Yankees: Celebrating 30th Anniversary of Drafting Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada

30 years ago today, the New York Yankees drafted both Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada. Not bad.

The late rounds of the 1990 MLB Draft were good to the Yankees, to say the least, and June 4 is a massive day in this franchise’s modern history.

On this date 30 years ago, Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada joined Bernie Williams (signed at the age of 17 in 1985) and Mariano Rivera (signed in February of ’90) in the New York Yankees’ system.

They were selected in the 22nd (Pettitte) and 24th (Posada) rounds. That’s how you do this whole “drafting” thing — nab potential Hall of Famers while everyone else is sleeping.

Though New York wouldn’t make the postseason again until 1995, both Pettitte and Posada were on the roster that broke that boundary, with the Texan lefty wrapping an impressive rookie season to cap that pennant drive. In ’95, Pettitte went 12-9 with a 4.17 ERA and started a marathon Game 2 win in the ALDS over the Seattle Mariners.

His late selection paid off almost immediately, with an 0.98 ERA in Rookie Ball duty that summer, and a breakout 1992 campaign in Greensboro, in which he posted a 10-4 record and sparkling 2.20 ERA, likely picking off 837 batters in the process (an educated guess). Posada got on the prospect map in his first full season in the system in ’92 as well, hitting .277 with a .389 OBP as Pettitte’s Greensboro teammate, rocking 12 homers and knocking in 58.

By that summer in 1992, the entire Core Four would be immersed in their journey to the Bronx, as Derek Jeter was selected (with a much higher pick) that season.

Throughout the ’90s and ’00s, Pettitte and Posada symbolized postseason baseball as much as anyone, and they were selected in rounds so late that MLB isn’t even recognizing them in 2020.

If there’s to be another surprise in such fashion, the selections will have to come from an ever-increasing pool of undrafted free agents. The selection of these two cornerstones on one single day (which is generally a draft afterthought) further confirms those ’90s Yankees were pure magic.