New York Yankees Joel Sherman The Yankees have mastered this key area that may be about to become more valuable By Joel Sherman Published Sep. 30, 2026, 6:14 p.m. ET Yankees center fielder Spencer Jones hits a single in the seventh inning of Game 1 on Sept 29, 2026. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post The story was obvious. Justifiably. A couple of midround draft picks from the Red Sox backyard again making Boston pay for letting a couple of Massachusetts natives not only get away — but, of all results, to the Yankees.
It is not exactly selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees. But Ben Rice, 12th round 2021, and Cam Schlittler, seventh round 2022, are remarkable organizational draft-and-develop successes. The scout who championed them, Matt Hyde, has gone from obscurity to pinstriped hero.
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Schlittler is going to win the AL Cy Young Award in his first full season. Rice is going to finish in the top 10 for the AL MVP in his second full year. Tuesday night they joined forces to torture New England. Schlittler continued his mastery of the Red Sox with 6 ¹/₃ two-hit, shutout innings in the wild-card series opener. Rice registered four hits, including a solo homer and a grand slam, and drove in five runs and the Yankees won 9-0.
To pull such baseball magic from the 363rd player taken in a draft (Rice) and the 220th (Schlittler) out of northeastern, non-powerhouse programs (Dartmouth, Northeastern) is a victory, but in many ways what the Yankees assembled in the middle of the diamond positionally in Game 1 reflects how much better they have become at drafting.
