Red Sox gave Yankees a baffling MLB Draft break (but it'll probably work out for them)

The Boston Red Sox stepped on the clock with the No. 20 pick in the first round of the MLB Draft with an opportunity. Some weirdness earlier in the round had left some very highly regarded prospects on the table, and the New York Yankees should have been worried that their rivals were about to land a star. Instead, the Red Sox selected University of North Carolina shortstop Jake Schaffner.

If you've been following first-round mock drafts and are left scratching your head saying, "who?" you're not alone. None of the experts had a first-round grade on Schaffner, with MLB Pipeline ranking him No. 75 in the class, while Baseball America had him originally at No. 98 before upgrading him to the 52nd-ranked player in the draft.

Schaffner is a shortstop by trade, though there's a question as to whether he has the ability to stick there long-term. He has impressive contact skills, but very little power to speak of, hitting a career-high six homers this season.

That doesn't have the look and feel of a first-round pick, especially with big-name college prospects Cameron Flukey and Ace Reese still on the board, plus high school phenom Coleman Borthwick. But Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has always moved to the beat of his own drum, so an off-the-wall selection isn't totally surprising.

The Yankees will probably see Jake Schaffner become a frustrating fixture for the Red Sox

In fact, given the power-deficient nature of the Red Sox's big league roster, it's par for the course seeing him select a guy who projects to be a light-hitting second baseman.

Of course, Boston has a history of finding unique ways to be a thorn in the Yankees' side, so it wouldn't be a shock to see Schaffner become a real pest and a fixture in Boston's lineup in a few years.

Perhaps they're on the cutting edge of the next baseball revolution, and we'll see teams forgo launch angle and pop and instead go back to simpler times when bat-to-ball skills and putting the ball in play reigned supreme.

More than likely, this is Breslow trying to prove he knows more than everyone else, which seems to be a consistent motivation behind his contrarian moves despite the fact that, on the whole, they've rarely worked out.

At the very least, the Yankees won this battle with their selection of Hunter Dietz at No. 35 because the Arkansas lefty was among those gaining support from Sox fans leading up to the draft.

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