DotF: Sauer dominates in Staten Island’s Opening Day win

The Yankees made a minor trade today. RHP Chad Whitmer was sent to the Brewers for an undisclosed sum of international bonus money, the team announced. Whitmer was a senior sign as last year’s tenth round pick and he’s spent this entire season in Extended Spring Training. The Yankees started with a $4,983,500 bonus pool for the 2018-19 international signing period and can max it out at $8,721,125. They’ve already been connected to several top prospects.

Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (14-2 win over Syracuse)

• CF Clint Frazier: 1-5, 2 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K — how many MLB teams would he start for right now?
• RF Tyler Wade: 2-6, 1 R
• 3B Brandon Drury: 4-6, 3 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 E (throwing) — now hitting .344/.455/.508 in 37 Triple-A games
• 1B Ryan McBroom: 5-6, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBI — 16-for-34 (.471) with two doubles, one triple, and three homers in eight games since rejoining the team
• DH Billy McKinney: 2-6, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI — four homers in his last six games and nine homers in his last 17 games … homer binge is just in time for the trade deadline!
• SS Abi Avelino: 2-3, 1 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 E (throwing)
• LF Mark Payton: 3-5, 3 R, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 1 K — second career multi-homer game
• LHP Josh Rogers: 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 1 HB, 8/5 GB/FB — 67 of 92 pitches were strikes (73%) … great rebound start after getting smacked around last time out
• RHP Tommy Kahnle: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 1/0 GB/FB — six of 13 pitches were strikes
• RHP Gio Gallegos: 1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 1 HR, 1/1 GB/FB — eight of 11 pitches were strikes

Double-A Trenton Thunder (5-4 loss to Erie)

• 3B Billy Fleming: 2-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 CS — organizational utility guy is 11-for-20 (.550) in his last five games
• CF Trey Amburgey: 1-4, 1 R, 1 K
• 2B Gosuke Katoh: 0-4, 1 RBI, 1 K
• RHP Dillon Tate: 6.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 10 K, 1 WP, 1 HB, 3/4 GB/FB — 68 of 101 pitches were strikes (67%) … the ten strikeouts are one short of his career high … hope to see more games like this … if nothing else, Tate consistently pitches deep into games … he’s gone at least six innings in each of his last seven starts, which is no small thing in the minors where pitch limits are prevalent

The High-A Tampa Tarpons are off until Monday for the All-Star break. The All-Star Game itself is tomorrow night at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa. Tickets are pretty cheap. Here are the North and South rosters. SS Diego Castillo, C Francisco Diaz, RHP Nick Green, LHP Trevor Lane, RHP Adonis Rosa, RHP David Sosebee, and 1B Brandon Wagner were all selected to the All-Star Game. RHP Mike King and RHP Trevor Stephan made it as well, though they’ve since been promoted to Trenton.

Low-A Charleston RiverDogs (8-5 loss to Greenville)

• SS Wilkerman Garcia: 0-5, 1 E (fielding)
• 2B Oswaldo Cabrera: 1-5, 1 R
• 1B Steven Sensley: 0-3, 1 BB — second straight start at first base
• 3B Dermis Garcia: 2-4, 1 RBI — only three homers in 26 games so far … very un-Dermis-like
• RHP Rony Garcia: 2.2 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 1 WP, 1 Balk, 3/3 GB/FB — 40 of 62 pitches were strikes (65%) … had allowed three runs total in his previous three starts

Short Season Staten Island Yankees (3-1 win over Brooklyn) this is their Opening Day, so here is the full lineup as per DotF tradition … here’s the roster … 3B Nelson Gomez, who signed for $2.25M during the 2014-15 international spending spree, is on the restricted list because he basically walked away and quit baseball last year, but he hasn’t officially retired and the Yankees still have his rights

• 2B Jesus Bastidas: 1-3, 1 R, 1 BB — got picked off second
• SS Eduardo Torrealba: 1-3, 1 2B
• LF Canaan Smith: 1-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI — supposedly teams are already asking about him in trades
• CF Junior Soto: 0-4, 1 K– the Yankees grabbed the 21-year-old from the Indians in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 Draft over the winter
• 1B Eric Wagaman: 1-3, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 K
• 3B Andres Chaparro: 2-3, 1 2B
• C Jerry Seitz: 1-3, 2 K, 1 E (throwing)
• DH Frederick Cuevas: 1-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI — hit the go-ahead homer in the seventh
• RF Ricardo Ferreira: 0-3, 1 K, 1 E (fielding)
• RHP Matt Sauer: 6 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 5/4 GB/FB — 49 of 75 pitches were strikes (65%) … helluva season debut for last year’s second rounder … developing control (and eventually command) is the top priority with Sauer, so it’s good to see lots of strikes tonight
• RHP Chase Hodson: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 2 WP, 3/0 GB/FB — 26 of 36 pitches were strikes (72%)
• RHP Garrett Mundell: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 2/0 GB/FB — nine of 16 pitches were strikes

The Rookie Pulaski Yankees begin their season Tuesday. Josh Norris hears RHP Luis Medina is likely to get the ball on Opening Day.

The two Rookie GCL Yankees teams begin their seasons Monday.