Hunter Dietz, the Yankees' first-round draft pick at No. 35 overall, expressed confidence in his ability to tap into further potential as he transitions to professional baseball. The left-handed pitcher signed for a reported below-slot value of $2,497,500 after a breakout redshirt sophomore season at Arkansas, where he recorded a 3.57 ERA and 131 strikeouts in 85 2/3 innings across 16 starts.
Dietz, who had thrown only 1 2/3 college innings prior to this spring due to a stress fracture in his left elbow, sees the Yankees' staff as an ideal environment for his development. "There’s a lot of gears that I can hit in my game going forward," Dietz said Thursday on a video conference call. "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."
The Yankees organization has been following Dietz since his high school days in Tampa, but his recent college performance solidified their interest. Vice president of domestic amateur scouting Damon Oppenheimer described Dietz as a "big, powerful left-handed pitcher" with a fastball up to 98 mph, a slider effective for strikeouts, and a curveball with development potential. "The control just keeps getting better," Oppenheimer added. "Ecstatic that we were able to get this where we picked and have this top end of the rotation ceiling."
Dietz, who has drawn comparisons to current Yankees pitcher Carlos Rodón, met with Rodón recently in the team's Tampa facility and received advice. The typical path for pitchers drafted by the Yankees since 2020 involves working out at the player development complex for the remainder of the draft year, followed by an assignment to an affiliate the following season, a trajectory Dietz is expected to follow.
"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."
In related team news, the Yankees are set to begin the second half of their season with Gerrit Cole starting Friday against Roki Sasaki, followed by Ryan Weathers on Saturday and Cam Schlittler on Sunday, in a series against the Dodgers.