Friday, July 14, 2017

Yankees drafted Eric Jagielo before Aaron Judge in 2013. Oops.

Aaron Judge is likely to be voted American League (conference) Rookie of the year and Most Valuable Player (MVP) for the 2017 regular season, which is about 54% over. Yankee General Manager Brian Cashman, in his twentieth season as GM, really improved his reputation by drafting and developing Judge. Yes, but include a huge amount of dumb luck.

Yankees from first round 2013 draft: Clint Frazier, Billy McKinney, Eric Jagielo, Aaron Judge, Ian Clarkin. Monday, August 1, 2016

The Yankees have been involved with all the players mentioned in the title.

1 Astros Mark Appel (minors) RHP
2 Cubs Kris Bryant (minors) 3B
3 Rockies Jon Gray (minors) RHP
4 Twins Kohl Stewart (minors) RHP
5 Indians Clint Frazier (minors) 3B

24 Athletics Billy McKinney (minors) CF


26 Yankees Eric Jagielo (minors) 3B

32 Yankees via Indians *Aaron Judge (minors) CF
33 Yankees via Nationals *Ian Clarkin (minors) LHP

The Yankees acquired Clint Frazier and three other minor league players for Andrew Miller yesterday. The Yankees acquired Billy McKinney and two other minor league players and Adam Warren for Aroldis Chapman July 25.

Aaron Judge has been touted for years by the media and the Yankees but has yet to play in the major league.

But it's interesting that the Yankees drafted Eric Jagielo before Judge and that ironically Jagielo was one of the insignificant players the Yankees traded to Cincinnati to get Chapman. Jagielo was mediocre with the Yankees minor league teams and regressed in 2016 in the Reds minors.

____________________________

The one team that seemed to know what it was doing in that 2013 first round draft was the Cubs, who drafted Kris Bryant, 2015 RoY, 2016 NL MVP, with the number two pick.

Eric Jagielo has yet to play in the major league. By any reasonable measure, the Yankees drafting him before drafting Judge was a huge mistake. Jagielo was a terrible pick even if Judge were not a factor. AAA in 2017: 18 PA, .603 OPS.

Kris Bryant: Born: January 4, 1992 (Age: 25-191d); AAA: 330 PA, 1.037 OPS

Aaron Judge: Born: April 26, 1992 (Age: 25-079d): AAA: 670 PA, .786 OPS

OK, in retrospect Bryant was a no-brainer and maybe even Cashman would have used the number two pick to draft Bryant. And there's mitigating info in SBNATION sent to me by my friend Paul about the unfortunate Eric Jagielo:

MLB Draft 2013 scouting report round-up: 3B Eric Jagielo
The Notre Dame third baseman could go as high at the late teens.
by Spencer Schneier Jun 3, 2013, 3:41pm EDT


Maybe Cashman felt that Jagielo had slipped into his grasp from being a pick around number 18 down to the Yankees first pick at 26. But the bottom line is that Yankee GM Brian Cashman passed on Aaron Judge. Five other teams then made the same mistake, along with all but the Cubs who had already drafted before number 26.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/?year_ID=2013&draft_round=1&draft_type=junreg&query_type=year_round

Oakland had originally drafted Aaron Judge out of high school in 2010 in round 31 but Judge did not sign. As shown above, Oakland used pick 24, their first in 2013, on Billy McKinney.

Between the two Yankee picks at 26 and 32:

27 Reds Phil Ervin (minors) CF
28 Cardinals via Brewers *Rob Kaminsky (minors) LHP
29 Rays via Braves *Ryne Stanek (minors) RHP
30 Rangers via Angels *Travis Demeritte (minors) SS
31 Braves via Indians *Jason Hursh (minors) RH


All those players signed. *Compensation Picks

So was Brian Cashman:
- smart
- dumb
- lucky
- all of the above
- none of the above?

1 comment:

paul46 said...

So was Brian Cashman:
- smart
- dumb
- lucky
- all of the above
- none of the above?

None of the above, including none of the above. It's Baseball like so many other sports drafting not an exact science.

NFL 2000 Draft
New England Patriots Tom Brady 6th 199th Pick.
Number 1 Pick Courtney Brown, we all remember him?
Number 2 Pick Lavar Arrington, how could we forget him?

NBA 2013 Draft
Number ! Pick Anthony Bennett he's not a Knick yet, but he's close by in Brooklyn, his 4th team in four years.