Around the Empire: Yankees news - 4/21/17

NJ.com | Brendan Kuty: Much was made of the offseason story about Luis Severino getting help from Pedro Martinez, but it seems he’s not the only Yankee that turned to a former Red Sox menace for help. Starlin Castro apparently still keeps in touch with Manny Ramirez from their days together on the Cubs and he could be partially why Castro is off to a hot start. One of their main focuses was getting Castro to recognize pitches better and stop swinging at everything.

New York Post | George A. King III: The story of the Yankees’ offseason was their pitching. Everyone believed the offense would be fine, but the Yankees would only go as far as their pitching would take them. The rotation was Masahiro Tanaka and a prayer, but yet in the early goings of the season, the rotation has ascended to another level. They’re carrying this team right now and if they can keep it going, watch out. The next three series will be telling.

New York Daily News | Daniel Popper: The Yankees, winners of 9 out of 10, are on a hot streak as they head to Pittsburgh this weekend. What’s great is that everyone is getting along and working together. The young players like Greg Bird and Aaron Judge are soaking in all the knowledge they can from the likes of Chase Headley and CC Sabathia and Matt Holliday. The best part is that it goes both ways. Bird noticed something in Headley’s approach during spring training and Headley listened to him and adjusted his legs and has been tearing it up thus far. This team is fun.

Baseball America | John Manuel: With the Yankees playing such exciting baseball, I know the thing everyone is looking forward to is the MLB draft which is still seven and a half weeks away. Obviously the draft is such a crapshoot and it’s so hard to know what teams are thinking but Baseball America has released a mock draft where they have the Yankees (16th overall pick) repeating their strategy from last year and going with another SoCal prep hitter in Nick Pratto (1B/OF).