Bad Company

Mike Berardino talks about Philip Hughes and shares some scary stats about prior Yankees pitching prospects:

Besides Andy Pettitte, no drafted-and-developed Yankees pitcher has made more than 10 starts in a major league season since 1995.

That was the year Sterling Hitchcock and Scott Kamieniecki joined Pettitte in the same rotation for Buck Showalter. That’s how long ago that was.

Of the other 10 pitchers the Yankees have taken in the first round since the June draft was instituted in 1965, only one has reached the majors with them. Bill Burbach, a high school righty from Dickeyville, Wis., was taken 19th overall in the inaugural draft and made 37 combined appearances (going 6-11) for the Yankees from 1969-71.

Among those who were either traded or sidetracked before they could reach Yankee Stadium: Dave Cheadle (’70 draft), Scott McGregor (’72), Steve Taylor (’77), Jeff Pries (’84), Rick Balabon (’85), Brien Taylor (’91), Matt Drews (’93), Eric Milton (’96) and David Walling (’99).

The Big Stein braintrust is on the hook for Steve Taylor, Jeff Pries, Rick Balabon, Brien Taylor, Matt Drews, Eric Milton, and David Walling.

That’s not going to look good on a resume.

July 29, 2006 | Filed Under Yankees History

Comments

4 Responses to “Bad Company”

jonm on July 29th, 2006 11:59 pm

I don’t think it’s fair to include Milton in this category. He has had a long major league career (251 career starts) and, if you look at things within the context of the draft and pitching “prospects,” 250 ML starts is a successful career, no matter the results.
baileywalk on July 30th, 2006 12:13 am

Okay, you win, Steve. Philip Hughes is going to be a huge bust! He’ll never make it to the big leagues! The Yankees should trade him while he has value for Soriano! He will either blow out his arm or be ineffective later in his career!

Okay? Will that stop all these posts about how Hughes isn’t going to amount to anything? We get your point of view, which I disagree with, but at this point it almost feels like you’re looking forward to a failure. It’s like anticipating a funeral.
Steve Lombardi on July 30th, 2006 10:20 am

Did I say anything about Hughes here?
98Yanks on July 30th, 2006 7:09 pm

there are many cases of pitchers who are thought of highly and DO make it: verlander, mulder, zito, gooden, clemens, carpenter, halladay were all 1st rd. picks.