In their last big move of the trade deadline, the Yankees found a landing spot for Carlos Beltran with the Texas Rangers. It was sad to see Beltran go, but he understood it’s business and hopefully for his sake, the Rangers make a run and he gets to show his postseason brilliance once again.
Meanwhile, the Yankees got alot in return... prospect Dillon Tate.
Dillon Tate was the number four overall draft pick in 2015 out of UC Santa Barbara. The good is that Tate was topping out at 98 in college and successfully transitioned form a reliever to a starter, throwing 103 innings his junior year in 2015. The bad was that he has regressed this year to the tune of a 5.12 ERA in Single-A ball while allowing 78 hits in 65.0 innings.
Tate’s fastball was up to 96 MPH in spring training and the Rangers were excited for what their first round pick was going to accomplish this season. Lately however, the young man has been clocked in the low 90’s, according to Fangraphs. There have even been reports he was sitting in the high 80’s in some starts which was obviously disappointing for the Rangers.
So when the Yankees came calling trying to flip Carlos Beltran, the Rangers figured they’d go all in acquiring both Beltran and C Jonathan Lucroy from the Brewers. In doing so, the Rangers had to pay the piper and give up on Tate which will hopefully be a blessing for us Yankees fans.
Tate showed off his moves when he found out he was being traded to the Yankees.
When you hear you've been traded to the @Yankees #TradeDeadline #dillonTate pic.twitter.com/FGmCwtS8za— Kevin Rodriguez (@krodrig22) August 1, 2016
New @Yankees prospect Dillon Tate celebrates trade to NYY with #RunningManChallenge (WATCH): https://t.co/6lJN2O1o01 pic.twitter.com/zIWWvNHvKU— YES Network (@YESNetwork) August 2, 2016
While Tate has the high profile of being a top four draft pick, he has only been a starter for two years and hamstring issues could have played a part in the drop in velocity as John Manuel has reported.
According to Andrew Marchand, one scout at least was “very surprised” that Brian Cashman was able to pry away a top pick from just 14 months ago!
The YES Network’s Jack Curry tweeted that the Yankees plan on moving Dillon Tate back into the bullpen to try and get his stuff figured out. They aren’t saying it’s permanent but as Curry said ‘just slowing the kid down’.
Cashman said Dillon Tate will be moved from rotation to bullpen at Class A Charleston. Not saying it's permanent. Just slowing the kid down.— Jack Curry (@JackCurryYES) August 1, 2016
That logic makes sense since Tate was a reliever turned starter his junior year at UC Santa Barbara. He threw just 43 innings in 2014 before upping it to 103 his junior year at the school. Perhaps the move back to the bullpen will allow his velocity to return as well as his confidence. At that point a decision whether to move him back to the rotation or not can be made. Spring Training could be a good time frame for that decision.
Overall, Brian Cashman did take a chance on Tate. He gave up his best bat for a guy who has regressed. However a two month rental for a top draft pick is not a bad gamble.
Overall, Brian Cashman did take a chance on Tate. He gave up his best bat for a guy who has regressed. However a two month rental for a top draft pick is not a bad gamble.
With any luck and through hard work, we hope to see Tate return to his senior year form and force his way through the minor league ranks before pitching in front of 40,000 fans at Yankee Stadium.
While only time will tell how well this trade turns out, I’m sure happy to have a guy with tremendous upside in the Yankees system.
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