6:15pm: According to the transactions page on the official site, the Yankees have signed third round pick Nolan Martinez. The high school right-hander from Southern California was slotted for $608,200. There’s no word on his bonus yet. I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough.
Martinez, 18, was not a bonus pool saving pick on Day Two. He’s a legitimate prospect. Baseball America (No. 67), Keith Law (No. 93), and MLB.com (No. 99) all ranked him as one of the 100 best prospects in the draft, and the Yankees were able to get him with the 98th pick. Here’s a piece of MLB.com’s free scouting report:
He has seen his velocity spike this spring, firing his fastball up to 93 mph at times. He backs it up with a solid average curveball. Like with many high schoolers, Martinez’s changeup is his third pitch. He has shown some polish and a repeatable delivery, with the hope that his feel for pitching should allow him to develop that third pitch.
With Martinez done, the Yankees have now signed all of their picks in the top ten rounds except first rounder Blake Rutherford. Here’s our Draft Pool Tracker. If the Yankees gave Martinez slot, it’ll leave them with $3.74M or so to offer Rutherford. That’s seventh overall pick money and well above his $2.44M slot value.
The signed deadline is Friday, July 15th this year. Now that the Yankees have all the other picks are taken care of, hopefully they can get Rutherford signed soon so he can begin his pro career. It’s not uncommon for first rounders to wait until deadline day to sign though. James Kaprielian did it just last year. I guess we’ll see.
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