As young stars reach the Bronx, Yankees prove money isn't everything

BALTIMORE – If they have a need and want to fill it, the New York Yankees can almost always scratch a check. That may never change. Yet in this modern era where the Yankees are outflanked in the spending department by a handful of ballclubs and owner Hal Steinbrenner is both far less capricious and much more patient than his father, there’s an almost equal likelihood the Yankees will patch that hole internally: Through scouting and development and guiding to Yankee Stadium players who are ready to meet the moment.

Six of the Yankees’ current 14 regular position players and starting pitchers are products of the system, an output that places them tied for 11 th among 30 Major League Baseball teams, according to USA TODAY Sports research. More notably, three of them – franchise player Aaron Judge, young slugger Ben Rice and emerging ace Cam Schlittler – are well on track to rep the club at this summer’s All-Star Game in Philadelphia. They’re the product of organizational consistency, along with coherent messaging that ensures they’re ready as they can be for the Bronx.

Even if you’re a former seventh-round pick who was once too skinny and did not throw nearly hard enough to hear his name called the first day of the draft. “The Yankees are really good at what they do. They’re a superstar organization, they develop players well and they’re a winning organization,” Schlittler, the American League’s leader with a 1.

35 ERA, tells USA TODAY Sports. “They give you the pieces for your success. You gotta be able to do it on your own, as well: ‘Here’s what we can do for you.