RHP Mike King has been named the Triple-A International League Pitcher of the Month for August, the league announced. He had a 1.09 ERA (3.24 FIP) with 22.9% strikeouts and 3.4% walks in five starts and 33 innings last month. King is the first Scranton pitcher to win the IL Pitcher of the Month award since Brandon Duckworth back in 2001, when they were the Red Barons and affiliated with the Phillies. (Duckworth is a scout with the Yankees now.)

Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (3-2 win over Pawtucket) the win clinched the wild card spot, so they’re going to the postseason … their regular season ends tomorrow and they’ll play Lehigh Valley (Phillies) in the first round

• SS Gio Urshela: 1-4 — 15-for-46 (.326) with two doubles, one triple, one homer, two walks, and only four strikeouts in his last ten games
• 1B Ryan McBroom: 0-4, 2 K
• DH Mike Ford: 1-4, 1 K
• C Wilkin Castillo: 1-3, 1 3B, 2 RBI — had the go-ahead two-run triple in the fifth inning
• RHP Adonis Rosa: 3.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 2/3 GB/FB — 43 of 68 pitches were strikes (63%)
• LHP Justus Sheffield: 2.1 IP, zeroes, 4 K, 3/0 GB/FB — 17 of 25 pitches were strikes (68%), and it is notable that he entered the game in the middle of an inning for the first time … it’s not quite Jonathan Holder striking out eleven in a row to clinch a postseason spot in 2016, but Sheffield went seven up, seven down in his best relief appearance so far … finishes the regular season with a 2.48 ERA and 123/50 K/BB in 116 innings, which is pretty excellent for a 21-year-old who spent most of the season in Triple-A … now that Scranton is in the postseason, I suspect Sheffield will stay down here a little longer rather than get called up to the big leagues … we’ll see

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3B Dermis Garcia and RHP Frank German jumped into MLB.com’s top 30 Yankees prospects list after IF Abi Avelino and RHP Juan De Paula were sent to the Giants in the Andrew McCutchen trade. The scouting report notes German, this year’s fourth rounder, has already seen his velocity jump from 90-95 mph in college this spring to 94-98 mph with the Yankees this summer. Huh. Avelino and De Paula ranked as the team’s 23rd and 26th best prospects the trade, respectively.

Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (3-1 win over Pawtucket)

• 3B Gio Urshela: 1-4, 1 RBI — 12-for-32 (.375) in his last eight games
• RF Ryan McBroom: 1-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 K
• 1B Mike Ford: 1-4, 1 RBI
• RHP Erik Swanson: 6.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, 1 HR, 2/5 GB/FB — 57 of 92 pitches were strikes (62%) … finishes the regular season with a 2.66 ERA and 139/29 K/BB in 121.2 innings … enough to land him on the 40-man roster over the winter? not sure

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In case you missed it earlier, the Yankees are sending RHP Domingo Acevedo, IF Thairo Estrada, OF Estevan Florial, RHP Jordan Foley, RHP Hobie Harris, IF Steven Sensley, and RHP Matt Wivinis to the Arizona Fall League this year. They’ll be on the Glendale Desert Dogs with Dodgers, Indians, Orioles, and White Sox prospects. The 30-game AzFL season begins Tuesday, October 9th.

Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (3-2 win over Syracuse, walk-off style)

• 2B-SS Tyler Wade: 1-3, 1 K, 1 E (fielding) — he was ejected in the sixth inning for arguing after being called out on a would-be infield single
• C Gary Sanchez: 0-4, 2 K — he is expected to join the Yankees tomorrow and be activated Saturday … he went 3-for-19 (.158) with two homers in five rehab games
• 3B-SS Gio Urshela: 2-4, 1 R, 1 3B — 13-for-35 (.371) in his last nine games
• DH Mike Ford: 0-4
• SS Abi Avelino: 0-0 — left the game in the second inning … he’s been dealing with a nagging shoulder problem, so I assume it has something to do with leaving early … manager Bobby Mitchell told Conor Foley that the team was told to remove Avelino from the game, so something is afoot
  
• 1B Ryan McBroom: 2-3, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB — game-tying single in the ninth
• LHP Ryan Bollinger: 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 WP, 7/3 GB/FB — 44 of 69 pitches were strikes (64%) … up here starting with LHP Justus Sheffield and RHP Chance Adams now in the bullpen
• LHP Justus Sheffield: 1 IP, zeroes, 2/1 GB/FB — 12 pitches, six strikes … first appearance since missing a few games with an illness
• LHP Stephen Tarpley: 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 0/1 GB/FB — 12 of 20 pitches were strikes

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Less than one week left in the minor league regular season, so here’s another standings update. One affiliate has clinched a postseason spot, two others are in a race for a postseason spot, and the five others have been eliminated from postseason contention.

Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (10-2 loss to Syracuse) they are 79-55 and have already been eliminated in the division race … they’re one game back of the wild card spot and there are five teams within 1.5 games of that spot, so the race is tight … Scranton’s regular season ends next Monday, September 3rd

• SS Tyler Wade: 0-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 2 E (fielding, throwing)
• DH Gary Sanchez: 1-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K — here’s video of the homer, his second in as many days … including his first rehab stint a few weeks ago, he has four homers in five games with Scranton
• 3B Gio Urshela: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI — dude has been on fire for a good three weeks now
• 1B Mike Ford: 0-3, 1 K, 1 HBP
• RF Ryan McBroom: 0-3, 1 BB, 2 K
• RHP Adonis Rosa: 5.2 IP, 10 H, 9 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 2 HR, 1 WP, 8/7 GB/FB — 68 of 103 pitches were strikes (66%) … he’s in the rotation because RHP Chance Adams and LHP Justus Sheffield have moved to the bullpen the stretch run

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Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (9-6 win over Lehigh Valley in ten innings)

• CF Tyler Wade: 1-5, 1 K
• C Gary Sanchez: 2-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K — here’s video of the home run and here’s video of the single … he caught seven innings as scheduled … he’s going to DH tomorrow, catch a full nine innings Wednesday and Thursday, then be reevaluated
• 1B Ryan McBroom: 0-3, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 K,1 HBP
• DH Mike Ford: 3-5, 1 R, 2 2B, 3 RBI — 9-for-19 (.474) with four doubles, one homer, three walks, and no strikeouts in his last five games
• PR-DH Quintin Berry: 0-0, 1 R — the Yankees signed him today and it sure looks like they’re preparing him for September pinch-running duty
• SS Gio Urshela: 1-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K — Berry needing a 40-man roster spot probably doesn’t bode well for Urshela’s chances at a September call-up
• LHP Nestor Cortes: 5 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 1 HR, 4/5 GB/FB — 63 of 100 pitches were strikes … had allowed four runs total in his previous four starts and 25.1 innings

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