 and welcome to another edition of Yes, We're Here. I'm Jack Curry and today we're going to talk about the MLB Draft. So that means we're welcoming in Damon Oppenheimer, the Yankees vice president of domestic amateur scouting. And Damon, before we dive into questions about the draft, I have to ask you about your background because I had the opportunity to meet Kelly Rodman and I know how special she was to you and everyone in the Yankee organization. And as we're talking about the draft, I know you and your colleagues were thinking about Kelly. Kelly was really special to us and we kind of dedicated this draft tour. We did a Zoom meeting throughout the whole draft where all the guys watched the draft through Zoom and we had these backgrounds of Kelly on everybody's screen and just shows how much she meant to this whole staff and what she meant to, I think baseball in general, scouting in general and especially scouting in the Northeast. She was just, I guess you can say pioneer because she was a woman. She never wanted to be thought of as a woman scout. She just wanted to be thought of as a great scout and that's just the way she operated. We lost her way too young of an age and that stuff makes no sense to me and why her, because she just brought so much to the table to not only baseball, but people and animals and that she was involved in charities. So she was just a real hero to all of us. So she's sorely missed and we really respected her and that was why we've done what we've done. Very well said and that's a wonderful tribute to her as we transition into what actually happened during the draft, obviously big changes this year. A five round draft reduced from what was previously 40 rounds. Yankees had three picks in those five rounds. Your first pick is a catcher out of the University of Arizona, Austin Wells. Yankees are familiar with him from having drafted him a couple of years ago. What made Wells so attractive to you as your first pick? Well, he checked off a lot of boxes for us on top of just being a tremendous hitter with power and plate discipline. He hit those three things that he hit on and did them at an elite level. He did them at the, you know, in the Cape. He did them in the pack. He's done them and done that in high school. He's just been consistent. It's just, we thought he was one of the best hitters in the draft and he can run, he's athletic. He could probably play another position, besides catcher, because we've seen him do that, but he's really turning himself into a good catcher. And we had our catching people look at him and really spend a lot of time on it with player development and looked at a lot of video and they just think they can clean it up and make him tremendous behind the plate. And so we met with him a few times and we've known him, like you said, for a long time and I've spent a lot of time with him in Cape Cod when he was playing for Yarmouth Dennis. And he's just got this work ethic and he's a little bit of a chip. Somebody says that he can't do something. He's been approved, I'm wrong. And there were some, there's some doubters on his catching. And you know, he told us, he goes, that's given me motivation that I want to be a gold glove catcher. So he really hits on a lot of great things for us. He did a conference call the other day where he was asked about his catching abilities and he said, there are some things I need to get better at. But then I thought he had a very interesting line. He said, well, whatever position they put me in, I'm just gonna go to Yankee Stadium and hit home runs. I'm not sure if you're aware of that quote, but now that I am passing it on to you, does that fit with the profile of the player that you're describing? I think it's a, you know, it's a great confidence level. And it's also, you know, the good ones have a confidence level. And like, like he does, and he's not arrogant, it's not ego, it's just a good confidence that he sees himself doing that. He's just, he's in a hurry to be a major like baseball player. So I think at some point, whether it's catcher or whether it's, you know, somewhere else, he's gonna get there and be effective for us. Damon, he said absolutely when he was asked if he was ready to sign quickly and get his baseball career started. I know the draft just occurred, but how confident are you that you will be able to sign him, get him into the Yankee organization and get things rolling? Yeah, I think we're real confident that we'll get him signed and rolling in here. It'll be not sure what that means. I'm not sure when that means that we're gonna be able to do anything, which has been a little bit frustrating because you just don't, you don't know in the direction of where you're, when you can bring a guy down here. It's just so different than it's been in the past. So, you know, we still have to be able to answer those questions, but getting him signed, you know, I don't foresee any real issues with that at all. You had a lot of positive things to say about Austin Wells and your scouting process with him, and I know it's been a few years. Is there a player that he has reminded you of? Is there somebody at the Major League level that when you watch Wells you say he reminds me of X? You know, I wish I could say yes, that there's an exact player that he reminds me of, but it's a little difficult because I've seen some, I've seen some Joe Maurer and this guy's swing. And I've seen some of that kind of pop at times, but you know, just to say, yeah, he just totally reminds me of somebody. I can't really say that. And that swing kind of just reminds me a little bit sometimes with Joe. Your second pick was a player who was Wells' competitor in college from Arizona State, Trevor Halver. He played the outfield in college, Damon, but he was drafted as a second baseman. What do you see and what did you see about Halver that you like so much as a player? Again, we were able to get what we thought was one of the top college bats in the draft. We evaluated him, you know, extensively and we really think again, a guy that can hit and he can take his walks and he's got big time power. And he's just a patient, you know, good-looking bat that left-handed hit power combination in Yankee Stadium is really, really attractive to us. And again, a guy who on a really good team with a bunch of really good hitters around him and was very successful. So, you know, we really liked it. You know, he's playing left field there. We've known him since high school where he was an infielder. One of our cross checkers, Steve Kometko, who lives right out there in Phoenix, has been seeing him since he was probably, before he was a teenager. So we've seen this kid quite a bit. We've seen him go from the infield in high school to the outfield so they could get his bat in the lineup because that Arizona State team was blessed with really good infielders. They had a first round pick as a shortstop. They had a third, the third baseman was, I think he was about a third round pick this year. And then they had a second baseman, Swifty, who was a really good defender at that second base. So they needed, they needed Trevor's bat in the lineup and so they had him in left field. But he's been working hard at playing second base. And I think that our recommendation is to try to exhaust the infield with him, with the Yankees and see if we can get that to work. When you watch him play, Damon, is there a current or former player that how to remind you of? Well, you know, I mean, it's kind of the swing and the way he hits reminds me of Cole Calhoun. Now there are different kinds of physical guys, but the simple swing is kind of like, a little bit reminds me of Cole, maybe it's because it's Arizona State, the same thing, but guys that can hit and have power and they don't have a lot of complications to their swing, so kind of that. So not quite sure on the, who he would remind me of defensively, but we've watched what the Dodgers have done with their guy that went over to play, to play second base that had been at Baylor. And, you know, we're just gonna try to make that something that happens here. Your third and final pick of this year's draft, you reach into the Juco ranks to take a picture in back way. Hard throwing, right-hander. What did you guys like about him? Yeah, it's kind of hard to handle it when you say your third pick and last pick. That's a unique deal. So it was, that's not fun to hear, but yeah, Beck was, you know, Beck really turned the corner out of this year after Cape Cod Lake and he transfers to Northwest Florida Community College. He's tall, lean, he's a loose guy that really does things easy. He's got a lot of room for growth. We saw him up to 97 with a nasty change up. The breaking ball was making a lot of progress. So we really liked him and we definitely see him as a starter potential for us. And he's just really, I think there's a really good ceiling here. And we were kind of stunned that he was there for us when he was. I think that it's a tribute to our guy staying on it and not getting scared off of what perceives signability and things like that. So we're really, really, really happy about this pick. And the same question about Beck with the pitches that you've seen in his arsenal. Is there a player that he reminds you of? Yeah, this one was a little easier for that. It was Clay Buckholz that did for Boston seemed to be the one that kind of kept coming up because of that. The Beck's probably a little bigger, a little thicker than Clay, but it's kind of in the same mold. And he went on to have a really nice career. And the similarities I could see with Clay Buckholz. Damon, we referenced it already. Instead of 40 rounds this year, it was only five. You just lamented that you only had the chance to make three picks. Obviously the pandemic changed everything in baseball. How has that changed what you and your staff have had to do to get ready for the draft? So many hours and hours of work, you get to make those three picks and now there's a chance to sign free agents for $20,000. What is on your agenda next? Well, our staff was incredible and they were really, they really thought hard how to attract people, how to recruit people. And it started off with Scott Lovecamp and who's my pitching guy and some of the other people really putting together these kind of recruiting videos. And it was included in player development where they contributed to these that show a player what they're gonna get if they become a Yankee. It had interviews with players. It had interviews with coaches, coordinators and then the people in New York helped out quite a bit with making it look professional, mental conditioning chipped in. Everybody chipped in to show a player what you can expect if you sign with the New York Yankees whether you're a drafted player or you're a $20,000 guy, the recruiting video was incredible. And we spent hours and hours and hours talking to kids and going over these things with them and trying to prepare them for this. And I think now we have this time moratorium where we have to wait and before we can attack the $20,000 guys but we're hoping that our pitch, our recruit that they realize that what it would be like to be a Yankee and what we're gonna do for them if they come here will help us in getting these guys starting on Sunday. So in a normal season, you would draft upwards of 40 players as you have said during this conversation. This is not a normal season. Do you have a number in mind? How aggressive will you be and are you looking to add X number of players? No, not a true number. I think we've talked to Hal about it a few times and he has opened us being aggressive but also cautious and wanting us to make sure that we're comfortable with the player we're putting in here and making the offer too. So it's kind of up to us and we're gonna work on that start on Sunday. David, it is always a pleasure speaking with you. I should have said at the beginning, I hope that you and your family are doing well down in Florida during all these challenging times. Are you hanging in there okay? Oh yeah, my family's doing fine. We're doing, everybody's great, everybody's well. The boys are off on surf trips to California that they've driven across country and my wife goes biking so we're fine but thank you for asking. Absolutely, and I look forward to seeing some baseball back and seeing you at a ballpark or in a press box or something somewhere so we can continue this conversation. Thanks a lot, David. Yeah, let's do it. Thanks.