Jordan Sheffield | RHP

Background
Sheffield, 20, is Gary’s nephew and he’s from the relatively small town of Tullahoma, Tennessee. He was considered a first round talent out of high school in 2013, but he blew out his elbow as a senior and needed Tommy John surgery, which caused him to drop to the 13rd round (Red Sox). Sheffield rehabbed as a true freshman at Vanderbilt before returning to the mound last year. He has a 2.38 ERA with 101 strikeouts and 33 walks in 90 .2 innings this spring.

Scouting Report
At 6-foot-0 and 196 lbs., Sheffield inevitably draws lazy comps to other short-ish righties like Marcus Stroman and Sonny Gray (another former Vandy ace). Sheffield throws harder than those two and lives in the 93-96 mph range with his fastball, and he’s able to hold that velocity deep into games. He also throws a mid-80s changeup and a slurvy low-80s breaking ball, both of which are out pitches on their best days. The change is more consistently excellent than the breaking ball. Among all the college arms in this draft class, Sheffield has the best chance for three above-average pitches. The only drawback is the effort in his delivery, which robs him of command. Sheffield has the stuff to start. The concern is he won’t be efficient and will be a five-and-fly guy long-term. Plus he has Tommy John surgery in his history. That’s kind of a big deal even though he’s been healthy since.

Miscellany
Both Keith Law (subs. req’d) and Baseball America ranked Sheffield as the 23rd best prospect in the draft class in their latest rankings. MLB.com had him a bit higher at 19th. The Yankees pick 18th. Sheffield obviously has premium stuff and good baseball bloodlines — his brother Justus was a first round pick in 2014 (31st overall by Indians) — so the unteachables are very good. The only red flags are the elbow and his inconsistent command. And I guess fastball plane, which is a concern for all pitchers on the short side. For what it’s worth, the Yankees have been connected to Sheffield in a few mock drafts recently, and those tend to be informed speculation. There’s probably more than cursory interest there.

The 2013 amateur draft will be held from June 6-8 this year, and between now and then I’m going to highlight some prospects individually rather than lump them together into larger posts.

Jordan Sheffield | RHP

Background
A Tennessee kid who lives an hour or so outside of Chattanooga, Sheffield threw just three innings for Tullahoma High School this spring before blowing out his elbow and requiring Tommy John surgery. He had the procedure yesterday according to Maurice Patton. Sheffield is committed to Vanderbilt. He is Gary’s nephew.

Scouting Report
Listed at 6-foot-1 and 175 lbs., Sheffield sat in the low-90s for most of his career before sitting 94-95 with a few 97s during the Team USA 16-and-under trials last summer and the Perfect Game World Wood Bat Championship in October. He didn’t get much of an opportunity to show if the velocity spike was legit before the injury this spring. A power upper-70s/low-80s curveball is his top secondary pitch and a legitimate put-away offering, and his low-80s changeup is very much a work in progress. Sheffield showed pretty good control throughout his high school career. Here’s some more video.

Miscellany
Neither Baseball America (subs. req’d) nor Keith Law (subs. req’d) ranked Sheffield as a top 50 draft prospect in their most recent rankings, but both lists were published after the right-hander initially suffered the injury in early-March. Law called him a borderline top 100 guy earlier this week following the news of the elbow reconstruction. Sheffield was considered a tough sign before the injury, but the Yankees have a little bit of a history with buying guys away from Vanderbilt (Dellin Betances, specifically). There’s a decent chance he’ll go completely undrafted now. Sheffield is someone the Yankees could target with a late-round pick — sometime after the tenth round so they don’t risk losing draft pool money in case he doesn’t sign — just to see if he’ll turn pro should they have some extra draft pool money lying around.