Kepner: Yanks Look to Make Up For Last Year's Draft Mistakes

From Tyler Kepner:

The Yankees get a do-over Tuesday, and not just because they will be back at Fenway Park, where the Red Sox swept them in April. The amateur draft starts at 6 p.m., and the Yankees will try to recover from the sting of last summer.

Their top pick last June, pitcher Gerrit Cole, chose college without hearing an offer from the Yankees. They lost interest in their second-rounder, pitcher Scott Bittle, who failed his physical. If not for Luis Vizcaino, the draft might have been a total disaster.

The free-agent loss of Vizcaino, a middle reliever, gave the Yankees a supplemental first-round pick, which they used on Jeremy Bleich, a left-hander from Stanford. General Manager Brian Cashman said that Bleich, who is pitching well for Class A Tampa, reminded him of Jimmy Key.

If Bleich makes four All-Star teams the way Key did, he could save his depleted draft class. For now, though, it looks like a missed opportunity, and the Yankees have few early chances to correct it this time.

For failing to sign Cole, who had a strong freshman season at U.C.L.A., the Yankees have the 29th overall pick. For losing Bittle, a reliever for Ole Miss who hurt his shoulder again last month, the Yankees have the 76th pick.

“Basically, we’ve had to wait a year for those two picks,” Cashman said by telephone Monday, taking a break from draft preparations. “I’m pleased we’re in the draft room having discussions about players we have a chance to go get. The alternative is having to wait until the fourth round.”

Thanks to reader Bronx Baseball Daily for reminding me in the comments that the Yankees still made several good picks in the later rounds including, Pat Venditte, D.J. Mitchell, and Brett Marshall, but still, losing your top picks is never a good thing.

MLB.com's Bryan Hoch has more on what the Yanks are looking for in today's draft:

In about 50 words
As always, the Yankees will shoot for quality over need at No. 29, but they must be sure they can actually sign the player since there is no compensation. A position player looks like a strong possibility. The Yankees believe the pool is more unique and balanced than past years.

The scoop
"We've been given a budget by ownership this year, and we're going to work within that budget. We have parameters that we're going to use. You have to be a little more cautious and you have to pay attention to certain players' wishes and needs. It might not be what we value that player as. If some of these guys are going to hold true to what they're looking for, you're going to see a few more kids roll into college this year." -- [Damon] Oppenheimer

First-round buzz
The Yankees could highlight an athletic outfield prospect like California's Brett Jackson on their Draft board, and there has been talk about Southern California shortstop Grant Green and Boston College catcher Tony Sanchez. One wonders how flexible the idea of a Draft budget is for the Yankees, who shelled out $423.5 million to lock up Sabathia, Teixeira and Burnett without much of a second thought.

Shopping list
Oppenheimer outlined desires for athleticism, power arms and left-handed pitching. "There are holes that we need to address -- the system is in pretty good shape, but we need to continue to pound stuff in it," he said.

Trend watch
The Yankees haven't been shy about taking high-risk players early, knowing that Cole had a signability issue, while 2008 compensation-round pick Jeremy Bleich and 2007 first-rounder Andrew Brackman had injury issues. After not signing Cole and letting second-rounder Joseph Bittle walk unsigned due to health concerns in '08, the Yankees may be somewhat less courageous in that department.

In Keith Law's most up-to-date mock draft, he has the Yankees taking Slade Heathcott, a CF from Texas HS in Texarkana, Texas.

Heathcott is one of the best tools players in this draft, but his uncertain family life (his father is in jail on drug charges and his mother is out of the picture for similar reasons) and expected price tag had him looking like a second- or third-rounder. Arizona, the Phillies and the Yankees have all scouted him heavily the last three weeks. The Yanks, meanwhile, have shown a lot of interest in Arnett, but I doubt he gets here.

Jim Callis also has the Yankees taking Heathcott. If you are a subscriber to ESPN Insider you can read more about Heathcott here. ... The Arnett that Law mentions is Eric Arnett, a RHP from Indiana, but he's projected to go a lot earlier than 29.

The folks over at MLB.com have the Yanks taking Brett Jackson, and outfielder from Cal-Berkeley. Here's ESPN Insider's scouting report on Jackson.

There has also been talk that the Yanks were interesting in Mike Renfroe, a high school SS out of Mississippi, and Matt Purke, a high school LHP out of Texas

For more on today's draft, here's Keith Law's top 100 draft prospects.

All the speculation means nothing once the draft begins, and that will happen at 6:00 p.m. today. You can watch the first round of the draft on the MLB Network and from then on follow it on MLB.com/Live. You can also follow the draft on Twitter.

Got any ideas of who you would like to see the Yankees pick today?