Which 2016 New York Yankees Draft Picks Have Signed?

The New York Yankees have signed 24 of their 40 picks from the 2016 amateur draft as of Monday. Two notable exceptions are first round pick Blake Rutherford and third rounder Nolan Martinez.

With the signing of second round pick Nick Solak Monday, the New York Yankees have now signed eight of their top ten 2016 draft picks. Of that group, outfielder Dom Thompson-Williams of South Carolina (fifth round), RHP Brooks Kriske of South Carolina (sixth round), catcher Keith Skinner of North Florida (seventh round), first baseman Dalton Blaser of Cal State Fullerton (eighth round), and LHP Trevor Lane of Illinois-Chicago (10th round) have all been assigned to the Staten Island Yankees of the NY-Penn League and begun their professional careers.

Fourth round pick Nick Nelson, a 20-year-old RHP who played one season at Gulf Coast State College, signed for an under-slot $350,000 bonus, but hasn’t been assigned to a minor league affiliate as of yet. Ninth rounder Tim Lynch, a first baseman from Southern Mississippi, has also signed for a well-under-slot $10,000, but not received an official assignment.

George A. King III of the New York Post reports that the Yankees are “moving in the right direction” with first round pick Blake Rutherford. Yankees VP of amateur scouting Damon Oppenheimer recently told King, “We’re talking and there is progress going on. I don’t have a timetable, but we are making progress.”

It is expected that signing Rutherford will require considerably more than the $2.44 million slot bonus assigned to the 18th overall pick. The 19-year-old outfielder has considerable leverage because of a commitment to play for UCLA, but the team seems confident that they will eventually land him.

Out of the Yankees remaining 30 picks, they have signed RHP Taylor Widener (12th) RHP Jordan Scott (14th), LHP Tony Hernandez (15th), 3B Mandy Alvarez (17th), RHP Greg Wiessert (18th), OF Evan Alexander (19th), RHP Miles Chambers (20th), OF Timmy Robinson (21st), RHP Braden Bristo (23rd), OF Joe Burton (24th), OF Ed Luaces (25th), LHP Phillip Diehl (27th) RHP Will Jones (28th), OF Ben Ruta (30th), RHP Tim Honahan (36th), and RHP Brian Keller (39th), bringing their overall total to 24 players added to the system this month.