What I’ve realized however is that the Yankees have not had many players they drafted make a big impact at the major league level — especially near the top of the draft. But how have they done compared to teams of their like?

Recently I have gone through the exercise of re-drafting the Yankees in the 2000s and 2010s as a fun way to discuss “What If” scenarios.

Leveling the Playing Field

It’s not fair to compare the Yankees to a team like the Rays for a few reasons. One, Tampa consistently drafted high because they were a bad team for many years, and it took them until the late-2000s to become competitive (largely thanks to their drafting). Two, Tampa doesn’t spend in free agency so they don’t lose picks — if anything they gain picks through competitive balance and compensation rounds.