Scouting ballplayers can be a grueling, inexact science and, as Damon Oppenheimer knows, “there’s times when we look dumb as hell.”
But Oppenheimer, the Yankees’ director of amateur scouting, and the rest of the folks who work in scouting and player development for the club had a moment in the AL Wild Card Series sweep of the Red Sox. The series was a showcase for homegrown Yanks, even with one of the best drafted-and-developed Yankees ever — Aaron Judge — missing because of a calf injury.
“The players are the ones who make us look smart, right?” Oppenheimer said. “We’ve got a great group that’s giving us a chance to look smart now.”
Cam Schlittler and Ben Rice, both mid-round picks from Massachusetts, were the stars of Game 1. But other drafted and developed kids had impactful roles in the series, too. Six homegrown Yanks, including Schlittler, started Game 1; four started in Game 2. If Judge were playing, each number would be higher.
So might these: The five homegrown position players who started in either or both games — Rice, Spencer Jones, George Lombard Jr., Austin Wells and Anthony Volpe — combined to go 15-for-34 in the series (.441) with 11 runs scored and 11 RBI.
The Yankees are often thought of solely as big-money, big-game hunters who target the brand-name mercenaries hitting the free agent market every winter. Sure, they’ve got those on the roster — Max Fried, Gerrit Cole, Cody Bellinger, etc. — and they have baseball’s third-highest payroll overall. They’re not afraid to write a check to fill a need.
But the club is churning out contributors via their farm system, too. And that’s without having a top-10 pick since they selected a shortstop named Derek Jeter back in 1992. Since then, in fact, they’ve had just five first-round picks as high as the teens.
Coming up together and contributing is, as Rice put it, “super fun. All of us came up with one another in a way. There was some overlap. Maybe a couple guys were ahead of others. But now we’re all here in the big leagues. And it’s been so cool seeing each guy have success and carve out their own role.
“Definitely a tight-knit group and we take pride in that.”
Schlittler, who dazzled with 6.1 shutout innings and 10 strikeouts in Game 1, was the fourth pitcher drafted and signed by the Yankees to start the opener of a postseason series for the team, joining Andy Pettitte (five times), Ron Guidry (three times) and Jim Beattie (once).
Rice went 4-for-5 in Game 1 with a solo homer and a grand slam, driving in six runs overall. He’s the fifth player in club history with six RBI in a postseason game. He and Schlittler had the two loudest performances of what Aaron Boone called “one of those really special nights at Yankee Stadium.”
Lombard Jr., the 21-year-old former first-round pick who took over shortstop late in the season, became the second-youngest Yankee to make his postseason debut (a 19-year-old Mickey Mantle was the youngest). Lombard was only the fifth Yankee ever to have three hits in his first postseason game and he’s the first Yankee since Jeter in 1996 to total four hits over his first two playoff games.
And there’s more: Jones reached twice in his playoff debut in Game 1. In Game 2, he was an unlikely catalyst for a six-run sixth inning that wrecked the Red Sox. Jones struck out, but reached first on a dropped third strike. Jones, who is 6-foot-7 and 240 pounds, is incredibly fast for such a big fella. Then he stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error and later scored.
“That was just really impressive,” Bellinger said of Jones’ heady dash. “And, you know, it lit a fire in our dugout for sure.”
“I couldn’t believe he was there,” added Boone. “I saw the ball squirt away a little bit, didn’t think that much of it, looked up and I was like, ‘Oh – he’s safe.’”
Volpe, a player who perhaps has elicited as much fan handwringing as anyone in pinstripes, ever, did not play in Game 2, but he’s reached base in 18-of-his-22 career games in the postseason, including Game 1. Before Rice, he was the last Yankee to hit a grand slam in the postseason, in the 2024 World Series.
Wells, who had flopped against lefties this season, knocked in the first run of the series against southpaw Payton Tolle. He was 3-for-6 overall with two runs and four RBI and has a 1.136 OPS over his last 14 postseason games.
“All the kids that the scouts saw and then our player development guys finished off,” Oppenheimer said. “It’s fun.”
Oppenheimer said his phone was buzzing during Game 1: Texts from folks who work for the team or elsewhere in the industry, noting how many draft picks were soaring, especially Rice and Schlittler. “You get a lot of people reaching out to you and congratulating you,” Oppenheimer said.
Afterward, when talking to the players, he heard it again. Schlittler, for instance, was talking up Matt Hyde, the scout responsible for Schlittler, Rice and Volpe. After Game 1, “Cam is telling me, ‘Matty Hyde’s the GOAT,’” Oppenheimer said.
“I mean, that doesn’t happen. That’s not normal, that a guy’s made that kind of an impact on that kind of a player. So it’s really fun.”
Schlittler ever name-checked Hyde during his post-game press conference during his answer on he and Rice being proud of their status as “mid-round guys.”
“Yeah, we love it,” Schlittler said. “We have a lot of conversations with Matty Hyde and I know he’s proud of us. And we wouldn’t be here without him.”
“He’s done a hell of a job for us, as have other guys that all took a part in these guys, too,” Oppenheimer said. “It’s quite a story.”
The whole series was a “watershed” moment for Yankees scouts, Oppenheimer said.
“The guys (scouts) work for this stuff for years and years and it’s just what culminates with the relationships that they’ve all built with these guys and maintained with them through their whole minor-league career,” he added.
“It’s about the players and that’s what scouts will always tell you. But our guys are obviously very excited and very happy and they feel satisfaction, sure.”
