As the 2025 MLB Draft quickly approaches, the Prospects Live team wants to make your life as easy as possible. In this series of articles, I'll be providing team-by-team analysis of their recent draft trends, their available draft capital for 2025, any areas of the draft they've heavily targeted, as well as a few names in this year's class that might fit into their historically preferred archetype.
Max Ellingsen
This analysis isn't sourced for the upcoming year, nor is it a guarantee the organization won't pivot from what they've done in the past. Simply put, this article aims to provide an in-depth look at teams and their recent draft classes to try and decipher trends that could help uncover players your favorite team might be targeting. It's far from a perfect science, but I've done my job if it makes things easier to follow on draft day.
New York Yankees
- 2025 Bonus Pool Value - $5,383,600 (30th)
- Top 100 selections - 39
The Bronx Bombers find themselves with the least amount of draft capital out of any one team in this year’s draft after their aggressive spending this last offseason, ultimately left with just a luxury tax penalized first rounder in the top one hundred selections. It’s probably already abundantly clear to you at this point, but I don’t expect the Yankees to be overly influential in this year’s class. They just don’t have the ammunition to do much of anything creative with their bonus pool.
2024 Draft Overview
The Yankees went underslot with their first rounder last year with Alabama right hander Ben Hess ($580,000 underslot) and quickly spent it on Vanderbilt right hander Bryce Cunningham ($580,000 overslot), landing them two intriguing college arms at a net neutral price. They followed with five more college pitchers in the subsequent rounds, including a pair of LSU Tigers in Thatcher Hurd (slot) and Griffin Herring ($460,000 overslot), Miami right hander Gage Ziehl ($30,000 overslot), and yet another Vanderbilt flame thrower in Greysen Carter (slot). Their final big swing came with JuCo right hander Mack Estrada ($490,000 overslot) in the 11th, however they had to tank much of their remaining bonus pool in order to do so and had several senior signs in the middle rounds. Early returns have been rather solid so far, though the class admittedly lacks some ceiling and should perform rather well in the low minors given their experience in major college conferences. A good class of pitching nonetheless.
2023 Draft Overview
New York took their biggest shot to date on high school prep shortstop George Lombard Jr. ($230,000 overslot), betting on his combination of size, speed, and strength that had many teams tantalized by his upside. They continued with Kyle Carr (slot) and Roc Riggio ($185,000 overslot) before opting for Cade Smith (slot) out of Mississippi State. Kiko Romero ($25,000 underslot) was an undersized first baseman out of Arizona State that saved them a bit of cash, however I really liked the Nicholas Judice (slot) pick in the eighth round. Not having two of your first five picks is certainly going to hamper your overall class, however the Yankees bet a little bit more on upside in this one, putting a rather sizable bet on their top guy rather than spreading their pool around like they did in 2024. Lombard’s young career has had its ups and downs thus far, but he’ll be tasked with carrying the vast majority of this class’s value. He’s got the talent to do it, but only time will tell how it all works out.
2022 Draft Overview
Opting for the hulking slugger Spencer Jones (slot) in round one, the Yankees bet big on the big bodied centerfielder that’s mashed his way to the upper minors despite considerable swing and miss concerns. Following with Drew Thorpe (slot) and Trystan Vrieling (slot), they managed to secure two small school arms that had some interesting pitchability to their profiles. Oregon outfielder Anthony Hall (slot) preceded a trio of college pitchers in Eric Reyzelman (slot), Chase Hampton ($235,000 overslot), and Cam Schlitter (slot) that have all shown tremendous development in the organization and look like future big leaguers. They splurged a bit on 11th and 12th rounders Ryan Harvey ($100,000 overslot) and Jackson Fristoe ($125,000 overslot), however this class was absolutely loaded with talent from the get-go and should be considered an absolute win for the Yankees and their development team. Their ability to develop pitching is up there with the best of them, and they’ve capitalized on that fact with an aggressive draft strategy that plays best to that strength.
Early Round Demographics
It’s not exactly rocket science, but when you’re as good as the Yankees are at developing pitching, you should draft a whole lot of it. They’ve obviously deviated with Jones and Lombard in the first round, but the vast majority of their first five rounds are made up of arms, and I’d expect that trend to continue. If they do deviate, I’d expect it earlier than later, but there’s a handful of arms I can see slipping to their first pick that they’d be all over.
Late Round Demographics
It’s pitching again. It might be a little dull, but it’s just the truth. They’ve churned out future top one hundred prospects from the middle of drafts and turned seventh round talents into viable rotation candidates. They know what they’re good at and they stick to it.
Names to Know
Patrick Forbes, Louisville RHP - This feels like the dream for the Yankees at 39. I don’t think he should last this long, but if falls a bit on draft day, New York could turn him into an absolute monster on the mound. Big time stuff with shaky command has been a profile NYY loves.
AJ Russell, Tennessee RHP - Armed with one of the best fastballs in the class and a lanky, projectable frame, Russell is a metric monster and could easily be the pick for the Yanks if they want a new toy in their pitching development lab. He’s got very little track record, but the numbers say he could be a beast with the right guidance.
Cade Obermueller, Iowa LHP - One of the most unique looks in this draft, Obermueller attacks hitters from a tremendously low slot and features a wipeout slider to pair with a fastball that’s touched 98. I think he could potentially save them a bit of money if they wanted to try and extract a touch of extra value later down the line.
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