MLB Draft 2023: Yankees’ picks rounds 11-15

Today will feature not only the 2023 MLB All-Star Game in Seattle, but also the final rounds of the 2023 MLB Draft. As of Tuesday morning, we have gone 10 rounds deep and the Yankees have added eight likely Baby Bombers to their ranks: first-rounder George Lombard Jr., third-rounder Kyle Carr, fourth-rounder Roc Riggio, sixth-rounder Cade Smith, seventh-rounder Kiko Romero, eighth-rounder Nicholas Judice, ninth-rounder Jared Wegner, and tenth-rounder Brian Hendry.

There are 10 more rounds to go, though! I’ll be updating this article with picks from Rounds 11-15, Jake will do a separate one on Rounds 16-20, and Kunj will put out a final Day 3 grading post after the final name is announced. As a reminder, there are no specific draft slots associated with each of the Day 3 picks, though if a team exceeds $125,000 in its offer, then the overage will count against the total bonus pool.

We’ll update this post with information on the Yankees’ draft picks from rounds 11 through 15 as they are announced. There will be no time between pick announcements on the MLB.com broadcast.

Round 11, Pick 342: Josh Grosz, RHP
East Carolina University, 6’4”, 199 lbs.

MLB Pipeline actually had Grosz ranked No. 230 on their draft board, noting that the 20-year-old has an 82-85 mph slider that “can be a plus offering at best.” He also has a mid-90s fastball that he’ll alternate as a primary offering, so he might very well end up being a reliever (though Pipeline didn’t rule out an end-of-rotation spot). In 16 starts and 76.1 innings this year for ECU, Grosz had 3.66 ERA, 1.310 WHIP, and over a strikeout per frame. Baseball America had Grosz at No. 427 on their Top 500 Draft Prospects, and they agree that he’ll eventually find a home in the bullpen.

Bonus fun fact: Grosz was once ejected for “feeding a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to a teammate who had just homered, which an umpire deemed violated the NCAA’s rules against celebratory props,” which is just a helluva quote.

Round 12, Pick 372: Brady Rose, LHP
Dallas Baptist University, 6’5”, 220 lbs.

For the fourth time in the last nine years, the Yankees have added a Dallas Baptist pitcher to their draft class, and this time, it’s Rose. He wasn’t ranked by MLB Pipeline or Baseball America, but the 22-year-old Colorado native put in a good year out of the Patriots’ bullpen in 2022, fanning 40 percent of all batters he faced — 74 in just 46 innings of work (14.5 K/9) with a 2.93 ERA.

In the fall of 2021, Rose transferred to Dallas Baptist from McLennan Community College in Waco, TX, where he helped lead the Athletics to a national championship with a 3.31 ERA and 71 strikeouts in 65.1 innings. Baseball America credited his frame and “difficult to square up” fastball for his success there.

Round 13, Pick 402: Josh Tiedemann, 3B/RHP
Hamilton High School (Chandler, AZ), 6’2”, 165 lbs.

The Yankees went back to the high school well for the first time since their Round 1 Lombard pick, and they got a two-way player to boot! Tiedemann just turned 19 and is a TCU commit, so if the Yankees want him, they’ll need some leftover slot money from the first 10 rounds to get him to pack his bags for the Tampa complex (though he was unranked by MLB and BA).

Prospect analyst Joe Doyle believes that Tiedemann ultimately probably profiles as a power infield bat more than a pitcher. He swings a mean stick at the plate, though he can still hit the mid-90s on the mound. Since Tiedemann was announced as a two-way player rather than just a third baseman though, perhaps the Yankees will at least give him a look as a pitcher as well if he signs.

Round 14, Pick 432: Danny Flatt Jr., RHP
P27 Academy (Lexington, SC), 6’4”, 190 lbs.

Originally from Summerville, SC, Flatt joined the P27 Performance Academy baseball program across the state in Lexington, and zeroed in his focus on the game this past year. Another unranked draft prospect (actually just three days older than Tiedemann), the 19-year-old is committed to Lipscomb University in Nashville, where he might prefer to raise his profile rather than signing in the Bronx. His fastball is still maturing in the low-90s and his breaking pitches currently sit in the mid-70s.

Round 15, Pick 462: Tomas Frick, C
University of North Carolina, 6’0”, 200 lbs.

Frick wasn’t ranked by MLB Pipeline or BA, but he has been the latter’s radar since 2018, when he was seen on the Perfect Game circuit while still a student at J.L. Mann High School in Greenville, SC. He’s been catching for the Tar Heels since 2021, and at age-22 in 2023, he excelled with a .322/.408/.571 triple slash, starting all 59 games while hitting 22 doubles and 12 homers. A steady force behind the plate, Frick played particularly well in crunch time and was named to the ACC All-Tournament Team.