[Erik Kratz] @Yankees have two of three MVP finalists and two of three AL ROY finalists and not one of them was a free agent. Their player development does not get enough credit.


[Erik Kratz] @Yankees have two of three MVP finalists and two of three AL ROY finalists and not one of them was a free agent. Their player development does not get enough credit.

18 comments
  1. Calling Juan Soto’s MVP performance a product of Yankees player development is a bit rich, but they were able to assemble a package wholly constituted of homegrown and developed players to acquire him. So in that sense Juan Soto was a product of Yankees player development.

    And it hurts that they lost some good pieces like Mike King, but it will benefit them in trades in the long run if other teams view the Yankees as a reliable producer of major league talent.

  2. Well their player development has been better more recently. It’s definitely something that wasn’t nearly as good 5 years ago.

    Also, I attribute Judge’s development to him reworking his swing with his private hitting coach in the 2016 offseason, not necessarily the Yankees coaching.

  3. Why would a ROY finalist be a free agent?

    And Soto is a free agent. He was a trade acquisition, and possibly a one year rental.

  4. Kind of a stupid tweet. We only got Soto because of his impending free agency and the 2 RoY candidates are great, but the problem still remains that every can’t miss hitting prospect flames out with Judge being the glaring exception.

  5. Nah fuck that. We’ve produced one or two true homegrown talent (Judge, Cano) in 25+ years? Volpe, Wells, Gil, etc. are all too early to be proven. Ben Rice was our 1B of the future after a week, and look how that turned out? We’ve been sold “Talent” dozens of times under Cashman. Them building up Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy, and Joba was such a failure. Not to mention Eric Duncan, Austin Jackson, Jesus Montero, Andrew Brackman, Manny Banuelos, Greg Bird, Slade Heathcott, Estevan Florial, Chance Adams, Deivi Garcia… should we keep listing?

    Now let’s take a look at our drafts. I wrote this up a year or two ago, but it holds true. And I’m sure if I look at the more recent drafts, it would be even more glaring:

    I am so tired of people saying the only way for us to do good in the draft is to tank to get a early draft pick, but when you look at our draft history, at all positions in the draft, we make terrible, terrible decisions:

    ######2015 Draft:

    **Pick 16: Yankees select James Kaprielian**

    Pick 24: Dodgers select Walker Buehler

    **Pick 30: Yankees select Kyle Holder**

    Pick 32: Pirates select Ke’Bryan Hayes

    Pick 36: Orioles select Ryan Mountcastle

    Pick 41: Braves select Austin Riley

    **Pick 92: Yankees select Drew Finley**

    Pick 100: Cardinals select Harrison Bader

    Pick 105: Cardinals select Jordan Hicks

    ######2016 Draft:

    **Pick 18: Yankees select Blake Rutherford**

    Pick 20: Dodgers select Gavin Lux

    **Pick 62: Yankees pick Nick Solak**

    Pick 64: Mets pick Pete Alonso

    Pick 66: Blue Jays select Bo Bichette

    **Pick 98: Yankees select Nolan Martinez**

    Pick 111: Brewers take Corbin Burnes

    Pick 122: Indians select Shane Bieber

    ######2017 Draft:

    **Pick 54: Yankees select Matt Sauer**

    Pick 68: Diamondbacks select Daulton Varsho

    ######2018 Draft:

    **Pick 97: Yankees select Ryder Green**

    Pick 102: Astros select Jeremy Pena

    Yes, I am randomly picking years, and pointing out the really obvious misses (but I also don’t know every player in every team’s farm system – so I can be missing some even more egregious misses). But the point is – this isn’t just missing good prospects because we aren’t at the top of the draft. We are terrible at drafting and player development throughout all rounds of the draft. It’s been an issue for years.

  6. Cool, 2 of the ROTY guys and one of the MVP’s sucked donkey dick in the playoffs and were direct reasons they lost. Amazing development

  7. All these good players and we still sucked when it mattered most.

    I have nothing but love for Erik Kratz. Remember when he was put in as our pitcher against the Red Sox and he accidentally plunked Bobby Dalbec while yelling “look out”? Loved the dude ever since.

  8. Their player development in the minors should be commended. However they almost all flame out at the major league level. How many guys have they brought up smash to a high ops only to get figured out in 3 or 4 years and go elsewhere?

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