For as much as the Yankees spend in free agency and trades, when they take the field for their first playoff game this year, there will be a heavy dose of homegrown.
Their seventh-round draft pick in 2022 may be on the mound. Their first-round pick from 2020 will be catching him. Up the middle they will have their first-round pick from 2023 at shortstop and likely their first-round pick from 2022 in center field. Their 12th-round pick from 2021 will be batting no lower than cleanup as the DH, and their first-round pick from 2013 will hit second or third while patrolling right field. And in a late twist, their first-round pick from 2019 might just be at second base.
Perhaps most encouraging for the future, only one of those players is older than 27 years old, and Aaron Judge still has five more years under contract after this season.
Of course, there is little time to care about anything beyond October once the postseason rolls around. But it is a reminder that the Yankees, for all the misses they have had on big prospects over the years (including some still on their roster that are trending in that direction), also have had some important wins in drafting and development to help them get where they are this season, even without Judge for three months.
