Moreso than ever before, baseball is a young man’s game. Contending teams and recent World Series winners (and losers) have had rosters loaded with young talent. Winning with a roster built around 30-somethings isn’t as easy as it once was. Teams need those core young players and, as a result, the annual amateur draft is more important now than ever. It’s still the best way to acquire impact players.
The old saying is you have to wait five years before you can best evaluate a draft class, and with the 2018 draft less than one week away, this is as good a time as any to go back five years and review the Yankees’ 2013 draft class.