Top 5 Overall New York Yankees Rookies - 2009 Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide

The 2009 Major League Baseball season will be the 107th in Yankee history and will be the first played in the new stadium. 2009 will also mark the first season that George Steinbrenner will not be in control of the New York Yankees with turning over control of the team to his son, Hal Steinbrenner. With not making the playoffs in 2008 for the first time since 1993, the Yankees have been committed to making significant offseason changes to make it back to the MLB postseason. Despite the number of free agent signings in the offseason, the Yankees have a number of great rookie prospects to consider for the 2009 fantasy baseball draft - Andrew Brackman, Brett Gardner, Michael Dunn, Juan Miranda, and Francisco Cervelli lead the Yankees's rookies for the upcoming season.

Top 5 Overall New York Yankees Rookies - Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide 2009

#1 Overall New York Yankees rookies: Andrew Brackman P - Fantasy Baseball 2009

The New York Yankees will start 2009 spring training with 24 pitchers on their active roster. One of the top prospects for the 2009 Fantasy baseball draft is 6'10" pitcher Andrew Brackman. Brackman was originally drafted in 2007, but spent the 2008 season recovering from Tommy John surgery. In his last season pitching for the NC State Wolfpack, Brackman was 6-4 with 74 strikeouts in 78 innings with a fastball regularly clocked in the 90's. Look for Brackman to make the starting pitcher rotation for the Yankees by May. If he remains healthy, Brackman could have a shot at 15 wins in the 2009 seasonl and will likely end up with 150-170 strikeouts for the season.

#2 Overall New York Yankees rookies: Francisco Cervelli C - Fantasy Baseball 2009

Starting catcher, Jorge Posada wasn't able to play in 1/3rd of the New York Yankees games last year due to injury. His backup, Jose Molina, was underwelming in his performance barely batting above .200. Minor league star, Francisco Cervelli is well positioned to compete for the backup role behind Posada this season after batting over .300 in both Single and Double-A last season. Cervelli should see a fair amount of playing time in 2009 as the Yankees watch Posada's playing time in order to keep him healthy throughout the season. Cervelli should bat over .280 this season and get over 140 hits.

#3 Overall New York Yankees rookies: Brett Gardner CF - Fantasy Baseball 2009

We got a glimpse of some of Brett Gardner's potential last season when he played in 42 games for the Yankees. He only batted .228, but demonstrated exceptional speed with obtaining 13 stolen bases. He'll be starting out as the starting center fielder for the Yankees so will see a significant amount of playing time. Gardner should be a great pick for the 2009 Fantasy baseball draft and look for him to exceed 40 stolen bases and improve on his hitting to at least a .275 average in the 2009 season.

#4 Overall New York Yankees rookies: Michael Dunn P - Fantasy Baseball 2009

Although not as highly rated as Brackman for the 2009 fantasy baseball draft, Michael Dunn is another Yankees pitching prospect to consider for the later rounds of the draft. In 2008, he pitched 124 innings and struck out 118 batters. He had a 4-7 record, but did get called up to Double A at the end of the season. He should be be one of the leading pitching prospects for this season and may see playing time at the big league level as a relief pitcher before getting the chance to start.

#5 Overall New York Yankees rookies: Juan Miranda 1B - Fantasy Baseball 2009

Mark Teixeira will be the starting first-baseman for the New York Yankees in 2009. Juan Miranda has the best shot at obtaining the number 2 first baseman position behind Teixeira next season and has a fair opportunity at playing time next season. In 2008, Miranda was called up for five games for the Yankees where he hit .400. Before being called up, he hit .287 with 12 HRs. Although a long shot, Miranda is definitely worth taking in the later rounds of the 2009 fantasy baseball draft.