When the first day of the 2024 MLB Draft was all said and done, the New York Yankees walked away with two pitching prospects.
Grabbing Ben Hess out of Alabama at No. 26 and Bryce Cunningham out of Vanderbilt at No. 53 capped the first and second rounds of the draft, respectively, for New York.
While these prospects are just beginning to develop in their careers, Andrew Peters of Bleacher Report believes the Yankees had one of the worst picks in the draft.
He called the selection of Hess in the first round the third-worst pick in the draft.
Ben Hess clearly has plenty of upside after three impressive seasons at Alabama, but he showed concerns in his final year in Tuscaloosa that make the Yankees choosing him so early a bit questionable.
The Yankees seem willing to look past his ERA and walk rate in favor of his impressive strikeout rate, though. Hess is Alabama's all-time leader in K/9 ratio at 13.3 for his career.
Hess is clearly a prospect with traits to develop. His mid-90s fastball touches 99 mph and he'll work in a slider, curveball and occasional changeup off his heater. He had a 5.85 ERA, 106 strikeouts and 35 walks in 68.1 innings during the 2024 season.
At 6-foot-5 and 255 pounds, he has the frame to be a workhorse starter at the next level, but he hadn't really shown that to be the case in college.
According to Kieth Law of The Athletic, he was asked to get more than 16 outs in a game just three times during the regular season. Law did note that Hess maintained strong velocity in the mid-90s when asked to do so, which is encouraging.
Considering the fact that the age of the power pitcher is upon us, Hess does bring some upside with this selection.
And as is the case with most draft prospects, it's far too early to tell what will come of his career.
