AL East Round-up: Intriguing 2014 MLB Draft Picks Edition

 New York Yankees

To say the New York Yankees had an agenda in this year’s draft would be an understatement. The team’s farm system lacks impact arms, especially in the upper minors, so it was not surprising that the Yankees spent their first five picks on pitchers, with four of them being college arms. Additionally, the team made a concerted effort to draft college level players, only using two picks in the first seventeen rounds on high school talent.

However, the team’s first pick in the draft was a curious one. Choosing a college arm from a proven program that was the runner-up in the 2013 College World Series is generally not a bad choice, and Jacob Lindgren is an intriguing arm. A strike-thrower, as MLB.com labels him, Lindgren can profile as a starter. However, he lacks the overwhelming velocity that one would look for from a starter and profiles more as a reliever, where he can open up his velocity into the mid-90’s and devastate hitters with his slider.

While the Yankees appear to be taking a chance with Lindgren, they also jumped on a sure thing in the fourth round by selecting South Carolina junior Jordan Montgomery. Montgomery is as much of a finished product as they come, sporting a low 90’s fastball that the 6’4″ lefty gets good sink on. He complements that with a change, a cutter, and a curveball, all that profile as average to solid offerings. With that in mind, he could move through the Yankees system quickly and be a contributor at the back-end of the rotation with just a year or two in the system.