Yankees brass feels 'exceptionally good'about draft

BALTIMORE

Damon Oppenheimer was pleased with the draft, but the Yankees vice president of amateur scouting admitted that's typical.

"You always feel good about your draft," he said with a laugh Thursday from Tampa, Fla.

But . . .

"This one we feel exceptionally good about," he continued. "You go into it and take the best available and what this particular draft offers you. During this draft we sought athletic guys and sought strong guys that can play in the middle of the field and some pitchers with strong arms. When push came to shove those were the guys we took."

In all the Yankees came away from the draft, which ended Wednesday, with 21 pitchers - seven of whom were lefthanded - 13 outfielders, five infielders and four catchers. They took 19 high school players, including their first overall pick, Cito Culver, a high school shortstop from Rochester, N.Y.

The depth of the farm system had progressively improved in recent years as the team stopped a trend of dealing away top prospects, then it lost a few last offseason. Pitching prospects Arodys Vizcaino and Mike Dunn were moved in the Javier Vazquez trade and Austin Jackson and Ian Kennedy were lost in the deal for Curtis Granderson.

Oppenheimer said although the system is stronger in some areas than others, drafting strictly for need almost always guarantees mistakes, of which plenty will occur anyway in the inexact science of the baseball draft.

"You can't go in to the draft targeting needs in baseball or you end up overdrafting," he said. "It gets in people's heads when I tell them, for example, we need lefthanded power hitters. You tell that to scouts and every time they see one, they might overevaluate that player or push him up the board. You just try to tell your guys we need good players, pitchers that have big arms, and then sort through it."

The Yankees took Culver 32nd overall, a selection soundly criticized in the blogosphere and by several publications, including Baseball America.

They took another shortstop, Angelo Gumbs, from Torrance High School (Calif.) in the second round and a third baseman, Robert Segedin, from Tulane in the third round. The first pitcher the Yankees took was Thomas Kahnle, a powerful, 6-foot, 225-pound righthander from Lynn University (Fla.) in the fifth round. From rounds 5-18, they picked 10 pitchers.

One of those the Yankees find particularly intriguing is their 16th-round selection, Evan Rutckyj, a member of Canada's junior national team, drafted out of St. Joseph's High School in Ontario. The 6-5, 215-pound lefthander, who grew up playing hockey and boxes in the offseason to keep in shape, is considered a project but with a high ceiling.

Criticism is a part of the scouting job and the Yankees have had their share of misses in the draft. But Oppenheimer called instant analysis of any baseball draft "ridiculous," and that a draft can't be fairly evaluated until four or five years down the road.

Oppenheimer recalled 2005 when he didn't take Craig Hansen, a Glen Cove native, out of St. John's with the 17th overall pick, and "all of a sudden that's the worst decision of all time." Hansen went to the Red Sox at No. 26, and is now with the Indianapolis Indians, a Pirates affiliate, dealt to Pittsburgh in 2008 in the three-team trade that brought Manny Ramirez to the Dodgers.

The Yankees picked shortstop C.J. Henry that year and though he flopped, the Yankees cut bait in time for him to help them land Bobby Abreu from the Phillies in 2006.

Also in that draft they got Brett Gardner in the third round and Jackson in the eighth round.

"Those picks turned out to be pretty good picks," Oppenheimer said. "And our No. 1 pick that year got us Bobby Abreu. I think we did all right."

Meaning, regardless of how badly people want immediate answers regarding this year's draft, they won't be available for some time.