2017 Draft Signings: Sensley, Cortijo, Hess, DeMarco

With the short season leagues set to begin this week, the Yankees have locked up many of their late round draft picks these last few days. Here are my Day One, Day Two, and Day Three draft recaps, and here are all of the Yankees’ picks. Now here are the latest signings (and non-signings):

• Louisiana-Lafayette OF Steven Sensley (12th) has signed, reports William Weathers. No word on his bonus, though there’s no reason to think it’s above the $125,000 slot for picks after the tenth round. Scouting director Damon Oppenheimer called Sensley his draft sleeper. “We like his exit velo, power, athleticism,” he said to Randy Miller. Exit velo for a college kid! Anyway, Sensley hit .314/.417/.576 with eleven homers in 57 games this spring.
• Maryland HS RHP Harold Cortijo (14th) has signed. His high school coach posted a photo of the contract signing on Twitter. No word on the bonus, though I think there’s a chance Cortijo will get more than the $125,000 slot. He was said to be very committed to junior college, which would have allowed him to re-enter the draft next year.
• Rhode Island C Chris Hess (17th) has signed, according to the school’s Twitter feed. Again, no word on the bonus, though as with Sensley, odds are it is not over $125,000. Hess hit .347/.414/.581 with eight homers and 12 steals in 53 games as a senior this spring.
• Georgia HS Pat DeMarco (24th) is not planning to sign, according to his Twitter feed. He’s one of the highly ranked players who slipped to Day Three due to signability concerns. DeMarco grew up in New York City, graduated high school in Georgia, and is committed to Vanderbilt.
• Lane College LHP Austin Crowson (26th) has not yet decided whether to turn pro, according to Steve Mims. “Not sure yet, still discussing everything. I’m going to take my time,” he said. Crowson is at a junior college, so he could re-enter the draft next year.
• Norfolk State RHP Alex Mauricio (27th) has signed, according to his dad’s Twitter feed. No word on his bonus yet and chances are we’ll never find out. These under-slot late rounders are rarely reported. Mauricio hit .345/.427/.528 this spring and had a 3.49 ERA with 55 strikeouts in 59.1 innings. The Yankees drafted him as a pitcher.
• Louisiana HS SS Hayden Cantrelle (40th) wants to “keep his options open,” reports Trey Labat. Cantrelle has a number in mind, and if the Yankees meet it, he’ll sign. He’s a legitimate football prospect in addition to baseball, and he made it no secret he wants to go to college.

Our Draft Pool Tracker page is up and running. You can use that to keep tabs on the bonus pool situation between now and the July 7th signing deadline. The Tracker is available at all times under the Resources pull down menu in the nav bar at the top of the site.