The New York Yankees, for perhaps the first time ever, have signed their entire draft class.
Okay, yes, that’s much easier done in a year where the draft is five rounds and they only have three picks, but regardless, the team announced Tuesday that they have signed their third-round pick, infielder Trevor Hauser, and fourth-round pick, RHP Beck Way, to contracts.
Terms of the deal were not released, as per club policy, but MLB Pipeline’s tracker reports that Hauver received a $587,400 bonus, slot value for the No. 99 pick, while Way received $600K, a 35 percent raise above the $438,700 slot value for the No. 129 pick.
Combined with first-rounder Austin Wells, who signed in June for a reported $2.5 million, the Yankees now have all three of their 2020 selections under contract, and did so by apparently extending their total draft pool right up to the “slot value plus five percent” threshold MLB allows without penalty.
You can read more about Hauver and Beck in our draft profiles from just after their selections, but Damon Oppenheimer, the Yankees’ vice president and director of domestic amateur scouting, did confirm in the team release that Hauver, who played the outfield at Arizona State, will move back to the infield in the pros.
“If we can get that to be something that's doable, then you add his bat to the middle of the field and that can make it even more valuable,” said Damon Oppenheimer, the Yankees’ vice president and director of domestic amateur scouting. “He's got a desire to move back to the infield because that's what he did in high school.”
As for Way, the LSU commit took literally every last penny the Yankees could shell out to sign, but it’s a gamble that was worth it according to Oppenheimer, who thinks the Yankees still got a bargain with their final pick.
Way made huge strides in Cape Cod last summer where his fastball’s been up to 98,” Oppenheimer said. “He’s got good command of it to both sides of the plate. He has a loose, easy simple delivery to repeat (his mechanics). He’s got a really dynamic changeup that he feels comfortable using it any in any count. His breaking ball is going to be firmed up with our pitch-design guys and it’s going to be an effective out pitch also.”
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