Yankees open to drafting more two-way players, scouting exec Damon Oppenheimer says
Oklahoma State's Roc Riggio during an NCAA baseball game on June 2 in Stillwater, Okla. Credit: AP
The Yankees stayed true to their philosophy of bulking up their farm system with middle-of-the-field players and promising arms in this latest draft, but also showed a penchant for versatility with their first and 13th round picks.
The team chose George Lombard Jr., a shortstop and son of Tigers bench coach George Lombard, with their first-round pick [26th overall], added second baseman Roc Riggio in the fourth round, and picked up 11 pitchers out of the 18 players drafted earlier this week. Among those pitchers was Josh Tiedemann in the 13th round - one of the record eight two-way players drafted in a sport that, in the past, has preferred to specialize its athletes. Lombard, meanwhile, was also a boys soccer state champion - something that Yankees vice president of domestic amateur scouting Damon Oppenheimer said probably gave him skills that will translate well onto the diamond.
“There isn’t one thing” that attracted the Yankees to Lombard, Oppenheimer said Thursday.
“There are a lot of things that intrigue us about him – his athleticism and the fact that he’s a two-sport guy," he said. "He’s an elite soccer player also. The way he plays shortstop, his tools, his power that he has to swing the bat, his contact skills, and top that off with elite makeup. The guy has grit. He doesn’t take any pitches off.”
Despite many surmising that the Yankees would try to move Lombard to third base – at 6-3, the right-handed hitter is considered large for a shortstop, plus the franchise intends to have Anthony Volpe man the position for years to come – that’s not currently the plan, Oppenheimer said.
MLB's prospect rankings claim that a shift to third could be considered if he fills out more, but notes that he "does show off a strong arm, good instincts and hands" at shortstop.
Lombard "already looks the part...with a pro body that stands out among high school players," the scouting report continues.
The Yankees also drafted Kyle Carr, a lefthanded pitcher that Oppenheimer said had a “little of the Tom Glavine look to the way he goes about it and plays catch.” Carr hits around 92-96-mph, throws strikes, has a “good, easy slider,” and looks effortless on the mound, Oppenheimer said.
Carr was a two-way player at Palomar College, but the team prefers him as a pitcher. The same can’t be said of Tiedemann, a high schooler drafted as a two-way player – something that appears to be part of a notable trend in baseball. Often, two-way players are taken in later rounds or specialized, but this year the Giants chose one in the first round, 16th overall – Bryce Eldridge.
The shift is no doubt at least partially due to Shohei Ohtani’s significant influence.
“I think a lot of teams are becoming more open to it and us being one of them,” Oppenheimer said. “We’re going to give this a shot and exhaust [the possibility]…If we’re taking a high school player and we try this for three years and if it works out both ways, great. And, if one way starts to work out better than the other, you move in that direction. Most of these guys are pretty good – really good athletes to do this, so why not give them that opportunity to compete in both spots?"
Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She's been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.
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