Tampa and Staten Island win big on Derby night

July 11, 2011 by Mike Axisa 64 Comments

Kevin Goldstein had a lukewarm report on Austin Romine from the Futures Game (subs. req’d)…

[Romine’s] prospect stock remains flat. He’s a good hitter for average, but his aggressiveness early in the count and merely gap-to-average power leave his total line a bit empty. He’s also one of those frustrating backstops who has the tools to be a good defender, but is a so-so receiver with a slow release that wastes his strong arm … I can’t remember the last time I heard a scout get really excited about his future.

Don’t miss the injury news from earlier this evening. Also, Kanekoa Texeira is back, re-signed to a minor league deal. Yay, I guess.

Triple-A Scranton is off until Thursday for the All-Star break. The actual All-Star Game will be played on Wednesday, and Adam Warren is the only Yankees farmhand that will be there. Jesus Montero, Jorge Vazquez, and Kevin Whelan were all picked for the game but withdrew due to injury.

Double-A Trenton (7-6 loss to Reading in 11 innings, walk-off style)
Ray Kruml, RF: 3 for 5, 2 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI – this isn’t deja vu, it’s his second straight game with this exact same line
Corban Joseph, 2B & Cody Johnson, DH: both 0 for 5 – CoJo struck out twice, Johnson all five times (!!!)
Bradley Suttle, 1B: 2 for 5, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 2 K – had just two hits in his previous 30 at-bats (.067)
Melky Mesa, CF: 1 for 4, 1 R, 1 K, 1 CS – threw a runner out at first
Rob Lyerly, 3B: 1 for 5, 1 R, 2 K, 2 E (both fielding)
Jose Pirela, SS: 1 for 4, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 K – hit a game-tying three-run homer with two outs in the ninth
Damon Sublett, LF: 1 for 3, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 E (throwing) – threw a runner out at the plate
R.J. Baker, C: 0 for 4, 3 K, 1 E (missed catch)
Craig Heyer, RHP: 3 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 2 HB, 2-2 GB/FB – I wonder if it’s time to put him back in the bullpen, the whole starting thing doesn’t seem to be cooperating
Josh Romanski, LHP: 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 3-2 GB/FB
Brad Halsey, LHP: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 1-1 GB/FB
Cory Arbiso, RHP: 3 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 0 K, 4-4 GB/FB – two of the walks were intentional
Pat Venditte, SwP: 0.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 0-1 GB/FB – gave up the walk-off homer to a pretty good prospect

High-A Tampa (10-1 depantsing of St. Lucie)
Abe Almonte, CF: 2 for 4, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K
Walt Ibarra, SS: 1 for 3, 1 RBI
Zoilo Almonte, LF: 3 for 5, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 K – 13 for his last 39 (.333)
Luke Murton, DH & Neil Medchill, RF: both 0 for 4, 1 K – Murton drove in a run … Medchill walked and scored a run
Kyle Roller, 1B: 2 for 5, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K
J.R. Murphy, C: 3 for 4, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K – ten for his last 26 (.385) with five doubles and the homer … he came out of the game once the score got out of hand
Hector Rabago, C: 0 for 1, 1 K
Rob Segedin, 3B: 1 for 4, 1 R1 K, 1 HBP
Kelvin Castro, 2B: 3 for 5, 3 R, 2 RBI
Mikey O’Brien, RHP: 5 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 3 K, 1 HB, 3-3 GB/FB
Dan Burawa, RHP: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 3-0 GB/FB
Ryan Flannery, RHP: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 3-2 GB/FB – the closer for two innings in a nine-run game?

Low-A Charleston had a scheduled off day.

Short Season Staten Island (9-1 beatdown of Vermont)
Mason Williams, CF: 4 for 6, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 RBI, 1 K, 1 CS – got caught trying to steal home … he called five hits before the game, so close
Cito Culver, SS & Casey Stevenson, RF: both 2 for 5 – Culver drove in two … Stevenson doubled, drove in three, and scored a run
Angelo Gumbs, 2B: 0 for 4, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 CS, 1 E (fielding)
Zach Wilson, DH: 1 for 3, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 HBP
Reymond Nunez, 1B: 1 for 5, 2 R, 2 K
Shane Brown, LF: 1 for 2, 2 R, 3 BB – left the game after flying out in the eight inning for an unknown reason … he also got caught trying to steal home … 18 for his last 37 (.486) with three doubles, a triple, a homer, ten walks, and four strikeouts
Jhorge Liccien, C: 3 for 5, 2 R, 1 2B, 2 E (both fielding)
Ali Castillo, 3B: 1 for 5, 1 R, 2 RBI
Evan DeLuca, LHP: 5 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 5-4 GB/FB, 1 E (pickoff) – 12-3 K/BB in his last three starts
Matt Tracy, LHP: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 4-1 GB/FB
Matt Richardson, RHP: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 1-0 GB/FB
Phil Wetherell, RHP: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 2-0 GB/FB

Rookie GCL Yanks (8-7 win over GCL Pirates)
Claudio Custodio, SS: 1 for 5, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 K, 1 SB – .390/.500/.488 with ten steals
Ravel Santana, CF: 0 for 5, 1 K
Tyler Austin, 1B: 1 for 3, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 SB, 1 HBP – .377/.434/.623 with nine steals
Dante Bichette Jr., 3B: 0 for 4, 1 BB, 1 K – that’s walk number 17, which leads the league by four
Isaias Tejeda, C: 2 for 4, 1 RBI, 1 SB, 1 CS, 1 PB, 1 HBP
Yeicock Calderon, RF: 0 for 4, 1 K
Jackson Valera, DH: 0 for 3, 2 R, 1 BB
Ronnier Mustelier, LF: 1 for 3, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 SB – Cuban dude they signed a few weeks ago
Jose Rosario, 2B: 2 for 4, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 SB
Dawerd Cruz, RHP: 2.1 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 1-2 GB/FB
Edwin Rodriguez, RHP: 3.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 4-2 GB/FB – 19-4 K/BB in 17.2 IP
Joel De La Cruz, RHP: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 2-1 GB/FB
Joaquin Hinojosa, RHP: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 1 WP, 0-1 GB/FB

Yankees Draftees In The Cape Cod League
John Brebbia, RHP: 6 G, 2 GS, 14 IP, 12 H, 2 BB, 13 K, 1.93 ERA – 30th rounder from Elon
Tyler Hanover, SS: 18 G, 16 for 66 (.242), 9 R, 2 BB, 1 3B, 5 RBI, 10 BB, 7 K – 40th rounder from LSU

There’s a pretty good chance I may have missed a player or two on one of the Cape rosters, those things are a pain to crosscheck with the list of draftees. I didn’t find any Yankees draftees playing the Northwoods League, the second most prestigious summer wood bat league.

Thomas Cassidy

I’m falling in love with Mason Williams. What is his ceiling?
- crawdaddie
  
  They gave him almost 1.5M as a fourth round pick last year, what do you think his ceiling is?
  - Thomas Cassidy
    
    That high? Let’s hope for another Bernie.
Will

So basically Romine is Kurt Suzuki. I don’t see anything wrong with a prospect turning out to be an average MLB player. Not every minor league catcher has to be a Buster Posey to be a useful, contributing player for a team. Sheesh. He’s never been a power hitter. And your catching skills improve with instruction, its not something you can’t improve. Plus he’s only 22. He’ll be better than Cervelli offensively and defensively thats for sure.
- Thomas Cassidy
  
  Better than Cervelli offensively and defensively? So am I. I like Romine, though. I wonder what they do with him once Montero comes up. They can’t have Romine ride the bench for three years. I don’t see where Montero could play.
  - Stan the Man
    
    Too bad Russell Martin isn’t better than Cervelli.
- YankeesJunkie
  
  Not at all. Especially at a the catcher position where huge offensive value is not needed. Defensive ability can be approved especially with instructors such as Giradi and Pena. It would be nice to see Romine get a taste of AAA before this year is out he has certainly earned it and has plenty of reps in AA.
- Gonzo
  
  I don’t think Goldstein is saying he’s Kurt Suzuki. I think if he were Suzuki, we would all be doing backflips.
  - Will
    
    Huh? He totally could be better Suzuki with some tutoring by K-Long and Tony Pena. Stop selling our guys short. Cano was never a highly touted prospect and never hit well in the minors and now he’s an allstar, home run derby winning second baseman. I think Romine will be an exceptional catcher but I have no problem with him becoming an average one.
    - JobaWockeeZ
      
      If Austin Romine were Kurt Suzuki RIGHT NOW then yes we would be doing backflips. That’s all that’s being said. He’s not close to reaching his potential if he even does.
      - Ted Nelson
        
        I would say he’s pretty close, actually. And if he were Kurt Suzuki right now… he’d basically be Francisco Cervelli, so I doubt anyone would be doing backflips.
    - Doug
      
      Suzuki has averaged a 2.6 WAR the last 3 seasons. If Romine can do that in 3 or 4 years, yeah, backflips we’ll be doing.
    - Gonzo
      
      You should probably read what I wrote I again.
      
      It’s cool if you have high hopes for every prospect. I am just pointing out that I don’t think Goldstein thinks he is Kurt Suzuki.
      - Will
        
        Sorry. I got caught up protecting our farmhands. Apologies.
        
        Gonzo
        
        No worries. I understand the prospect love.
      - YankeesJunkie
        
        Romine at least to projects to be better than Cervelli just because he can actually hit a little bit. Also, just to show how awful C is in the majors right now Cervelli has a wOBA of .258 right now and if it were not for his -2 UZR he would be a replacement catcher. If Romine can play somewhat average defense and hit better than Cervelli you are looking at .5-2 WAR C which is acceptable in back up role.
        
        Monteroisdinero
        
        Martin an all star. Enough said about how awful C is in the majors now.
  - Ted Nelson
    
    You would be doing backflips if the Yankees had a C prospect with average defense capable of putting up a .286 wOBA the season after a .296 wOBA last season? You must love Cervelli.
    - Gonzo
      
      Yes, I would. Unless you think Romine is a 100% sure thing.
      - Gonzo
        
        By my rough estimate*, league average wOBA for a catcher is something like .289. It’s ll in context.
        
        *Positional adjustment from league wOBA.
crawdaddie

Romine is just going to have to show his critics they were wrong about him by having a good ML career.
Jake H

Tyler Austin is a beast. My new favorite prospect.
Dennis

Deluca is having a break out year. Keep the walks down and he is a top 5 starter in the system.
- Mariano’s Pimp Hand
  
  I was at the SI game last night. DeLuca was completely dominant. He didn’t give up a hit until the 5th inning after sitting through a long 6 run outburst by the offense.
  
  I was right behind the guy holding the radar gun and he hit 90-91 regularly.
  - dennis
    
    I thought he was a 92-94 guy. Interesting.
Official Member of the Bartolo Colon Fan Club

Corban Joseph, 2B & Cody Johnson, DH: both 0 for 5 – CoJo struck out twice, Johnson all five times (!!!)

Two thoughts on this:
1) Both of these guys could be called CoJo. Just throwing that one out there.
2) What’s the DotF record for most batter Ks in a game? Can’t be more than 5, can it?
Michael P.

Perhaps im not seeing the big picture here but why is JR Murphy still playing catcher? Didnt he dabble with some 3B before? it would seem redundant to have so many good catchers when we have a guy who can play 3B and we have no good 3B prospects. Why have 4 catchers who will be good major leaguers instead of 3 good catching prospects and a good 3B prospect?
- jon
  
  because the yankees will be lucky if 1 is actually a good mlb player
- crawdaddie
  
  Because of trade value.
  - Michael P.
    
    Its my first year actually following prospects. I get a lil excited when i hear about the potential of these kids and start envisioning all of them somehow making it. Iv yet to see one i liked severely disappoint me so im a bit naive.
- Official Member of the Bartolo Colon Fan Club
  
  Why have 4 catchers who will be good major leaguers
  
  nope. the odds of four prospects all clicking? about 0
  - Michael P.
    
    All we need is one. Or in my mind 2 as im not a big believer in Montero’s ability to stick at the position nor do i think the Yankees need to force catching on him. His value is in his bat everything else is gravy.
- Zach
  
  I think the yankees only have 3, everyday, MLB catching prospects.
  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123985205744324009.html
  
  Jesus Montero = 6’3″
  Gary Sanchez = 6’2″ (maybe still growing?)
  Austin Romine = 6’0″
  Kyle Higashioka = 6’0″
  JR Murphy = 6’0″
- Doug
  
  Because he may be the best overall player of the bunch?
- Avi
  
  Because he can always move to 3B later on. If a guy can actually catch it would be a huge waste having him play 3B.
- Ted Nelson
  
  You can move him from C to 3B later, but it’s a whole lot harder to move him from 3B to C later.
Michael P.

Also shame to hear about Heathcott. What does this mean for his future?
- YankeesJunkie
  
  He takes the rest of the year off and hopefully comes back healthy.
- Dave M
  
  what happened to Heathcott?
  - Michael P.
    
    Another shoulder injury. Same one he previously had surgery on. Also happens to be his throwing shoulder and he will miss the rest of the year most likely
Official Member of the Bartolo Colon Fan Club

also, re bichette: the walks are nice, but a hit mixed in every once in a while would be cool too
- YankeesJunkie
  
  Definitely surprised about the walks which is not a bad thing.
  - Stan the Man
    
    Walks are nice….hits are better though.
    - Ted Nelson
      
      Every time you get 4 balls, you get 1st base. You can hit the ball a million miles an hour, and if it’s right at someone or someone makes a great play… you’re out. A BABIP of around .300 is normal. .300 vs. 1.000. So, I’m not sure a walk it worse than hitting the ball.
      
      He’s 18 years old and has a BABIP below .200. No one doubted his power as a prospect… he was actually considered a bit of a free-swinger. So the discipline is quite encouraging. When the power develops, you might have a guy who can hit for power and draw a ton of walks.
- BigTimeBartolo
  
  Yeah, the walks are great but I think for the level he’s at, he should be getting some more hits
  - YankeesJunkie
    
    Dude still only 18 with supposed hole in the swings. Hopefully, the hitting coaches can work with him in the off season and start getting him some better mechanics.
  - Ted Nelson
    
    His BABIP is under .200. His K% (as listed on fangraphs, which is probably not updated for last night) is 14.5%. Doesn’t seem like he’s necessarily getting overwhelmed. Power was seen as Bichette’s calling card entering the draft, so I wouldn’t worry too much there.
Zach

Via @YankeesDraft: http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/college/2011/07/summer-college-leagues-roundup-3/

Last paragraph “…But maybe the most impressive performance in the CPL has come from Peninsula’s Jake Cave. Cave is the first rising freshman to play in the league and has more than held his own thus far. An LSU signee who was also picked by the Yankees in the sixth round out of Kecoughtan (Va.) High, Cave has hit .347/.443/.520 with five stolen bases in 22 games for the Pilots. “
- pat
  
  He supposedly really wants to sign too.
  - Rick in Boston
    
    I’m speculating that he’ll sign close to the August deadline b/c he’s getting way over slot money.
    - Ted Nelson
      
      Yeah, if he’s shining after the draft and the Yankees were supposedly high on him for months leading up to the draft… 9 figures seems very possible, maybe even probable.
BigTimeBartolo

Was Shane Brown drafted last year? Legit Prospect?
j

did Jairo Heredia get hurt or something? I don’t remember seeing him on dotf for a while.
- YankeesJunkie
  
  Yes.
infernoscurse

yeicock would win the hr derby
tophitter

22nd rd pick Nick Goody playing in the Northwoods League for Mankato MoonDogs
6th rd jake cave of the CPL
http://www.twitter.com/bgeary8 bgeary

Just got home from the SI Yanks game in Vermont tonight. Mason Williams is SO fast. His 4th hit was a ground ball between in the hole between 2nd and 1st. The ball went into the outfield, but not very far, and it probably shouldn’t have been a hit. Also, his first hit, the double, was not a routine double at all. Took advantage of a poor route to the ball. Very fun to watch.

DeLuca looked really good as well. His last inning he was dominant. Struck out the side and the 3 K’s were all on high fastballs. My friend works on the ground crew there and said they had him top out at 94-95, who knows if that’s accurate.

Culver’s two base hits were to left center, nice looking swings. I was impressed with his defense though — he made a nice play going to the left and let a rocket go from the whole once.

All in all, great night to catch SI.
- http://www.twitter.com/bgeary8 bgeary
  
  So much spelling, grammar, and general fail in that comment.
  - bpdelia
    
    actually I was about to defend the post as being fine grammatically and spelling wise and yell at this person for even commenting about it. Then I saw that you were responding to your own grammar and spelling.
    
    It’s always good to see a person pissed about their own grammar usage.
A.D.

Really two guys got caught tried to steal home in the SI game?
- http://www.twitter.com/bgeary8 bgeary
  
  1st and 3rd plays.
Brian in NH

Culver seems to be quietly putting together a decent start. Of course we would love to see these guys with power with average, but he’s still 19, that could develop more as he grows and fills out a bit.
- Ted Nelson
  
  This, and that SS with power are really, really rare. Heck SS who can hit a lick are really rare these days.
joe in florida

I saw the Tampa Yanks play over the weekend and I was surprised how small J.R Murphy is but the kid could hit he has a quick back bat.Also impressed with Zolio Almonte,definitley has a chance to make it to the big league.