Easiest DotF ever

July 15, 2008 by Mike Axisa 21 Comments

Triple-A Scranton is off until Thursday for the All-Star Break. The Triple-A All-Star Game (International League vs Pacific Coast League) is Wednesday at 7pm, and can be seen on ESPN2. Justin Christian made the team, but he’s in the bigs so he won’t be playing. Cody Ransom has replaced him on the roster. Yawn.

Double-A Trenton, High-A Tampa, Low-A Charleston & Short Season Staten Island were all off in observance of the MLB All-Star Game. No joke. They do this every year.

The Rookie GCL Yanks were rained out. They’ll probably make in up as part of a doubleheader on July 28th.

In other news, Jim Callis of Baseball America updated the top prospect for each team in the latest edition of Ask BA. It’s been a while since the Yanks had a top prospect that … uninspiring.

dan

I thought you were a bigger fan of Jackson than you seem to let on.
- billybob
  
  Yeah, how is Jackson uninspiring? He looks pretty nasty to me.
Josh

How is Ajax uninspiring? Hes probably not the uber 5 tooler that we originally though but i still think hes gonna be a very good player.
http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.

He’s more raw and has more flaws than I like to see in a #1 prospect. Don’t get me wrong, he’s an excellent prospect, but he does swing-and-miss a lot, and is incredibly streaky.
- Josh
  
  I understand where you’re coming from but I’ve seen him play a few times and he has that unexplainable look to him when he plays. He just looks like hes going to put it all together. Right now he flashes a little of this and that but I just see him as a guy who can put it all together. Based on how far hes already come in his transition from athlete to ballplayer it’s obvious hes a really hard worker. He may never be a .300 hitter and he may strike out too much, however, he may also cut down on the strikeouts with more seasoning and blossom. I just think that even if he doesn’t reach the peak we hoped for originally from him, he could still be a .270-280 hitter with 25 hr power and 20-25 sbs a year while playing good D in center. Maybe I’m putting too much stock into my impression of him as just looking like “a ballplayer” but I see something in him.
A.D.

It would be a lot cooler for it to be about Brackman dominating or something.
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  Next year.
  - A.D.
    
    looking forward to it
Ivan

Well Yeah A-Jax is yes more raw than you would of liked but despite that and being only 21, he’s still performed at AA quite well.

Hey when back to back prospects like Hughes and Joba did what they did, well you tend to get spoiled.
Cult of Basebaal

lighten up … francis!
BigBlueAL

Keith Law in his chats on ESPN.com has always talked very highly of Austin Jackson.
http://www.overheardinnewyork.com NC Saint

How does Pat Venditte not get the nod here?
http://conservationvalue.blogspot.com Jon G

How does Ajax compare to Bernie at this level and in general?
- ChrisS
  
  Bernie was signed at 16 and was playing in the GCL at 17. At 20, in AA, he had an .824 OPS with excellent strike zone judgment. He spent half the season in AAA where he struggled. Spent all of his age 21 season in AA and basically equaled his age 20 season. He was promoted to AAA the next season and put up a, surprise, .830 OPS. Bernie’s minor league numbers really show an excellent player succeeding, being promoted, struggling, adapting, and succeeding. He never exceeded a .500 SLG in the minors, but his OBP was always excellent (at 19 in high A he had a .449 OBP!)
  
  Ajax, who didn’t even start playing baseball seriously until he was 18, doesn’t really show the same cycle that Bernie does (granted, there’s fewer seasons to work with), but to me, he’s showing the signs of a guy that’s just steadily getting better. His destruction of high A warranted a promotion to AA and he hasn’t struggled much, posting an .800 OPS so far at 21. His BBs are waaay up and I think his Ks are not a problem. His K rate has gone from 1/3.5 ABs to 1/5 ABs to 1/5.2 ABs this year, his first in AA. He’s been a doubles machine this year, too and doubles turn into homeruns as young hitters improve. The more I look at Jackson’s numbers, the more impressed I am. He’s improving in all the right places. He’s not going to be Junior Griffey with the bat, but hell, an .800+ OPS with 20-30SB and 25 HRs is not out of the question.
  
  So as of now, with less professional baseball under his belt, he’s got better power than Bernie did at the same age, while Bernie had a better OBP. However, Ajax is improving that even as he’s progressing through the system. If he doesn’t get promoted to AAA some time after the break, he’s definitely starting there next year and, like Sickels says, he could be manning CF at Yankee stadium by the middle of next year.
Henry Chinaski

A-Jax played a LOT of basketball… this is his 3rd season focusing exclusively of baseball- raw, yea, but getting better and a very high ceiling—uninspiring are years when Eric Duncan was a top prospect
- Geno
  
  Ha, I thought the same thing about Duncan…
Rich

Kevin Goldstein wrote him off a year and a half ago.
Bo

Uninspiring?

I guess a 5 tool CF is uninspiring.

You got to be kidding.
- raymagnetic ®™
  
  My sentiments exactly. Especially when you see all of the hype they have for Brett Gardner.
  
  AJax may strikeout a lot but at least there’s some thunder in his bat. Brett Gardner, not so much.
Eric

I come here for good prospect analysis but that uninspiring comment was the dumbest thing ever said here.
emac2

Let’s not forget that Trenton is a pretty big park. A lot of these insane numbers put up by AA players are in hitters leagues with parks that resemble high school parks as much as they do major league stadiums.

I think Jackson has hit over .300 in all but one half of one season. The fact that he also has significant power potential is downright….inspiring!