Yankees: 3 MLB Draft prospects fans should prepare for

In a normal world, the MLB Draft would already be over, and the Yankees would have already made their latest sure-to-disappoint first-round addition.

Kidding. We think? Wake us up when Austin Wells is ready and we’ll reassess.

In 2021, though, we have to wait until after the College World Series, and the proceedings won’t get underway for another several weeks, beginning on Sunday, July 11.

That leaves plenty of time for fluctuations, projections, and changing tides. We’ve already gotten extremely angry at Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker likely dropping into prime Red Sox territory, and we’re bound to get upset by some other shifting opinion over the course of the next few weeks.

Things seem crystal clear for the Yankees no matter what projection or mock draft you read, though: they seem tuned into pitching, pitching, pitching, and will only alter their strategy based on who’s available when they select at No. 20 overall … pending a Jacoby Ellsbury grievance win that pushes their pick back 10 spots? Is that still possible? Hope not.

The Bombers have a lot of electric pitching in the lower-to-mid levels of their farm system, with Luis Gil and Luis Medina both harboring semi-breakouts this season, but there isn’t a lot of polished help at the top tier. Clarke Schmidt has taken much longer to get ready than we anticipated, and Deivi Garcia needs a bit more time to cook. Polished, college arms aren’t the worst investment for a team that needs both fast-risers to keep their window propped open and low-floor candidates who won’t bust.

As we see it, there are two names that keep coming up with the Yankees that fit this mold — and one wild name that could blow up the whole process, forcing us to play an extra-long waiting game.

Yankees fans should watch for these 3 MLB Draft prospects.

3. Andrew Painter, RHP, Calvary Christian Academy

MLB Pipeline’s latest Mock Draft claims Painter will be the pick, though expert Jim Callis also expects the team to eye Chase Petty, a Somers Point, NJ high school pitcher and Florida commit.

A high school righty isn’t quite the same as a collegiate one, but expect these two names to be atop the Yankees’ list if they go with a prep arm.

Painter, also bound for the Gators if he bypasses his chance at an MLB job this time around, has hit 96 on the gun, and touched 94 at the Perfect Game Junior National. Side note, there’s nothing like the feeling of reading a high school pitcher’s Perfect Game profile. For instance, did you know Painter’s seen his fastball velo spike by 25% since 2016? Oh, but for reference, he was in eighth grade then, so … yeah. Great. Nice. What else’ve you got?

In all seriousness, the 6-7, 225-pound Painter is built like a prototypical tank, and is said to possess the best changeup in the draft, which Matt Blake’s Yankees have emphasized above all other pitches. That alone is enough to follow the tracks here and believe the interest is serious.

Of course, they could also go with a certain collegiate arm we’ve heard a lot about…

1. Gunnar Hoglund, RHP, Ole Miss

Would the Yankees really select a potential top-10 pick in Gunnar Hoglund at No. 20, considering he just had Tommy John surgery in May?

Well … they did it with Clarke Schmidt in 2016. But that was when they thought they had a roster at the bottom of the pile, 2-3 years away from any form of contention. The 2017 Yankees busted the door down early, and then suddenly the pick seemed a little wackier, and still hasn’t exactly paid off except for in hype and hope.

The 6-2, 220-pound Hoglund might sound familiar to draft heads considering the Pirates took him with the 36th pick out of high school — and everyone knows other teams usually do well with pitchers after they leave the Buccos. Kidding.

Hoglund’s a powerful strikeout specialist who racked up 96 in 62.2 innings pitched this season before his poorly-timed injury. After all, this was the first collegiate season in which he’d really found it for an extended period. His freshman year was a wash, featuring a 5.29 ERA and just 53 Ks in 68 innings pitched. He started off his sophomore campaign in elite fashion, with a 1.16 ERA and 37 whiffs in 23.1 innings pitched. That’s where it ended, though, thanks to the famous pandemic.

And then there was 2021, an exceptional pre-draft year that had him rocketing to the top of the first round, only for injury to befall him just before the finish line. Would the Yankees really dare do this again for the second time in a half-decade? If they don’t, one of their neighbors in the draft order almost certainly will. How much do the Bombers believe in the talent?

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