DePaula & Avelino among top Dominican Summer League prospects
ByBen Badler at Baseball America posted a list of the 20 best prospects in the Dominican and Venezuelan Summer Leagues today (no subs. req’d), though it’s just an alphabetical listing and not an actual ranking. RHP Rafael DePaula unsurprisingly made the list after his dominant showing this summer, and in the subscriber-only write-up Badler says he “has an electric fastball that sits at 93-96 mph and touches 98-99 (plus he) mixes in a sharp, power curveball that should be an out pitch and shows feel for a changeup.”
The only other Yankees farmhand on the list is SS Abi Avelino, who New York signed for $300k back in 2011. Badler says he “could be an above-average defender at shortstop (because) his actions are clean, his hands and feet work well and he has good body control.” Avelino’s offensive approach is described as “a simple, line-drive swing with good bat path that helps him make plenty of contact … He squares up balls regularly but doesn’t have much power, so his offensive game will be more about getting on base than extra-base hits.” Both Avelino and DePaula should make their stateside debut in 2013, the former with the Rookie GCL Yankees and the latter with Low-A Charleston.
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The Tyler Austin Watch
More people to watch. Too bad I suck so much with names.
Just Avelino though. DePaula is pretty high profile.
Yeah, I know. DotF just starts blurring together after a little while.
Here’s to hoping Avelino turns out to be a Jeter replacement! *One can hope…*
He’d better hurry up. It’s not like he has 5 years to develop.
He won’t be the immediate Jeter replacement. Like it or not Jeter probably only has a couple years left at shortstop.
DePaula is a real prospect, Avelino is new to me, but I’m glad we have some kind of prospect @ SS….
Avelino needs a nickname. Nobody is going to remember Abiatal.
Totally disagree Abiatal Avelino is a great baseball player name.
says you
You could only wish to be as cool as the real TSJC.
The most obvious one would be Double A.
Abe?
With guys like Banuelos, Ramirez, Campos, DePaula and Hensley not to mention Pineda, the Yankees have some guys with a chance to be real front of the rotation starters.
Hopefully the baseball gods will shine down upon them.
the problem with 5 of those six names will be to stay healthy, De Paula has to show his ass this coming year because he’s lost so much development time
They have turley, nova, Marshall and Phelps to handle the 4th and 5th spots!