Baseball America’s John Manuel on the Yankees overall draft strategy and several picks: On Pat White:

“You lose everybody’s rights at the signing deadline (August 17) … But it really doesn’t make any sense. He was a fourth round pick out of high school (by the Angels) … he was highly regarded but hasn’t played in years.

“But any franchise could convince him it would be the Yankees.”

On J.R. Murphy:

“I like JR Murphy, but you can only play one catcher. People aren’t sure if he will stick at catcher defensively … he can hit, and he has some athletic ability, but there are only so many catchers that you can play in the minors at each level.”

On Slade Heathcott:

“I do like Heathcott … he’s a first-round talent – slam dunk. But there were teams that were definitely scared off by his makeup. He has first-round tools, but that’s why he wasn’t a consensus first-round player.”

On Adam Warren:

“I love Adam Warren. If you’re going to draft a college senior, he’s a great college senior to draft. He’s probably going to sign for slot, and his stuff has gotten better every year. He’s not a high-ceiling guy, but – and I know (Yankees vice president for amateur scouting) Damon (Oppenheimer) is going to kill me for saying this – I think he’s not that much different than Ian Kennedy.”

On Gavin Brooks:

“Brooks was one of the top high school players in his class … he was a high school kid out of San Diego, but then he hurt his shoulder and went to college, so he went to UCLA with a lot of attention. But over the last two years he’s just been a tease. He lost his rotation spot, wound up closing for this year’s team … I don’t know what to make of Gavin Brooks. I tend to lump hyim into the group of players that made us look bad.”

On Tyler Lyons:

Lyons, like Brooks, had a really rough junior season. Not sure those guys are going to sign at 9 and 10.

On Caleb Cotham:

“Cotham is really intriguing. At his best he’s been a power sinker-slider guy. He’s flashed a premium slider on occasion, but he’s had an inconsistent season. I think he’s gonna be a tough sign … CAA client. He’s not going to sign for slot, but there is upside there. There was a time earlier in the year when he was pitching well that he could be a sheik supplemental and second round side.”

On Sean Black:

“He was (a second round pick in 2006) … cost himself some money by not signing. He has a really messy arm action. He does some things with his arm action that makes some clubs just say, we’re not going to draft him.”

On Neil Medchill:

“We don’t know why he fell. This has happened a couple times in recent years, and i think a lot of scouts think it’s a really offensive ball park, because it used to. Now it hurts guys, and it really has shown in drafts over the past few years … he probably has more talent than the average 11th rounder.”

My impression of Heathcott and Murphy is that it seems like they got a lot of high-upside bats. It seemed like they wanted to get some high-upside bats early because there weren’t many of them, and they did that.




On Robert Lyerly:

Lyerly and (Neil) Medchill fall into that eh group of college bats. Lyerly has a histroy with wood and metal. Those are guys that could be up and down guys in the big leagues. I think that’s what those guys are.”

On Luke Murton:

“I overrated him. I put him in the Top 200, at the very back, because I talked to a couple people who though he would be a 6th or 7th round pick. His defense is not as good as the people I talked to painted it. He lost 20 pounds this year, so he was more mobile. The bat is solid … he doesn’t have his brothers feel for hitting, but probably has more power.”