Yankees Throwback Thursday draft edition: 1990

Last year was the 50th anniversary of the first ever MLB draft. Every Thursday, PSA will dust off the old time baseball time machine and have a look back at some of the more fruitful and interesting draft classes in New York Yankees' history.

For the first edition, we will take a look at some of the Yankees' most notable picks of a draft that ended up contributing immensely to the most recent Yankees dynasty. First up is the 1990 MLB draft.

OF Carl Everett (Round 1, 10th overall pick)

The first of several productive big leaguers the Yankees selected in this draft, the switch-hitting outfielder never played in one game with the Yankees. After being as high as the 32nd best prospect in the game following the 1991 season, the Yankees lost Everett in the '92 expansion draft to the Florida Marlins, which is the club he made his big league debut with in 1993.

In 14 major league seasons, Everett slashed a solid .271/.341/.462 with 1,304 hits and 792 RBI. Though he never played for the Yankees, he certainly played a role in Yankee history when he broke up Mike Mussina's perfect game bid on September 2, 2001 with a bloop single after Mussina retired the first batters in the bottom of the ninth at Fenway Park.

SS Robert Eenhoorn (Round 2, 45th overall pick)

Eenhoorn only played 37 major league games, but he's not on this list for what he did during his brief big league career.

Eenhoorn was born and raised in the Netherlands, and at one point was rated as the sixth best prospect in the Yankees' system. After debuting with the Yankees in 1994, the 6-foot-3 shortstop played five games for the 1995 Yankees, including getting the start on May 28. On May 29, the Yankees started a rookie at shortstop by the name of Derek Jeter.

This is not where Eenhoorn's Yankee connections end, however. Eenhoorn played for a coach by the name of Jim Stoeckel while on the Dutch national team, and Stoeckel recruited and coached Eenhoorn when he was the head coach at Davidson College in North Carolina in the late 1980s. Stoeckel has been a coach, manager and scout throughout for several MLB teams since then, including a stint as the director of international operations for the Cincinnati Reds from 2007-2008. During his tenure with the Reds, Stoeckel helped discover and sign a Dutch shortstop named Didi Gregorius.

That's not all, folks. Gregorius, who replaced Jeter at shortstop last season (after Jeter took Eenhoorn's place in '95), played on the Dutch team's 2011 Baseball World Cup team, which beat the national teams of Cuba and the United States that year en route to a championship. The person who put together that 2011 Dutch team as the team's technical director/general manager? You guessed it- none other than Robert Eenhoorn.

OF Ricky Ledee (Round 16, 435th overall pick)

It's easy to forget, but at one point Ledee was one of the Yankees' best players in the system, and one of baseball's most sought after prospects.

Baseball America listed Ledee as the organization's sixth best prospect following the 1998 season, and was listed in the top 100 prospects in the sport in both 1997 (#46) and 1998 (#70). An Associated Press report from February 1998 said that Ledee was a name that had come up repeatedly in talks for Minnesota Twins' second baseman Chuck Knoblauch. This scouting report from BA might be why he was coveted so much:

Ledee is a quality hitter who has no trouble handling power pitchers. He has untapped power potential and could be a 30-home run hitter if given the opportunity. Ledee has also shown he can take pitches and work a pitcher for a walk.

Ledee was ultimately not included in the Knoblauch deal, and he ended up playing 42 games for the 1998 Yankees as a 24-year-old. He spent two more seasons in the Bronx before being dealt with Jake Westbrook to the Cleveland Indians in the David Justice trade at the trade deadline in 2000. Ledee only played 17 games for the Indians before being traded again in 2000, this time to the Texas Rangers.

Ledee would bounce around the league for seven more years, with 63 home runs to his name in over 2,000 at-bats. Just goes to show how much of crapshoot it is to predict future player performance.

P Andy Pettitte (Round 22, 594th overall pick)

Despite being drafted in the 22nd round, Pettitte became one of the team's best prospects in just four years. BA ranked the lefty as the team's third best prospect following the 1994 season, and as the 49th best prospect in baseball for that same year. With his "above-average lefty repertoire", "great pickoff move", and "aggressiveness in tight situations" (sounds familiar, no?), the Texas product made his debut in 1995, helping the Yankees to clinch the first ever Wild Card down the stretch.

He spent 15 of his 18 big league seasons with the Yankees, finishing in the top three in Yankees' history in games started (tied for first), wins (third), innings pitched (third), and strikeouts (first).

SS Jorge Posada (Round 24, 646th overall pick)

Many Yankee fans know how a young Posada played some second base in the minors before being converted to a catcher, but yes, he was actually listed a shortstop for the 1990 draft. However, he never played shortstop at any level once he turned pro. Weird stuff.

We all know what became of Posada once he reached the big leagues- he developed into one of the best hitting catchers of his generation, slashing .273/.374/.474 in 17 big league seasons. The switch-hitter also hit 275 home runs and drove in over a thousand runs. A borderline Hall of Fame, switch-hitting catcher with the 646th overall pick? Any team would gladly sign up for that.

OF Shane Spencer (Round 28, 750th overall pick)

It took Spencer eight years to reach the big leagues, but once he did, what an impression he made.

After being called up for good in late July of 1998, Spencer's bat was as hot can be, hitting ten home runs, driving in 27, and slashing .373/.411/.910 in just 73 plate appearances. Three of those long balls came with the bases loaded in the span of ten days. He was arguably the team's best hitter in September, and the pick is certainly a success just based on that torrid month of September alone.

In total, the outfielder played in seven big league seasons, five of which were spent in the Bronx (he spent one year split between the Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers, and his final season with the New York Mets). Spencer finished with 59 career home runs in 538 games.

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According to BaseballReference.com, 16 of the Yankees' 74 selections from the 1990 draft class reached the big leagues, with a cumulative WAR of 133.4. Most of that number, however, is made up of the combined WARs of Pettitte (60.8), Posada (42.7) and Everett (20.4). Still, a draft class that produced a #2-3 left-handed starting pitcher, a power hitting, switch-hitting catcher, and a solid everyday outfielder is quite impressive.

Next week, we will have a look back at the Yankees' 2006 draft class.