The Captain's Blog

17-year old Bryce Harper is the face of the 2010 amateur draft.

On the eve of unveiling last year’s prize from the 2009 amateur draft, the Nationals are once again projected to get a very special player with the first pick in this year’s draft, which begins tonight at 7:00PM ET. Although not as highly touted as Stephen Strasburg, Bryce Harper is this year’s wunderkind. Harper, a 17-year old catcher who accelerated his high school graduation so he could enroll at a junior college and hasten his entry into the draft, is universally regarded as not only the best player available, but one of the more advanced hitters at his age in recent memory.

Tempering the Nationals’ good fortune of getting to select two of the most promising number one picks in the history of the draft is the fact that they will once again have to negotiate with Scott Boras, meaning the team can expect to pay somewhere close to fair value. Even more daunting for the Nationals this time around is the leverage possessed by Harper thanks to his young age. Unlike a college player with no leverage, or even a high school player who is already 18, Harper could opt not to sign, play a second year in junior college and still be as young as a high school senior entering  the 2011 draft. Sounds like a master plan that only someone like Scott Boras could devise.

With all of that drama as a backdrop for tonight’s draft, which is slowly gaining traction as an attention getting event, the Yankees find themselves once again picking at the end of the first round (a small price to pay for winning the World Series). As always, the Yankees are rumored to be a likely landing spot for several players with signability issues, but at such a late slot in the first round, that’s really nothing more than conjecture. Listed below is a quick summary of the Yankees’ projected pick with the 32nd overall selection, based on the mock drafts of several noted amateur baseball analysts.

For a complete scouting report on each player, along with video, check out the MLB.com’s Draft Central.

The Yankees were two innings away from being swept to the precipice of fourth place when the offense finally started to hit…or, rather, get hit. Trailing 2-0 in the top of the 8th, starter Brandon Morrow started the inning by hitting Francisco Cervelli in the shoulder. Then, reliever Scott Downs followed up by plunking Brett Gardner on the forearm to give the Yankees their most formidable rally of the game.

Joe Girardi makes a few points to home plate umpire Bruce Dreckman, whose erratic strike zone drew the ire of both teams.

With the tying runs on base, Derek Jeter worked Downs to what seemed like a 2-1 count, but home plate umpire Bruce Dreckman, whose strike zone was erratic all game, called the third pitch a strike despite it being well off the outside corner. Ironically, the poor call turned the game in the Yankees favor because the next pitch was in a similar location, but instead of taking it, Jeter slashed it down the right field line for a double. The clutch hit scored Cervelli and sent Gardner to third, but things got a little anxious after Swisher was called out by Dreckman on a check swing that replays clearly revealed was held. The frustration of Dreckman’s mounting bad calls led Girardi out of the dugout for an argument that culminated in his ejection.

Meanwhile, Cito Gaston had a tough decision to make, and like many managers before him, opted to walk the struggling Mark Teixeira to face Alex Rodriguez with the bases loaded (Arod had been 5-5 with 18 RBIs in that scenario). Before the Frasor/Arod confrontation could be decided, however, a wild pitch that squirted about 15 feet from Jose Molina allowed Gardner to slide home with the tying run. Perhaps distracted by not having the bases loaded, Arod then took a called third strike down the middle, setting the Yankees up for another wasted opportunity.  Gaston first had another  decision to make, and inexplicably decided to let the right handed Jason Frasor face Robinson Cano, who promptly slashed a single to left that scored both Jeter and Teixeira.

The reason the punchless Yankees were able to hang around in the game was because Javier Vazquez was brilliant once again. After watching the Jays do most of their damage in the series off of the fastball, Vazquez attacked the Toronto hitters with an over abundance of off speed pitches. Nearly 60% of pitches thrown by Vazquez were of the off speed variety, including a combined 45% that were either a change or curve. Ironically, the pattern used by Vazquez was the same one that many believe caused his early season struggles, but against the aggressive, fast ball hunting Jays, it was a recipe for success.

For the first 5 2/3 innings, Vazquez racked up eight strikeouts with out giving up a hit. After walking Adam Lind, however, Vazquez hung a slider to Vernon Wells, who promptly hit deep into the left field seats to give the Jays a 2-0 lead. At the time, it seemed as if one mistake would Vazquez a hard luck loser because the Yankees didn’t seem to have a chance against Morrow, who used a fastball that averaged 96mph to dominate the Yankee batters.

After two games of facing change-up masters in Cecil and Romero, Morrow’s heat had to seem like lightning. After Gardner’s one out triple in the third, Morrow retired the next 13 batters, a string that was broken when Cano singled with two outs in the seventh. Despite handling the Yankees with such ease, however, the Yankees’ less than thunderous rally in the 8th set him up on the hard luck end of the game. Continue Reading »

A Yankee fan growing up, Brett Cecil wasn’t very kind to the team for which he used to root. The young Jays lefty kept the Yankees off balance for most of the game with a dynamic changeup, which he threw a relatively high 28 times, including 19 times for strikes (mostly swinging). With the exception of a few hard hit balls, the Yankees were mostly unable to adjust to Cecil’s off speed approach, which also included 30 sliders.

What's his secret? Jose Bautista shares a moment with Lyle Overbay after belting his second home run of the game (Photo: AP).

AJ Burnett would have been wise to take a page from Cecil because the Jays made him pay for several poorly located fastballs. Burnett did throw more curves than usual (40% versus 24% for the season), but his inability to get ahead in the count left him in too many predictable hitters counts. As a result, the fastball happy Jays made him pay, driving in all six runs off old number one.

Coming into the game, AJ Burnett had only allowed four HRs, but by the end of the day he had nearly doubled that total to seven. Most of the damage was done by Jose Bautista, who belted two round trippers on fastballs down the middle: one on a 3-2 count leading off the second and the other at 2-0 with a runner on in the fourth. Coming into the game, Bautista ranked eight in the American League in runs above average produced on the fastball (11.8), so the pitch selection was curious to say the least. Nonetheless, Bautista’s two homeruns boosted his league leading total to 18 and set a new career high in the process.

The Yankees did have two chances to make a dent in Cecil’s armor, but were thwarted by a double play each time. In the fourth inning, a Swisher walk and Mark Teixeira single put runners on first and second with no outs, but Arod followed with a hard smash up the middle the short stop Alex Gonzalez impressively turned into a double play. Then, in the sixth inning, Nick Swisher hit into a twin killing that scored Chad Moeller with the Yankees only run. Otherwise, the Yankees’ offense was punchless against the crafty Cecil.

Despite AJ Burnett’s frustrating pitch selection, the Yankees can’t kick themselves over this one. Cecil pitched a great game and even had some luck to boot. The Jays, however, really needed to make a strong showing. After blowing consecutive games to the Rays, another loss in the division could have introduced some doubts about the team’s staying power. Now, the onus is placed on the Yankees to even the series by playing a better game against better competition.

• By going 0-4, Robin Cano’s 17-game hitting streak came to an end.
• Cecil’s 1-run, 8-inning performance was his second of the season, the other occurring on May 3 versus the Indians.
• With three homeruns, the Jays increased their league leading total to 94. The franchise record for most homeruns is 244, which was established in 2000.

The Yankees travel north to face the Blue Jays for the first time this season and will encounter a power laden team that leads the league in HRs by 17. Ironically, it isn’t proven stars like Aaron Hill and Adam Lind who are leading the power surge, but journeymen like Jose Bautista and Alex Gonzalez.

Usually, it is the Yankees who dominate in the power department, but Cito Gaston’s HR happy Jays have turned the tables on the Bronx Bombers. Having said that, the Jays rank next to last in .OBP, which helps explain why the Yankees, who lead the league in getting on base, have still scored 24 more runs despite hitting almost 30 fewer long balls.

AJ Burnett will be charged with containing the Jays power, which based on early season statistics seems like a good choice. In over 70 innings, Burnett has only allowed four HRs, so the Yankees hope that bodes well for his performance. Similarly, Brett Cecil, a strike throwing lefty, seems to match up well against the Yankees patient approach. Styles often make the fight, and this matchup could be an example of that.

The Jays come into the game off of two straight losses to the Rays, both the result of blown saves in the ninth inning. The unexpected fourth horse in the race, the Jays need to bounce back against the Yankees if they hope to avoid falling further back in the division. It remains to be seen if the Jays are for real, but beating the Yankees this weekend would be a good place to start.

The Yankees meanwhile come off seven straight games against pretty awful teams, so the Jays represent a step up in class. In order to keep pace is a very tight divisional race, the Yankees need to keep winning series, and the best way to do that is by winning game one.

• Before the game, Joe Girardi announced that Dave Eiland had taken an indefinite leave of absence to deal with a “personal issue”.  In his place, bullpen coach Mike Harkey will serve as the pitching coach.