Tonight’s first round of the First-Year Player Draft will be the sixth year that vice president of amateur scouting Damon Oppenheimer will be running the Yankees’ draft board. And though the Yankees have drafted several impact players during that time, their first-round picks have had mixed results.
The biggest bust came back in 2005, when the Bombers selected high school shortstop C.J. Henry. The day he was drafted, Henry proclaimed: “I am a five- tool player with a high ceiling and unlim ited potential.”
He may have had unlimited potential, but he never realized it. Henry, who was dealt to the Phillies as part of a package for Bobby Abreu in July 2006, hit .222 across four seasons in the low minors, and already is out of baseball.
The following year, the Yankees had their best selections under Oppenheimer, taking Ian Kennedy with the 21st pick and Joba Chamberlain in the supplemental first round with the 41st overall selection. Chamberlain still is part of the Yankees’ bullpen, and Kennedy was dealt during the offseason as part of the package for Curtis Granderson.
The most disappointing selection was in 2008, when the Yankees drafted high school right-hander Gerrit Cole with the 28th pick. Cole, one of the top talents in the draft, fell to the Yankees because he was a Scott Boras client. But despite trying hard to sign him, Cole decided he would rather go to UCLA, and likely will be a top five pick in next year’s draft.
The jury still is out on the two first-round picks from the past five years still in the Yankees’ farm system. Right-hander Andrew Brackman, the 30th pick in the 2007 draft out of N.C. State, had Tommy John surgery soon after signing, and didn’t make his full-season debut until last year, when he struggled to a 2-12 record and 5.91 ERA with Low-A Charleston.
“Big-time control issues have been his biggest problem,” a scouting industry source said of Brackman, who is 4-3 with a 5.23 ERA with High-A Tampa this year.
The Yankees took Slade Heathcott, a high school outfielder from Texarkana, Texas, last year with the 29th pick. A potential five-tool player, he made his full-season debut last week with Low-A Charleston, and knocked in the game-winning run in his first game. — Additional reporting
by George A. King III