Yankees Draft: 3 Picks New York Should Have Made in 2020

The New York Yankees draft included a slugging catcher in Austin Wells, but they probably should’ve made these three moves.

The New York Yankees, with more limited ammo than ever before, and only three of the very limited five draft rounds to work with, came out with a few blue-chippers. It’s not a Yankees draft these days without a catcher, and slugging lefty Austin Wells definitely fits that bill. In the third  and fourth rounds, the NYY finished their bounty with IF/OF Trevor Hauver out of ASU and 20-year-old JC righty Beck Way.

But were there any chess pieces they left untouched? Any moves New York could’ve made to prevent their rivals from nabbing a golden nugget? These three picks might’ve been better alternatives for New York (sorry, 2020 class!).

3. Yankees Draft: Bobby Miller Over Austin Wells

The Yankees draft included catcher Austin Wells over Louisville pitcher Bobby Miller, and we would’ve reversed it.

We’ve made this argument before — New York must love Austin Wells’ bat, and they certainly know more than we do.

But in a best-case scenario, he’s a fast-rising redundancy behind Gary Sanchez and Luke Voit. Bobby Miller, the righty who was widely rumored to become a Yankee, went one pick later to the Dodgers, and still seems like a better fit for the farm system to us.

Miller’s got a 99 MPH fastball, and the worst case for him appears to be a back-end relief slot. We trust the Dodgers’ pitcher development department, though, and the man who carried Louisville to the College World Series with a near no-hitter last year seems like a potentially dominant addition.

If you’re worried Miller’s a reliever, that makes sense — but the pitchers who went behind him in the Comp. Round (Auburn’s Tanner Burns and Miami’s Slade Cecconi among them) have significantly lower upside.

Never draft pitchers. We get it. But, like it or not, New York’s going to have to do so at some point.