Entering his redshirt sophomore season at Arkansas, Hunter Dietz had thrown just 1 ²/₃ innings in his college career because of a stress fracture in his left elbow.
But across 16 starts this spring, the left-hander gave the Yankees plenty of reasons to be excited about drafting him with their first-round pick (No. 35 overall) last weekend and betting on his upside as they try to inject more talent into their system.
“There’s a lot of gears that I can hit in my game going forward,” Dietz said Thursday on a video conference call after signing for a reported below-slot value of $2,497,500. “There’s a lot of potential that I need to unlock. I just feel like this staff is perfect for me, once I start my buildup, just to get ready for next year and the coming outings that I’m going to have. I feel like it’s just perfect for me as a player.”
Unbeknownst to Dietz, the Yankees have actually been following him since he was in high school at Calvary Christian — not far from their player development complex in Tampa — but then this spring saw him become “what we thought he would be out of high school,” vice president of domestic amateur scouting Damon Oppenheimer said this week.
The 6-foot-6, 235-pound Dietz pitched to a 3.57 ERA for the Razorbacks while striking out 131 in 85 ²/₃ innings.
“I feel like it just shows who I am as a pitcher, finally getting healthy after the one injury at the end of my freshman year and struggling mechanically my sophomore year,” Dietz said. “Piecing it all together and having a great year, I feel like this year was just kind of the floor for me. I’m just going to keep getting better and better, especially with the Yankees staff by my side.”
Dietz said he has gotten comparisons to current Yankees lefty Carlos Rodón, who he recently got some advice from after meeting him in the club’s Tampa facility a few days ago.
Since 2020, most of the pitchers the Yankees have drafted have spent the rest of that year working out at the player development complex before being sent to an affiliate the following year, which is likely the path Dietz will take.
“Big, powerful left-handed pitcher,” Oppenheimer said. “He’s big, strong, fits our mold. He’s got a big fastball that’s up to 98, it’s got movement. He’s got a slider that’s basically a wipeout strikeout pitch. And a curveball that we think can be developed. … The control just keeps getting better. Ecstatic that we were able to get this where we picked and have this top end of the rotation ceiling.”
The Yankees will begin the second half with Gerrit Cole starting on Friday (against Roki Sasaki), Ryan Weathers on Saturday (Emmett Sheehan) and Cam Schlittler on Sunday (Yoshinobu Yamamoto) in their showdown with the Dodgers.
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If there is actually a 2027 season and it starts on time — with a labor war and likely lockout threatening to disrupt that — the Yankees are scheduled to open the season at home against the Blue Jays on March 25.
The schedule also includes home games on Memorial Day (Royals) and Independence Day (Astros), hosting the Mets on July 16-18 and playing them at Citi Field on May 28-30.
