Yankees: New York Signs Highest-Rated UDFA of Post-Draft Period So Far

The New York Yankees have signed Indiana OF Elijah Dunham as a UDFA, who’s in Kiley McDaniel’s top 250.

While the Kansas City Royals have rightfully taken the throne as the model franchise of the UDFA period, the New York Yankees are not far behind.

After adding a serious of good-reputation hard-throwing bullpen arms — like Kentucky’s Carson Coleman and Tulane’s Connor Pellerin — New York managed to get the biggest coup of the entire period thus far on Wednesday night.

The Yankees agreed to a deal with Elijah Dunham, the first prospect to sign from guru Kiley McDaniel’s pre-draft top 250 list.

Dunham, a junior outfielder on the Indiana Hoosiers, hit .310 with a .434 OBP and eight homers in his sophomore year, marking his final full campaign in Bloomington. With that performance, he earned spot No. 39 on D1Baseball’s Top 100 Hitter of the 2019-20 Seasons list entering what would’ve been a pivotal campaign that likely would’ve resulted in a larger draft bonus than the $20K he’s now received.

Dunham now joins a crowded outfield prospect picture in the Bronx, though at a very different level than many of the top names. Jasson Dominguez is the system’s golden boy, but he shouldn’t be on Dunham’s radar, and Estevan Florial’s now-dimming prospect shine puts him in a very different place than the new arrivals, too.

The Indiana kid now hopefully joins the team’s mess of mid-range outfield prospects on MLB Pipeline’s Yankees Top 30, including Kevin Alcantara, Everson Pereira, Canaan Smith, and Ryder Green. We’d expect an advanced college bat looking at a year off to end up in Charleston in 2021, especially now that short-season Staten Island’s future with the Yankees organization appears cloudy at best.

Bottom line, pedigree matters in terms of adding these undrafted free agents, and though teams like the Royals are making inroads with their compassion and stability, the Yankees will always be the Yankees. That’s how New York snagged the first top 250 name of the entire competition.