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The MLB Draft was just over a week and a half ago at this point, and the good news for the Yankees is that they’ve already signed all 20 of the players they selected. All information on the signing details, player backgrounds, and bonuses can be found in the linked tracker.
The most eyes were on the draft in Day 1 on Saturday, July 11th, when the Yankees made their first four picks: Arkansas southpaw Hunter Dietz, Canadian prep lefty Sean Duncan, Oklahoma catcher Brendan Brock, and Cal State Fullerton outfielder Paul Gutierrez-Contreras II. When that day came to a close, we put out a poll in the Feed asking fans to grade it.
The results were probably about as high as Yankees fans have been on a draft class in years:
The “A” grade nearly earned an outright majority, settling for a still-great 47-percent plurality. And 41 percent still gave the Yankees a “B,” meaning that only 12 percent thought this was a middling class or worse.
We also had a separate poll asking fans to just grade the Dietz first-round selection alone, and a commanding 70 percent gave him an “A,” with not a single respondent hitting him with a “D” or “F.” The talented Razorback earned acclaim from draft experts around the sport, as the consensus opinion was that he was normally the kind of arm who would’ve gone within the first 20-30 picks, and the Yanks landed him at No. 35. And while part of the reason for his fall was that a stress fracture had limited his college experience prior to 2026, that’s a different beast than Tommy John or shoulder surgery.
Check out some of the fan responses on Pinstripe Alley to the Dietz pick:
Some other fans debated the Dietz pick with a popular name that had occasionally been linked to the Yankees in mock drafts around this spot: Georgia catcher Daniel Jackson, who won both the Dick Howser Trophy and the Golden Spikes Award as college baseball’s best player. He ended up going to the Rockies at No. 37 overall.
As ultramod2 noted, Jackson might be the flashier name, but the Yankees’ third-round pick was another college catcher who should be no slouch.
Although Brock has some questions about his bat, he did just help lead the Sooners to their first national championship in 32 years, and the Yankees have a reputation around MLB for developing backstops who make it to The Show. They ended up getting another well-regarded college catcher in the fifth round as well, Bear Harrison of Texas A&M, giving New York two of the top nine catchers selected in the entire draft. It should be interesting tracking all three of these players to see who ends up having the best career — though all may end up in the shadow of Georgia Tech’s Vahn Lackey, who the Twins took with the third overall pick.
BetweenthePinstripes thought the Yankees’ overall draft strategy was sound, praising the team’s willingness to make sensible rolls of the dice while perhaps not deviating too much from conventional wisdom (à la Trey Sweeney):
Finally, a few community members bantered about scouting director Damon Oppenheimer, who has largely had autonomy from general manager Brian Cashman in running most of the team’s drafts for the past couple decades. It can be a tough assignment, given changing draft bonus rules and the Yankees always picking beyond the first 10 selections. Has he been as good about uncovering diamonds in the rough as, say, Zach Fitzpatrick and Billy Gasparino with the Dodgers? No, but the Yankees have done a fair job at finding prospects who have either become All-Star names (Aaron Judge, Ben Rice, Cam Schlittler) or who developed into key trade chips (Drew Thorpe, Ken Waldichuk, Josh Smith).
