Matt Duran, a shortstop on the New Rochelle High School baseball team, was drafted in the fourth round of the First-Year Player Draft. Duran was the 149th pick overall. Duran plays 3rd base on the “Hank’s Yanks”, a team of elite players sponsored by Yankees team owner Hank Steinbrenner. Duran is 6-foot-1, 205-pounds and hit .580 this season.
Ask this morning by Duke Castiglione on Fox 5 News what the first thing he would buy if he signs with the Yankees, Duran said he would buy an iPad. Pressed by Castiglione to spend more money on something bigger, Duran said “I’ve got to be smart”.
Three of the Yankees’ top six picks received the phone calls of their dreams Monday and Tuesday through the first two rounds of the First-Year Player Draft, learning they would have the chance to don pinstripes in their professional careers. One day after Dante Bichette Jr. saw his hope come to fruition by being taken 51st overall by the Bombers, Jordan Cote and Matthew Duran learned their fates would be the same Tuesday…Duran, a Fordham early-signee from New Rochelle High School, was taken with the 149th overall selection and has played for Hank’s Yanks, which is sponsored by Yankees general partner Hank Steinbrenner. The 6-foot-1, 205-pound infielder hit .580 this season, scoring 36 runs and striking out just once. He added 10 home runs and 41 RBIs. [read more]
Duran, a 6-1 infielder from New Rochelle, New York, is a four-year varsity baseball player at New Rochelle High School. He is a two-time All-League selection, and was named to the All-Section team as a junior, when he also garnered team MVP honors. He was rated by Perfect Game USA as a top national prospect, and was selected Second Team All-Star for Lo-Hud baseball by The Journal News. In addition to playing for New Rochelle, Duran plays for Hank’s Yanks, a team sponsored by Hank Steinbrenner, General Partner of the New York Yankees, and the New York Yankees area code team, for which he hit .300 during the Area Code Games in California, which has grown into one of the highest regarded high school talent tournaments in the country. A nominee for the National Honor Society, he also participated in the Empire State Games this past summer, hitting .450 with nine RBI.