.1 innings, allowing 28 hits, 17 runs, 10 walks, 13 strikeouts and was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 22nd Round on the 2012 MLB Draft, (neglected to sign). This year his ERA dropped slightly to 5.03 where he started 13 games for KSU. He is eligible for this year's draft though he is not included in the BA Top 500.
Jonathan Gray (2011 Draft - 10th Round - pick 329)
I had to save the best (and most heartbreaking) for last. Yes, the guy projected as a top 2-3 pick in this coming draft was once selected by the Yankees. Anyone familiar with my twitter feed would know how much I've bemoaned this missed opportunity. Gray would undoubtedly be our top pitching prospect and second overall behind Gary Sanchez. Jon Heyman reported in April that the Yankees offered the RHP who was pitching for Eastern Oklahoma State JC at the time a $500,000 bonus, which was a pretty fair offer for a 10th round pick. Well, Gray made a wise decision because he's in line to earn over 10x that much after just two years. That's quite the investment...
Jonathan has dominated Sooners opponents all year with a stellar 10-2 record, 1.59 ERA, .84 WHIP, and 10.4 K/9. He's reportedly hitting 100 early, late, and often for the Sooners. Very Verlander-esque. Baseball America and Big League Futures both have Gray as their top overall pick, though the consensus has Mark Appel as slightly better because he has a better build and longer track record. Gray's proponents like him for his crazy heat and wipeout slider. Either way, they're both projectable aces and neither one will make it to the Yanks at 26th...though Gray could have been.
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