The Yankees, saddled with low draft picks due to winning and signing free agents, tend to go for the problem children (injured, attitude), high risk/high reward players with their first pick. Via Bronx Banter, they did that again Tuesday with Slade Heathcott:

I saw Heathcott hit and pitch at the Area Code Games last August. I also watched how he carried himself after the game. The kid seemed a little cocky to me and has enough hot dog in him that he did a cartwheel and back flip before the Aflac Classic in honor of Ozzie Smith, who was the honorary chairman. But there is no doubting his talent. Hit 91 on the gun and struck out the side (although not in order). He hit a groundball single up the middle in one of the two ABs I witnessed. Grounded out to shortstop in the other. In the Aflac game, he went with a pitch on the outside corner and singled in a run against Zack Wheeler in the first inning that gave the West an early 1-0 lead. He also pitched the ninth inning and was saddled with the loss after giving up four runs. I wrote down “most athletic player” next to his name on my scoresheet even though I didn’t care for his attitude.

I’m fine with cocky. If you put a bunch of players together who don’t believe in losing, and have the talent to back it up, you won’t have great team chemistry but the team will likely win (see the Athletics and Yankees of the 1970s). That’s the one part of Kirk’s personality Star Trek got wrong. Usually, someone who needs to win that badly makes a very poor friend. Kirk manages to be competitive without alienating those closest to him. In real life, you get Reggie Jackson and Lenny Dykstra.