Yankees draft depth chart: position by position

In this post, I will just go through the Yankee draft picks, position by position. If you want detailed reports when available on every Yankee draft pick, please see my post Analysis on all 50 Yankee draft picks. For each position, I will list them in order of likelihood of making it into the majors in my opinion. I will also explain the impact the players at that position will have as a whole. (Round drafted in parentheses)

Catcher: Christopher Austin (13), Shane Brown (23), James Rice (50), Nick McCoy (36).

This group will probably make a very small impact if they make any impact at all in the majors for the Yankees. Posada will retire within the next couple of years, but Francisco Cervelli will undoubtedly be the next Yankee catcher, and if he isn't good enough, Austin Romine is next in line. Maybe one of these guys, most likely Christopher Austin, will make it into a few games as a backup catcher for the Yanks. In case you're wondering, Rice is before McCoy because McCoy is already 23 years old.

First Base: Kyle Roller (8)

Probably several other prospects in this draft will move to first base at some point, but only Roller was drafted specifically as a first baseman. He has a shot to make a small, Juan Miranda-type impact, but nothing more, as Mark Teixeira is in his way.

Second Base: Casey Stevenson (25)

The Yankees sure have confidence in Robinson Cano, and rightfully so. He's having a great year. There is no way Stevenson will make any impact for the Yankees at the major league level.

Third Base: Robert Segedin (3)

Segedin could be a backup third basman at some point, A-rod will be in his way for a long time. Segedin isn't even that great of a defender, so he couldn't be a utility infielder. Maybe he could make a small impact in the majors for the Yanks.

Shortstop: Cito Culver (1)

Culver is now the shortstop of the future for the Yanks. He has all the tools and hopefully will do fine on that day when Jeter retires. He'll obviously have a big impact on the future of the Yankees. Full post on him here: The future of the Yankees: Cito Culver. 2nd round pick Angelo Gumbs was also a shortstop in high school, but he projects as an outfielder.

Outfield: Mason Williams (4), Kevin Jordan (19), Angelo Gumbs (2), Taylor Jake Anderson (7), Benjamin Gamel (10) Michael Ferraro (20), Stewart Ijames (29), James Ramsay (38), Jaycob Brugman (39), Michael Gerber (40), Tymothy Pearson (41), Michael O'Neill (42), Taylor Johnson (45), Will Arthur 49.

This group should make a decent impact for the Yanks. Williams and Gumbs have a chance to be good 4th outfielders, while Jordan, when healthy, can be an amazing player, playing the outfield, and maybe even the infield at some point as a Mark DeRosa-type utility man because of his great athleticism. The rest of those guys will probably play a combined 5 games for the Yanks. Still, Williams, Gumbs, and Jordan could make this draft class of outfielders have a decent impact if they live up to their potential.

Right-handed pitchers: Gabe Encinas (6), Thomas Kahnle (5), Chase Whitley (15), Kevin Jacob (18), Dustin Hobbs (21), Preston Claiborne (17), Zachary Varce (11), Conor Mullee (24), Taylor Morton (9), Daniel Burawa (12), Travis Dean (14), R.J. Hively (26), Martin Viramontes (27), Josh Dezse (28), Zachary Nuding (30), James Gipson (31), Michael Hachadorian (33), William Kish (34), William Oliver (35), Nathan Forer (46), Alex Brown (48).

The large RHP group has several impact players among its group. Among the top few guys, Encinas and Kahnle could be future starters, Whitley, Jacob, and Hobbs (who throws a cutter) could be shutdown middle relievers, and Claiborne, Varce, and Mullee could at least be decent middle relievers. This group should make a pretty big impact.

Left-handed pitchers: Evan Rutckyj (16), Trevor Johnson (22), Kramer Sneed (32), Cameron Hobson (37), Kyle Hunter (43), David Middendorf (44), Frederick Lewis (47).

Rutckyj has a chance to be a lefty David Robertson-type- a reliever who strikes out a ton of batters without overwhelming velocity. Johnson has a shot to be a starter for the Yanks. This group should make a pretty good impact.

Overall, the Yankees didn't really fill any needs besides shortstop-in-waiting, which they fulfilled with Culver, the 1st round pick. While all the other infielders and all the catchers won't make a very big impact, the large outfield and RHP groups should make big impacts and the LHP group will make a pretty big impact as well. I think that as a whole, this draft class has somewhere from 5-9 players whose names will be recognized by most Yankee fans within the next 5 years. Culver and possibly Kevin Jordan have a chance to be stars. Considering their position in the draft (last in every not supplementary round), I would give the Yankees a B+ for their draft grade. There were some picks that didn't make much sense (look for players with players drafted later than them ahead of them on my 'impact chart'), but overall, it was a pretty good draft.