Got two links to pass along:

• J.J. Cooper examined offense levels in Triple-A so far this season following the introduction of the MLB ball. Not surprisingly, home runs are up in the early going. Way up. Homers are up 135% from last season and we haven’t even gotten to the warm summer months yet.
• Randy Miller spoke to Double-A Trenton manager Pat Osborne about several of his players. “The ball jumps out of Albert’s hand. He’s got a chance to be a very high-end starting pitcher. We’ve got to get him out of the gates and start attacking from pitch one,” Osborn said of RHP Albert Abreu.

The Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders had a scheduled off-day. LHP Gio Gonzalez is scheduled to make one final start tomorrow before Saturday’s opt-out date, though Conor Foley notes it’s supposed to rain all day, which might complicate things. We’ll see.

Double-A Trenton Thunder (3-1 win over Portland)

• SS Kyle Holder: 1-4, 1 BB, 1 SB
• 2B Brandon Wagner: 0-3, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 HBP — in a 4-for-25 (.160) skid
• LF Rashad Crawford: 1-4, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 CS
• RHP Albert Abreu: 4 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, 5/2 GB/FB — 43 of 85 pitches were strikes (51%) … 6/6 K/BB in eight innings
• RHP Domingo Acevedo: 2 IP, zeroes, 1 K, 2/1 GB/FB — 18 of 25 pitches were strikes (72%) … 10/1 K/BB in nine innings as a full-time reliever

[Read more…]

Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders Game One (5-3 loss to Lehigh Valley in seven innings) makeup of yesterday’s rainout

• SS Thairo Estrada: 2-4, 1 R — 11-for-31 (.355) with two doubles and two homers in his last seven games
• LF Trey Amburgey: 0-4, 1 R, 1 K
• C Ryan Lavarnway: 3-3
• RHP Jonathan Loaisiga: 5 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 7 K, 1 HR, 5/3 GB/FB — 48 of 83 pitches were strikes (58%) … believe it or not, this was his first career Triple-A start … the Yankees called him up straight from Trenton last year and he never made it to Scranton after being sent down because he got hurt
• LHP Rex Brothers: 2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 1 HR, 1/1 GB/FB — 22 of 38 pitches were strikes (58%) … 8/2 K/BB in 5.2 innings thus far

[Read more…]

Got some links to dump on you before we get to tonight’s game action:

• Randy Miller spoke to Triple-A Scranton manager Jay Bell about several of his players. “(If) you can command the baseball, you’re going to be successful, and I think that’s all Chance needs to do. Just figure out how to put the ball where he wants it,” he said of RHP Chance Adams.
• Ben Badler (subs. req’d) listed 12 low-profile international signees whose stock is on the rise. Two are Yankees: RHP Juan Carela and SS Carlos Verdecia. “Carela’s velocity spiked (from 86-89 mph) when he reached 96 mph at Dominican instructional league … he pairs it with a sharp-breaking curveball,” says the write-up. The Yankees gave Carela a $350,000 bonus last July.
• Jon Schwartz has a nice story on RHP Tyler Johnson, last year’s 30th round pick. The Yankees made an exception to their hair policy so Johnson could grow his out and have it made into a wig for his mother, a cancer patient.

Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (6-5 win over Lehigh Valley in ten innings, walk-off style)

• SS Thairo Estrada: 2-5, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 E (fielding) — 8-for-19 (.421) with a double and two homers in his last four games
• DH Mike Ford: 0-5, 2 K
• CF-RF Trey Amburgey: 1-4, 1 2B, 1 BB
• RF-1B Ryan McBroom: 1-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K — third straight game with a dinger
• 1B-2B Gosuke Katoh: 0-4, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K
• LHP Nestor Cortes: 5 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 4/4 GB/FB — 63 of 96 pitches were strikes (66%) … a rare dud
• LHP Stephen Tarpley: 2.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 2 WP, 6/0 GB/FB — 26 of 46 pitches were strikes (57%) … kinda funny how, when a dude like this is in the big leagues, leaving him in to throw 30 pitches seems crazy, yet down here he’ll throw 40+ pitches on the regular

[Read more…]

Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (9-5 win over Buffalo)

• 2B Thairo Estrada: 2-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 3 RBI — 8-for-23 (.348) with three doubles and two homers in his last five games
• 1B Mike Ford: 2-3, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI — up to .471/.525/1.029 with nearly twice as many extra-base hits (four doubles, five homers) than strikeouts (five) … he has to be loving life with the MLB ball against Triple-A pitching
• RF Trey Amburgey: 1-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 K, 1 SB
• DH Ryan McBroom: 1-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K — 7-for-15 (.467) with a double and two homers in his last five games
• SS Gosuke Katoh: 2-4, 1 RBI, 1 2B, 1 K, 1 CS
• LHP Gio Gonzalez: 5 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, 3/1 GB/FB — 61 of 93 pitches were strikes (66%) … Gonzalez has one more start to show the Yankees they should add him to their roster before his April 20th opt-out date arrives … my guess right now is they will add him to the roster and figure out where exactly he fits later
• RHP Jake Barrett: 2 IP, zeroes, 2 K, 1/2 GB/FB — 20 of 25 pitches were strikes (80%)

[Read more…]

Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (10-4 win over Buffalo)

• 2B Thairo Estrada: 3-5, 2 R, 2 HR, 3 RBI — here’s video of his first home run … this is his third career two-homer game, and I was surprised to see he had that many … he had a double off the top of the wall in his last game as well (it was originally called a homer before being overturned on replay), so he was pretty darn close to hitting three homers in two games … they are using the MLB ball in Triple-A this year, so power seems to be up all around the level … Thairo turning into the 15-20 homer guy because of the ball would be pretty fun
• 1B Gosuke Katoh: 1-5, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 2 K — three homers in eight Triple-A games after five homers in 118 Double-A games last year … hooray for the MLB ball
• RF Ryan McBroom: 2-3, 3 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 HBP
• RHP Drew Hutchison: 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 8 K, 5/3 GB/FB — 54 of 89 pitches were strikes (61%), plus he picked a runner off first base
• LHP Rex Brothers: 1 IP, zeroes, 2/0 GB/FB — seven of nine pitches were strikes

[Read more…]

LHP Danny Coulombe was placed on the Triple-A Scranton injured list, reports Conor Foley. He has a minor shoulder issue. RHP Jonathan Loaisiga reported and took Coulombe’s roster spot. Also, C Kellin Deglan was brought up from Extended Spring Training to replace the called up C Kyle Higashioka. Deglan had been with Scranton the entire season working out as an extra player.

Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (4-1 win over Buffalo in five innings) completed early due to rain

• LF Trey Amburgey: 0-3, 2 K
• DH Mike Ford: 1-2, 1 R, 1 HBP — currently hitting .452/.527/.936 through eight games
• 2B Gosuke Katoh: 0-1, 1 R, 2 BB, 1 K — holding his own in Triple-A thus far
• C Ryan Lavarnway: 1-2, 1 R, 2 RBI
• RHP David Hale: 5 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 1 HR, 1 WP, 5/2 GB/FB — 40 of 61 pitches were strikes (66%)

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