Yankees’ system is back in balance after a pitching-heavy draft

The 2024 MLB Draft has wrapped up and the Yankees now have a number of new prospects that they will be working to sign over the coming week. Over the past few years the Yankees system has gone from being pitching heavy to leaning towards more position player talent. Let’s take a look at how the Yankees draft changes the dynamics of the minor-league system and where it will go from here.

Prior to Sunday night, the Yankees had used their top draft pick on a position player ever year since 2018. This also coincides with the bulk of their international bonus pool money going to position players who have the tools to stick on prospect rankings for a long time as player progress through the system. Coming into Sunday, Baseball America’s recently updated top-30 prospects for the Yankees system listed 19 position players and just 11 pitchers.

The Yankees took steps to bring the talent mix back into balance as they used their first seven picks on college pitching from power-5 conference schools. In any given year anywhere from three to six draft picks can find their way into the top-30 rankings, and it looks like that will be the case again this season.

Ben Hess will enter the system as one of the Yankees’ top-two pitching prospects. That position is currently held by Chase Hampton across multiple scouting organizations. Hampton was injured early, even hitting the 60-day injured list earlier this season with shoulder discomfort. Hampton has been a major success for the Yankee player development program after he was taken in the sixth round in 2022.

Right in the mix with Hess and Hampton will be Bryce Cunningham, the Yankees’ second-round pick. Baseball America had Hess and Cunningham as their 38th- and 39th-ranked draft prospects heading into the event. Both will likely remain tightly grouped within the Yankees top-10 prospects when those lists are updated.

The Yankees next two picks, Thatcher Hurd and Gage Ziehl, should also easily enter the ranks of the top-30 lists as both were well regarded prospects who were expected to go in the third-to-fourth round range. These college arms have the tools and upside that prospect evaluators like and they will likely enter the ranks in the 15-25 range of Yankees prospect rankings.

There are even more arms further down in the draft that have a chance to slot in on prospect lists right away, like Greysen Carter and Griffin Herring. These pitchers have tremendous upside and electric flashes of talent that Yankees will be looking to refine. The Yankees system has also not seen too many breakout performances through the middle and upper levels of the system this season. That leaves a lot of room for the projectable arms that the Yankees just drafted.

While the Yankees did grab some bats in the draft, none of the players were highly rated in the draft process. Will one of them develop into the next Ben Rice and rise through the system after being a later round pick? That is to be seen, but it is unlikely that any of the players selected will find their way immediately onto an organizational talent ranking. The position players will likely have more of an opportunity to put their skills on display, as they do not have the same innings and outings restrictions as the pitchers do.

The Yankees have flipped the dynamic of their minor league system back to a more balanced talent mix. The influx of college pitching will likely have limitations during this season after coming off long college seasons, but those highly drafted arms will flood the full season levels by early next year. The talented young arms all have a lot of development to come, but the organization has given their coaches some high ceiling talent to work with.