Yankees draft coverage: How did the Yankees’ picks do in the NCAA baseball tournament?

If you’ve been keeping track on the Yankees’ draftees on Pinstripe Alley’s draft class tracker, you’ll notice that plenty of the selections haven’t signed or indicated if they will or not.

Some of that is probably due to the fact they or the Yankees know there’s still a few weeks left to make that decision. In other cases, it’s because they’re busy still playing baseball. The NCAA Division I baseball tournament was underway when the draft started up last week, and a couple of the Yankees’ selections were still in action when the team picked them. While we wait for their seasons to end and/or for them to make their decisions, let’s see how the players have been doing.

Sixth round pick Rodney Hutchison has advanced to the College World Series in Omaha along with the rest of his UNC team. Hutchison has pitched a combined two innings across three games out of the bullpen for the Tar Heels in tournament play. He’s allowed one run on two hits in that time.

He had a little trouble in the third of those outings, failing to retire a batter against Stetson last weekend. However, he wasn’t alone as in both UNC-Stetson games, the Tar Heels went into the ninth with a four-run lead, only to end up facing the go-ahead run later in the inning. They did squeak out with wins, and Hutchison and his team are now a couple wins away from a championship.

The other Yankee selection headed to the College World Series is Barrett Loseke from Arkansas. The pitcher most recently appeared in their series against South Carolina over the weekend. He came in to start the seventh inning in Game One, and allowed just one walk in three innings, helping the Razorbacks wrap up the game. Loseke followed that up with 2.1 innings with one run allowed in the Game Three win, which clinched Arkansas’ spot in Omaha.

If you want to check out either Yankee draft pack, College World Series play will begin on Saturday. All teams are guaranteed at least two games, so while they’re both bullpen arms, there’s a chance either pitcher could see some time. Their teams are on different sides of the bracket, so there’s also a chance their teams could meet for the championship.

A couple Yankees’ draft picks also fell short of Omaha over the weekend. In back-to-back rounds, the Yankees selected a pair of Tennessee Tech teammates with their 19th and 20th round picks. Alex Junior and Marcus Evey’s team came close to making the College World Series, but were eliminated by Texas Monday afternoon.

Evey made two starts on the mound for the Golden Eagles in the tournament. The first came against Ole Miss, and he got roughed up, allowing four runs in 4.2 innings. However, his second came against the #13 team Texas, and he bounced back nicely. Evey allowed three runs, only two earned, as Tennessee Tech upset Texas in the opening game of that series.

Meanwhile, Junior was the Golden Eagles’ leadoff hitter throughout their NCAA Tournament run. He went 7-30 in eight games, also drawing seven walks. He kept Tennessee alive in the ninth inning of their eliminating loss, drawing a walk while representing the tying run.

Their 23rd round pick, Justin Wilson — yes, another one — and his Vanderbilt team came up one win shy of the College World Series, getting knocked out by Mississippi State. Wilson did not feature in any NCAA Tournament games, however.

It remains to be seen if any of these players sign with the Yankees, but it’s interesting to see how they perform in high pressure games in the NCAA Tournament.