Yankees See Dillon Tate as a Big-Time Buy Low Candidate

The New York Yankees may have gotten a major bargain by acquiring last year’s number four overall draft pick Dillon Tate for two months of Carlos Beltran.

While speaking to reporters before Monday night’s contest against the New York Mets, Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman addressed a number of different topics, including the newest addition to the organization’s growing stable of elite young talent.

MLB.com ranked righthander DIllon Tate ranked as the second best overall talent in the 2015 draft, but he ended up falling to the Rangers at number four. Here’s an excerpt from his scouting report at the time:

"Tate showed the best stuff in the U.S. collegiate national team’s stellar bullpen during the summer. He pairs a 92-98 mph fastball with a sharp 86-87 mph slider. He mixes in a fringy curveball and his changeup has the chance to be above-average as well. Tate missed more bats in 2015 than he had previously."

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That upper-90’s fastball hasn’t really shown up this season. Reports have him working mostly in the 90-93 range lately, and even sitting in the upper-80’s on occasion.. In addition, he’s struggled with his control, walking 3.74 batters per nine innings in 17 appearances for the Rangers’ Sally League affiliate. He has a 5.12 ERA in 65 innings in 2016.

A hamstring issue has also plagued Tate in 2016, which might provide at least a partial answer for his diminished velocity. Still, as a 22-year-old in Low-A, Tate should be doing more this year given his pedigree.

Brian Cashman told reporters that the plan is to have Tate work closely to refine his mechanics with Yankees minor league pitching coordinator Danny Borrell. He will be working out of the bullpen for the time being with Low-A Charleston in an attempt to have more control over his outings.

Tate began his college career at UC Santa-Barbara in the bullpen, before transitioning to the rotation in his junior year. Prospect analyst Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs points out that Tate’s velocity has “waxed and waned” since then. His innings took a big jump from 43 in 2014 to 103 in 2015. 

If he has dealt with this issue in the past, that gives hope that it is not injury related, and is perhaps a fixable mechanical problem. If the Yankees can get Tate right, this trade would be an absolute steal.

22-year-old starting pitchers with front-of-the-rotation potential are not easy players to come by. Acquiring one for a rental DH was a masterstroke by Brian Cashman and the Yankees, but one that is perhaps overshadowed by the Yankees GM’s other great moves in the last week.