Arizona baseball: Sporting News projects Kevin Newman to the Yankees

Is Kevin Newman the next Derek Jeter?

With the Arizona Wildcats essentially out of any postseason conversation, the focus turns to the MLB Draft, and just how high Kevin Newman and Scott Kingery will get picked.

Ryan Fagan of Sporting News put out a first-round mock draft, and has Kevin Newman going as the 16th pick to the New York Yankees.

So, maybe five years down the line, Kevin Newman eventually becomes the new Derek Jeter? How about an all-Arizona middle infield of Newman at short and Robert Refsnyder at second?

Refsnyder is the last Arizona player selected by the Yankees, who took him in the fifth round of the 2012 draft. The last time before that was 2006, when they took Mark Melancon in the ninth round. Melancon, the closer for the Pittsburgh Pirates, is one of two former Arizona players currently in the big leagues. Refsnyder is hitting .286 in Triple-A this year after hitting .300 at that level last season.

The Yankees also drafted Shelley Duncan in 2001, so they have a pretty good track record when drafting Arizona players.

Newman, who's hitting .367 this year for the Wildcats, is batting just .279 in Pac-12 play. By contrast, Scott Kingery is hitting .400 in Pac-12 play and .418 overall. But Newman will likely go before Kingery because of his back-to-back batting titles in the Cape Cod League the past two summers.

It would be pretty awesome to have an all-Arizona middle infield in the Bronx in 2020 though.

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