Yankees, first-round pick Dietz agree to terms on deal

PHILADELPHIA -- The Yankees have agreed to terms with University of Arkansas left-hander Hunter Dietz, their top selection in the MLB Draft, vice president of domestic amateur scouting Damon Oppenheimer said on Monday.

Dietz, 21, was rated as MLB Pipeline’s No. 17 overall prospect in this year’s Draft. Oppenheimer said Dietz will report to the Yankees’ player development complex in Tampa, Fla. It remains to be seen if Dietz will pitch in games this year.

“That’ll be something that the player development guys, pitching people, they’re going to decide where he's at in terms of how much he’s thrown,” Oppenheimer said. “I don’t know if he’ll get innings or not. We’ve kind of slow-played the pitching from the Draft the last few years. So they’ll analyze it, they’ll talk to him, they’ll see where he feels and then we’ll go from there.”

Dietz barely pitched over his first two seasons with Arkansas due to injury issues and was coming off a largely discouraging stint in the Cape Cod League. But after turning heads in fall practice, Dietz cemented himself as one of the country’s premier college pitching prospects.

He finished the 2026 season with a 3.57 ERA, 131 strikeouts and 31 walks over 85 2/3 innings for the Razorbacks, earning All-SEC First Team honors -- quite a statement for a pitcher who was limited to just 1 2/3 college innings before this year.

In his final start on May 30, Dietz struck out a career-high 14 batters in the NCAA Lawrence Regional matchup against the University of Kansas. He was later named to the NCAA Lawrence Regional All-Tournament Team.

“We’re ecstatic that we were able to get this where we picked, and have this kind of top-end-of-the-rotation ceiling,” Oppenheimer said.

Dietz underwent elbow surgery in the fall of 2023 to repair a fracture in his left ulna, then suffered a setback in '24 that sidelined him for 13 months. He began to turn a corner by the end of the summer as he started to regain his velocity, then fully took off after returning to campus in the fall.

His fastball sits in the mid-90s and touches 98 mph, with life that varies from backspin and carry to natural cutting action depending on the pitch.

Both his slider and cutter grade as plus pitches. Cole Hamels, who was participating in Draft coverage for MLB Network, said that Dietz should move quickly through the Minors and that the hurler’s slider is “reminiscent of Clayton Kershaw.”

A Trinity, Fla., native, Dietz was a touted prospect coming out of Calvary Christian High School in Clearwater, Fla., where he shared a rotation with fellow 2026 Draft prospect Liam Peterson (taken 19th overall by Cleveland) and Landen Maroudis, a fourth-round pick by the Blue Jays in ’23.

“We've been watching Hunter since high school,” Oppenheimer said. “He pitched here locally in the Tampa area, so we were able to see him quite a bit.”

Oppenheimer said the Yankees are also “finishing off the details” regarding their eighth-round pick, Luke Pettitte, the son of five-time World Series champion Andy Pettitte.

Drafted as a two-way player, Pettitte posted a 3.19 ERA through 48 innings and 17 games across parts of his first two seasons at Dallas Baptist University, he also slashed .337/.403/.693 with 16 home runs and 48 RBIs as a full-time designated hitter in his junior year. The Yankees plan to allow Pettitte to continue doing both in pro ball, at least for now.

“He's going to continue to rehab his pitching with his arm while hitting for us, too, as a DH,” Oppenheimer said. “So if the hit comes on and it's staying good, then we'll stick with that and keep the pitching alive. Let's let Luke and the game tell us which way we're going to like him the most.”