Yankees take a chance on hard-hitting UBC infielder
Mitch Robinson didn’t take the most direct route to becoming a New York Yankees prospect.
The Yankees used a 21st round selection in the Major League Baseball amateur draft on Wednesday to nab the rights to Robinson, a senior third baseman with the UBC Thunderbirds.
The Surrey native, who always seems to get the barrel of the bat on the ball, is expected to head to the Yankees’ extended spring training complex in Tampa, Fla., in the coming days before being assigned to one of their affiliates.
Robinson, 22, became known in baseball circles in 2013, when he was a Grade 11 line-drive machine with the B.C. Premier League powerhouse Langley Blaze.
In 2014, the Miami Marlins used a 22nd round pick on Robinson. He turned down a contract offer, and did stints with Florida International University and Central Arizona Junior College before coming to UBC last season.
The hope had been that Robinson would get drafted last June, but he experienced some injury trouble down the stretch and was passed over.
That gave him his fourth and final season to impress. Robinson hit .361, with eight home runs and 54 runs batted in, helping UBC to 29-26 campaign, and the Yankees opted to take a chance.
His likely starting point is the Staten Island Yankees of the New York-Penn League, a short-season, single-A loop like the Vancouver Canadians’ Northwest League.
“I had a good year at Central and thought it might happen then,” Robinson said of being drafted.
“I thought it might happen last year but I got banged up. At some point, you’re like ‘Oh, oh. I’m running out of time.’
“The Yankees are such a first-class organization. There are guys I know in pro ball who aren’t playing for the Yankees and still have nothing but good things to say about them. It’s one of those teams you look at and say, ‘It would be cool to play for them.’ ”
He’s the 22nd player to be drafted out of UBC since the program was resurrected in 1997.
Robinson was quick to praise UBC coach Chris Pritchett, who worked the phones with big-league clubs to help get him selected.
Before coming to the T-Birds, Pritchett scouted for the Boston Red Sox, so bigleague clubs had to realize he would have some extra knowledge into how the process happens.
He also played first base for 13 years in pro ball, including stints in the bigs with the Los Angeles Angels and Philadelphia Phillies and four years with the triple-A version of the Vancouver Canadians.
“You can’t ask for a better guy in your corner,” said Robinson.
Robinson believes his defence improved this season. He did win an NAIA West Grouping Gold Glove.
Hitting is his ticket, though, and Robinson readily admits, “that’s job No. 1 If you hit, they’ll find you a place to play.”
Some teams do covet bigtime power numbers out of a corner infielder. Eight homers won’t turn heads, but UBC only hit 35 as a team this season. At 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds, you would think the ability to hit the ball out of the ballpark more often is there for Robinson.
“Teams now want to make sure that you can make contact, and they’ll wait to see if the power will come,” said Pritchett.
“At our conference tournament in Mesa, Ariz., he hit a ball out of the stadium. And I know that when I was looking at hitters (as a scout), I wanted to see if they could hit the ball the other way with power, and I think most of his homers were to right centre. That’s a good sign that there’s untapped power in there right now.
“I think he’s going to be a great pro.”
Robinson was one of three Blaze products to be selected.
Right-hander pitcher Nick Trogrlic-Iverson, an Oakville, Ont., native who came out to Langley for the 2016 season, was chosen in the 15th round by the Milwaukee Brewers.
In the 40th round, the Seattle Mariners took righthander David Rhodes, who is currently with Langley.