Grading Yankees' last 5 first-round picks (with an asterisk) before 2026 MLB Draft

Given the New York Yankees' annually restricted draft position, it's a wonder they select as well as they do. Still, you'll forgive us if some of the enthusiasm has dissipated in recent weeks: the MLB club is showing its warts, and some of the guys we were really hoping to dream on have been rendered indisposed.

This weekend, the Yankees will make their first selection at Pick No. 35, losing 10 spots because of how thoroughly they surpassed the Competitive Balance Threshold last year. And we can all agree — it was totally worth it! Flags fly forever. Flags for overcoming the Red Sox in the Wild Card round before being absolutely pasted by the Blue Jays fly forever.

The Yanks were similarly punished last year, with experts wildly split on how they'd behave when their selection arrived.

In the end, they shocked most informed onlookers and made a pick that seemed absolutely brilliant as we left 2025 in the rearview mirror. It still should be, but unfortunately the Dax Kilby selection garners a big asterisk in our current grading model: excellent pick, but Kilby's disappeared, leaving us with a woefully incomplete picture.

Yankees first-round pick history: 2026's top selection will feel a lot like 2025 MLB Draft

2025: Dax Kilby, SS, 39th Overall. Grade: A, But Also Incomplete

Kilby's exit velocity data during his cameo in Low-A Tampa last summer was the stuff of legends. Saying he "hit the ground running" was an understatement; Kilby looked like one of the game's more obvious breakout candidates this season.

Unfortunately, he's failed to live up to that high standard this year, posting a remarkable slash line of ... um ... he's 0-2 on the year. Kilby's recurring hamstring injury remains troublesome almost four months into the regular season. The pick seems like gold, but it's been hiding in a different room all season long.

2024: Ben Hess, RHP, 26th Overall. Grade: B+

Hess was also not familiarly on most boards when the Yankees chose him, sporting a 5.80 ERA in his junior season at Alabama. Credit to the Yankees here, though: they believed that he'd swiftly thrive in their pitching lab, and they were correct. He quickly became a fastball/slider menace, parlaying his big body into impressive heft.

Far from a finished product — Hess has a 4.75 ERA in Somerset this year and battled an injury early in the campaign — but his breakout 2025 showed that those who favored his stuff above the results could be quickly vindicated. Now, all he has to do is translate it to the highest level before we can anoint him a success — but he's already a solid draft pick either way.

2023: George Lombard Jr., SS, 26th Overall. Grade: A

Lombard Jr. at No. 26 was an obvious steal, no two ways about it. He's risen to become the 11th best prospect in baseball, per Baseball America's midseason update, and is the crown jewel of the Yankees' system. Anyone who's long followed the Yankees knows that they typically access their best talent via international free agency; it's amazing to see a draft pick atop the consensus list (and scary how bad their international selections have become, but, uh ... hey, look over here!).

Lombard Jr.'s bat has typically taken a few weeks/months to match his elite glove at every level, but he was putting on a patient show at Triple-A when the injury bug temporarily bit in. He's a keeper, and might be the only prospect who shouldn't be touched in deadline trade talks.

2022: Spencer Jones, OF, 25th Overall. Grade: B

Even "B" feels rude! Jones has a potential fatal flaw as an MLB player, with an escalating K rate he can't shake, but his raw power is absurd. Sure, you can sometimes do better at No. 25, but it's hard not to see why the Yankees bet on that raw talent at that draft position.

It's unclear if Jones will get another chance again in the Bronx, but he just posted an .808 OPS in June in his second MLB stint of 2026.

2021: Trey Sweeney, SS, 20th Overall. Grade: C+

Sweeney's the worst of the group, mostly because of the residual annoyance at how he was used.

A small-school, bat-first prospect, the Yankees coaxed a .778 OPS out of him at Double-A in 2023, then traded him to the dreaded Dodgers in exchange for Jorbit Vivas and left-hander Victor Gonzalez. By the end of the 2024 season, LA had flipped him to the Tigers for Jack Flaherty. Flaherty started two World Series games against the Yankees – one strong, one brutal — but both were Dodgers wins. Sweeney? He was starting playoff games at shortstop for the Tigers!

2026 hasn't gone well for him, and he's currently out for the year after struggling to meet the Mendoza Line. He was a well-traveled 20th overall selection and a half-decent one, but his movement has stung the Yankees in myriad ways.

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