Yankees Rumors: Insider Claims New York Could Draft Position Player in First Round

A ton of MLB Draft buzz has suggested the New York Yankees will take a pitcher, until now.

The five-round snoozer of a 2020 MLB Draft will begin on Wednesday and Yankee fans have been fervently researching who the Bronx Bombers might take with the 28th overall pick. Rumors have largely suggested New York will be selecting a pitcher, as we’ve previously discussed, but it appears as if that may have changed.

New York selected Delbarton high school star shortstop Anthony Volpe out of New Jersey in 2019 and they could be leaning toward taking another SS this time around. Why? The signing of Gerrit Cole forced the Yankees to surrender their second- and fifth-round picks, and considering the arms they’ve reportedly been looking at — Clayton Beeter and Cole Wilcox — don’t exactly have big sample sizes to judge from in terms of their collegiate careers, it’s possible the front office goes with a more “best player available” approach before snagging a pitcher.

New York has been specifically linked to Baylor SS Nick Loftin, SS Ed Howard from Mount Carmel high school in Chicago, shortstop Carson Tucker from Mountain Pointe high school in Phoenix, and Arizona catcher Austin Wells in a number of mocks, according to MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch.

Let’s also not forget the Yankees selected 25 pitchers out of their 41 selections last year, so the urgency to take another one right out of the gate may not be there.

Then again, the latest mock draft from the esteemed Baseball America has the Bombers going after Wake Forest left Jared Shuster in the first round, despite the 21-year-old owning a cumulative 6-8 record with a 6.17 ERA and 1.54 WHIP across 41 games (22 starts) in college and the Cape Cod League.

At this point, it’s impossible to pinpoint the kind of player the Yanks truly want with their first selection, but fans might be leaning toward the idea of going with a position player given the volatility (and downright lack of success) among the pitchers linked to the team in rumors and mocks.