Yankees Linked To College World Series Start In Mock Draft

The New York Yankees, along with the rest of Major League Baseball, will be focused on the College World Series.

Tennessee's Billy Amick (11) runs the bases after hitting a home run during a NCAA baseball tournament Knoxville Super Regional game between Tennessee and Evansville held at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on Friday, June 7, 2024. / Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA

The New York Yankees will select No. 26 in the first round of next month’s MLB Draft. If Baseball America is right, they will take a College World Series star with that pick.

The Tennessee Volunteers are seeking their first national title in baseball and are in the CWS for the third time in four years. If the Vols are going to win, third baseman Billy Amick will have to play a big role.

That’s the player Baseball America linked to the Yankees with that No. 26 pick, a selection that would help give them a long-term answer at third base, a position where the organziation’s long-term play is a bit unclear.

Amick is a draft-eligible junior who is coming off hitting a grand slam and driving in seven runs during the Knoxville regional two weeks ago. He and the Volunteers defeated Evansville in three games in their Super Regional to advance to Omaha.

Entering the CWS he is slashing .313/.392/.678/1.070 with 23 home runs and 64 RBI. Both are career highs at the college level.

Before Tennessee he played two seasons at Clemson, where he helped the Tigers win the 2023 ACC title.

Between the 2023 and 2024 seasons he played for Hyannis in the Cape Cod Baseball League, where he slashed .368.442/.579/1.021 with two home runs and five RBI in 11 games.

Baseball America breaks down Amick as a hitter with a “vicious right-handed swing” who isn’t a pure hitter. But he has “tons of strength and raw power” and that can play well in the Majors, especially at a corner infield position.

The Yankees took shortstop George Lombard Jr. out of Gulliver Preparatory School in Pinecrest, Fla., at No. 26 overall. He is playing with Class-A Tampa.

New York’s last college player selected in the first round was Vanderbilt outfielder Spencer Jones in 2022. The left-handed hitting Jones is already one of the Yankees’ top prospects and is playing at Double-A Somerset.