Yankee Minor League notes

[jacksonianmarch]

A report from the Yankee pitching coordinator says that Betances velocity is back. IE, he was throwing 95+ again. He's baaaaack! I said he needed TJS 2 f***ing yrs ago. We wasted a yr of this kid's development dealing with recurrent "elbow tendonitis" which was really a swiss cheese UCL. Should have just sucked it up and fixed it. Now, he's back. Hope he stays that way

[jacksonianmarch]

Betances was sitting 95-97mph last night, 6IP 2H 0ER 1BB 7K. If he is finally healthy, then the dream of having the twin towers make it to the bigs is back alive

[jacksonianmarch]

Graham Stoneburner continues to dominate. He has now thrown 24.2 consecutive scoreless innings after another 7 inning shutout performance last night. He's not even being challenged in Tampa

[jacksonianmarch]

6/21 Update

 

AAA

Eduardo Nunez continues to hit. His BA is at .321 to go along with 14 steals and a .772OPS from the SS position. Not too shabby, and it sounds like he is prime trade bait on the market this trade deadline

 

Jesus Montero has picked it up of late, OPSing close to 1.1 over his last 10 games. His .243BA and .703OPS arent cutting it thus far, but he is improving. From the sounds of it, pitchers have been pitching him away and early in the yr he was pull happy. Lately, he has been going the other way, so that might be why his BA is into the .240s. Regardless, if he does show sustained improvement, he should be in the .280s before the end of the yr.

 

As for the rest of the offense, Juan Miranda fell off a cliff after being sent back down. Colin Curtis has shown good eye and contact skills, but has lost all semblance of power.

 

From a pitching perspective, Ivan Nova has been solid of late. His ERA is at 3.42, although his WHIP of 1.38 is too high for him to be considered an option out of the rotation this yr.

 

Zach McCallister has fallen back to earth a bit. After 5 straight quality starts, he has had two stinkers, allowing 8ER in 6IP combined. He's continued to show his impeccable control with only 17 walks in 71IP, but the 83 hits just wont get it done.

 

After a promising run through May, Romulo Sanchez has crashed down to earth and has continued to show that he belongs in the pen. 42BB in 67IP doesnt get it done. It's time for a change

 

Mark Melancon had an interesting run. His 1.64WHIP is incredibly higher than his previous career high, but the way he got it was just as interesting. He was optioned back to the minors in late May, and had one good game May 27th. From May 30th through June 9th, he was AWFUL. 6.2IP 17H 8ER 6BB 5K. That is a WHIP of almost 4. Incredibly bad. Since then, he has thrown 5.2IP of scoreless baseball, allowing 3H, 3BB and striking out 5.

 

Jonathan Albaladejo has done nothing but earn a spot on the big league roster. Acting as the SWB closer, he has dominated. 32.2IP, 1.10ERA, 0.83WHIP, 4K/BB, 12K/9IP. Not sure why we are taking so much time in calling him up when our bridge to Mo has been nothing short of abysmal of late

 

Royce Ring has similar numbers from the left side of the rubber. Sub 1 WHIP, sub 2ERA and dominating. He should get a shot once Boone Logan remembers that he's Boone Logan

 

AA

The offense has cooled down a bit, but Brandon Laird continues to mash. He has now hit 16 homers and has an .890OPS as the Thunder cleanup hitter. He has also driven in 65 runs not even half way through the season. Projecting out his season comes to almost a 35HR 120RBI season. Ridiculous.

 

Austin Romine has seen that sky high average come back down to earth. The troubling thing for probably our best starting catcher prospect is the power outage. Last yr, he hit 12 homers in a tough pitcher's league, this yr he only has 3. He is typically a second half player, but at this stage he should be showing some more pop. His BA is down to .283.

 

David Adams still hasnt returned from an ankle injury and Jorge Vazquez was promoted to AAA

 

On the pitching side, nobody has been better than David Phelps. He was a 2008 14th rounder who burst onto the scene last yr after seeing a velocity spike. Well, he has turned that into a full arsenal improvement as well. Currently, he is the ace of this staff, with a 5-0 record, 2.19ERA, 0.95WHIP, almost a K per inning and 2.3BB/9IP. He has been nothing short of phenomenal

 

DJ Mitchell has seen his early season struggles abate. He has gotten his ERA down to 4.41 and has thrown 4 consective QS's. He's a good bet to have a strong second half assuming he can get his hits down

 

Hector Noesi has been dominant since his promotion to Trenton. He has a WHIP of 1.03, an ERA of 2.31 and 29K in 35IP. He really turned a corner last yr and it seems he isnt looking back.

 

A+

 

On a team full of disappointment, Corban Joseph continues to swing a sweet stick. His BA is over .300, his OPS barely over .800 and he continues to draw walks. His power has been late to the party (only 4 homers), but the HS draftee from 2008 is holding his own in a pitcher's league.

 

Onto the list of garbage, Brad Suttle has seen his OPS rise, although it still hasnt cracked .700. Abe Almonte is out for the yr with a labrum. Jose Pirela is hitting .220 with no power. And Neil Medchill is still hitting under the Mendoza line

 

For the pitchers, it has been a different story. Starting with one of the twin towers, Andrew Brackman has been money of late. Rumor has it, he is being called up very soon to Trenton. He's struck 43 in his last 39.2IP, allowing only 7 walks, and 32 hits. After a rough start, he is starting to round into the ace we thought he could be when he was drafted in the first round.

 

The other half of the twin towers has been solid since coming back from elbow surgery as well. Dellin Betances has struck out 13 in 12 innings, allowing only 5 hits, 1 walk, and 1ER. If he is fully healthy, he could be a force in the system

 

Adam Warren had pitched well except for one bad start prior to June, but he is disabled with an "upper body injury." He hasnt pitched in almost 2 weeks and I am unsure what the nature of his injury is

 

George Kontos kicked off his rehab in Tampa. The results werent great, 3ER in 2.2IP, but he did come back sooner than expected. We'll see what kind of stuff he has as the reports come in from Tampa.

 

Shaeffer Hall continues to mow them down. The soft tossing lefty from Kansas has made 3 starts in Tampa, threw 17IP, allowed 14 baserunners and struck out 17.

 

Graham Stoneburner has been dominant as well. He has a WHIP of 0.83 through 6 starts, striking out 35 in 36IP. His stuff is special, he should have a strong season

 

A

Robert Lyerly continues to hit, with a BA of .314. Once again, the power is late to the party.

 

Luke Murton continues to crush the ball, OPSing in the mid .800s once again.

 

Zoilo Almonte leads the team with 10 homers and is OPSing in the .800s. He might be prime for a callup, although the team has been pretty cautious with his promotions at times. He has a lot of talent, but not much upstairs

 

Slade Heatchott and JR Murphy kinda fell off the wagon of late. Slade saw his BA slip to .294 and he still hasnt shown much power (although he does have 6 steals in 16 games). Murphy has been mired in a slump that has his BA in the .240 range with only one homer. Chalk it up to growing pains for now. The rumors was that both of these guys were heading to the NYP league, but it sounds like both are staying in Charleston for the time being

 

On the pitching side, Kelvin Perez continues to pitch pretty well. WHIP under 1.3, ERA under 4. His K rate has plummetted though, meaning his stuff could be suffering out of the rotation. Might be time to move to the pen

 

Jose Ramirez has had a hell of a yr as well. 1.19WHIP, almost a K per inning and a 3.5ish ERA. The problem is, he just went on the DL with an "upper body injury." No word on how long he'll be out for

 

Sean Black was pulling it together, but has allowed 15 runs over his last 3 starts and has just been too hittable.

 

The only thing worth mentioning on the NYP side is that Mikey Obrien threw 7 innings without allowing an earned run in his NYP debut. And not sure where Matt Richardson or Kyle Turley fit in. They arent on the GCL or NYP roster, havent been released, and dont have an injury to disclose. Not sure what is up with that.

 

DSL

 

Time for a DSL update, just on guys of note.

 

Yeicok Calderon should have made it to the states. He's OPSing .950 with 5 homers in 18 games.

 

Jorge Alcantara, a SS the Yankees signed last yr has been off the hook. In 17 games, he has a 1.448OPS. That isnt a typo. 4 homers, 5 triples, 3 doubles, 13 walks and 24 hits thus far out of the shortstop position. He's been dominant.

 

Chris Cabrera, the prized pitching prospect signed last July 2nd signing day has been nearly perfect. He's thrown 13 scoreless innings allowing 5 hits, 4 walks and racking up 12 K's. Not bad.

[jacksonianmarch]

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100622&content_id=11457926&vkey=news_milb&fext=.jsp

 

Betances dominates again

[jacksonianmarch]

Brandon Laird is having a yr to remember. He hit 2 more homers last night and drove in 7. He now has 18 homeruns and 76 RBI. His RBI total is 10 more than any player in professional baseball (Miguel Cabrera has 66). Currently, he is on pace for 35 homers and 150RBI as he just hit the halfway point. I know he probably isnt going to reach that, but nobody can detract from this kid's season.

 

Laird is typically a slow starter, but came on strong each of the last 2 seasons. But this yr, he was great out the gate in AA. He's 22, plays a respectable 3b defense, although looks more like a 1B or maybe a LF, and has the kind of raw power scouts dream about. The big detraction from Laird's game was his ability to make contact and his propensity to chase pitches. Well, those remain valid concerns. His BB% (BB/PA*100) sits at 7.2%. Last yr, his BB% was 7.9%. This yr, his K% (K/PA*100) is 18.0%. Last yr, it was 15.3%. So both of those seem to be going in the wrong direction. His BA this yr is a full season career high thus far at .293 with a BABIP of .309. So it isnt like he has been ultra lucky thus far. Last yr, he had a BA of .266 in a much tougher division for hitters (the FSL is hot as hell, there are no fans, and the parks are all deep with ads on their sometimes 20 foot high walls.) His BABIP last season was .280.

 

All in all, this kid is putting his name on the map. His power is special as is his knack for driving in runs (1st in the world this yr, 1st in the FSL last yr, 9th in the SAL in 2008). His approach can use some work, although it might just be the player he is. He will probably be trade bait unless he can successfully move to the OF, although he is quite a chip at this juncture. Regardless, I wouldnt be surprised to see him in AAA soon, since he really isnt getting much out of absolutely dominating AA

[Meh]

Gerald Laird

 

Brandon Laird.

[jacksonianmarch]

Thanks, man, got the name confused with his brother

[jacksonianmarch]

Betances went 5IP 2H 0ER 1BB and 6K. His ERA is down to 0.39. NASTY

 

Montero hit his 5th homer yesterday and has his BA right on the cusp of .250.

 

Corban Joseph was 4 for 6 today, with 4 doubles. That's a rare thing to do.

[jacksonianmarch]

Montero smacked his 6th homer today, AVG up to ,254. He's getting hot again

[Lester82]

Do you give an update on a Yankee minor leaguer that's sucking...

[Meh]

Do you give an update on a Yankee minor leaguer that's sucking...

 

Seriously the entire system is rolling right now, there's really only one player who is sucking believe it or not and thats Jairo Heredia, among their top 30 prospects.

[jacksonianmarch]

Well, I update on injuries and we have had a bunch of them. Also, if you read my farm updates, you will see that I update top prospects that are slumping

[jacksonianmarch]

Looks like the Yankee pitching plan is rounding into form. I had no idea that there was a change in philosophy, but it makes sense.

 

In 2008, we drafted a ton of prep pitching prospects. One of them being Gerrit Cole who decided not to sign...DICK. But there were plenty others as well. One of them, was Brett Marshall. He is small framed, but throws hard, has a sick slider and looked to be a guy who could rocket through the system. Instead of taking it easy, we pushed him and he blew out his elbow. He is just returning at this time.

 

But we didnt make that mistake with the trio of high schoolers drafted behind him. Mikey O'Brien, the short statured hard throwing kid who just turned 20 3 months ago, went along the new path that seems to be the norm. He only got into 6 games in 2008, but was restarted in the GCL in 2009. Something that hadnt been happening in yrs past. He struggled last yr even though his stuff would dictate that he should dominate. But with all that time at the complex, they got his arm right and now he is debuting in the NYP at the age of a college sophomore. And the results thus far have been impressive. 13 innings, 8Ks, 9 baserunners and only 1 run.

 

The same can be said about Matt Richardson and Nik Turley. Richardson was a 15th rounder in 2008 and Turley, a 50th rounder in 2008 (Both dropped due to signability concerns). Richardson pitched 6 games in the GCL in 2008, then repeated the GCL and dominated last yr before being promoted to the NYP, where he struggled. He is currently in the GCL, but it is all about roster management and he should be in the NYP by the end of the week.

 

Turley followed a similar path. Threw 4 games in the GCL in 2008, pitched really well in the GCL last yr and is currently in the same boat as Richardson. Currently in the GCL but should be in the NYP by the end of the week.

 

We are seeing the same thing with the 2009 draftees. Brett Gerritse, 12th rounder, pitched pretty well in the GCL last yr but is back there again this yr and is expected to be there for the season. Bryan Mitchell, the 16th rounder from last season, also has started in the GCL and is expected to be there for the entire season. Same with lefty Evan DeLuca and major project Mariel Checo.

 

Regardless, this means that the returns on these guys are gonna be longer, but the development and the depth of their repertoire and location should actually improve. I like it, but it needs to have a solid core of pitching above them, which the Yankee system does

[jacksonianmarch]

Gary Sanchez smacked his third homerun today, in a total of 6 games. His line is as follows...

 

.440/.500/.920 for an OPS of 1.420 to start off his career. And he turned 17 in December

[Spudboy]

Gary Sanchez smacked his third homerun today, in a total of 6 games. His line is as follows...

 

.440/.500/.920 for an OPS of 1.420 to start off his career. And he turned 17 in December

 

He's a juicer!;)

[jacksonianmarch]

Cito Culver went 4 for 5 today, raising his BA to .353

[jacksonianmarch]

Gary Sanchez is on fire. 3 more hits today, he has now hit in all 10 games he has played and has amassed a line of .459/.545/.784 for an OPS of 1.329 to go along with 3 homers, 3 doubles and 6 walks. The kid can mash

[jacksonianmarch]

Gary Sanchez hit his second grand slam of his young career yesterday and drove in 5. He now has 4HR and 20RBI in 15 games to go along with 5 doubles and 8 walks. He apparently is mowing them down on the basepaths as well, but has allowed his fair share of passed balls. His line on the season is up to....

 

.393/.470/.696 for a 1.166OPS and he will be 17 for the entire season.

[Meh]

Gary Sanchez hit his second grand slam of his young career yesterday and drove in 5. He now has 4HR and 20RBI in 15 games to go along with 5 doubles and 8 walks. He apparently is mowing them down on the basepaths as well, but has allowed his fair share of passed balls. His line on the season is up to....

 

.393/.470/.696 for a 1.166OPS and he will be 17 for the entire season.

 

Special.

 

Brackman was reporting touching 99 mph last night. He didn't have the best of games due to him lacking control but I would assume that was due to him just dailing it up to 99.

[jacksonianmarch]

I talked to a few people who were at that game and it sounds like his defense let him down a bit as well as getting pounded by some bad luck. Infield hits, balls that should have been played, etc.

[jacksonianmarch]

Adam Warren has been promoted to AA. Over his last 3 starts, he has struck out 19 and allowed no earned runs

[jacksonianmarch]

Montero goes 3 for 4 with a walk and a homer in his first game of the second half. The BA is up to a high water mark of .259. He's getting hot

[jacksonianmarch]

Montero went 2 for 4 with a double last night, AVG up to .262 and OPS creeping closer to .800

[jacksonianmarch]

Manhy Banuelos has come back strong from his appendectomy. He was the Yankees top pitching prospect prior to this season and he is showing that he deserved that distinction. Last night, he was topping out at 95 mph and just dominated. 6IP 2H 1BB 7K 0ER. His line on the season is 23.1IP 14H 4ER 29K 8BB. He's a special talent and another reason why this yr has been the best season for a yankee farm system that I have ever seen

[jacksonianmarch]

Montero 3 for 3 with a double. AVG up to season high .267. OPS up to a season high of .777. His OPS over the last month is well over 1.000. In talking to some of the scout.com guys, Montero got into a bit of a funk early cause the pitchers were pitching around him a bit and were keeping the ball away. So AAA coach, Butch Wynegar, changed his swing a bit and it royally f***ed him up. Montero is back swinging the way he was last yr and he has made adjustments to the way they have pitched him

[Palodios]

I just want to throw in a courtesy post so you won't feel like you're talking to yourself.

[Yaz Sideburn]

I just want to throw in a courtesy post so you won't feel like you're talking to yourself.

 

come on man, a prospect that almost has an .800 ops is exciting stuff. definitely worthy of daily updates

[Palodios]

I wasn't insulting anyone, I was reading the posts, saw 6 straight posts by Jacko, and I figured I'd throw a friendly reminder out there that someone was actually reading them.

[yankees228]

If he continues to produce at a very high level, I wonder if they call him up to DH during the stretch run (and possibly the postseason, if they make it).