Here’s Gleyber Torres’ first homer of the season. pic.twitter.com/NvxfuM4lni

— Conor Foley (@RailRidersTT) April 7, 2018

1B Tyler Austin recently lost rookie eligibility, so RHP Juan De Paula slid into MLB.com’s top 30 Yankees prospects list. The Yankees got De Paula from the Mariners in the Ben Gamel trade two years ago.

Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barres RailRiders (4-3 loss to Syracuse)

• SS Gleyber Torres: 1-5, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 E (throwing) — video of the homer is embedded above … he took former big leaguer Tommy Milone deep
• 1B Mike Ford: 1-4, 1 R, 1 K
• C Kyle Higashioka: 1-2, 2 BB, 1 E (throwing) — he’s been on base six times in eight plate appearances so far
• RF Ryan McBroom: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 K
• LHP Josh Rogers: 5 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 3/7 GB/FB — 45 of 79 pitches were strikes (57%) … made only seven starts at Trenton last year before having surgery to remove a bone spur from his elbow, yet he’s up here now … Rogers was slated to be the long man, but with RHP Luis Cessa and RHP Domingo German now in the big leagues, he steps into the rotation
• RHP Brady Lail: 2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 2/2 GB/FB — 22 of 41 pitches were strikes (54%), plus he picked a runner off first … he moved to the bullpen full-time this season
• RHP Anyelo Gomez: 1 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 4/1 GB/FB — 19 of 28 pitches were strikes (68%)

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We have our first player move of the season: IF Billy Fleming was bumped up from Double-A Trenton to Triple-A Scranton, the team announced. He steps into the roster spot that was earmarked for Trayce Thompson. Thompson was lost on waivers yesterday.

Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barres RailRiders (6-5 win over Syracuse, walk-off style) this is their Opening Day, so here’s the full lineup

• CF Jace Peterson: 1-4, 1 K– didn’t play any outfield in Spring Training, but he’s played out there plenty throughout his career
• 2B Gleyber Torres: 0-4, 3 K — first regular season game since blowing out his non-throwing elbow sliding into home plate last year (June 17th)
• 3B Cody Asche: 1-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 K
• 1B Mike Ford: 0-4, 2 K
• C Kyle Higashioka: 1-2, 2 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 1 E (throwing) — if nothing else, we know he can punish Triple-A caliber pitching
• RF Ryan McBroom: 0-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K — they’re short on outfielders at the moment, so the career first baseman is playing right field for the time being … McBroom does have a little outfield experience, so this isn’t completely new to him
• DH Billy Fleming: 0-2, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K
• LF Zack Zehner: 2-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K
• 2B Abi Avelino: 1-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI — walk-off three-run homer capped off the five-run bottom of the ninth … quite a start to the season, eh?
• RHP Chance Adams: 3.2 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 1 HR, 4/1 GB/FB — 54 of 84 pitches were strikes (64%) … too bad he had a dud tonight, the Yankees probably need someone to replace the injured CC Sabathia and he lined up perfectly
• RHP Raynel Espinal: 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 3/3 GB/FB — 20 of 32 pitches were strikes (63%)
• LHP Oliver Perez: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 1/1 GB/FB — 10 of 14 pitches were strikes
• RHP Cale Coshow: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K — 10 of 18 pitches were strikes
• RHP J.P. Feyereisen: 1 IP, zeroes, 1 K — 10 of 15 pitches were strikes

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My Life. Any Questions ? #magnusstrong @magnusmedia @Yankees @Gigantes_Cibao #Faith pic.twitter.com/fvEzmjkntd

— Miguel Andujar (@MAndujarPapa) December 4, 2017

The various winter ball regular seasons are either over or will be soon, so this will be the final offseason minor league recap. Next time you see a DotF, it’ll be the start of the 2018 regular season in April. Anyway, embedded above is a video of 3B Miguel Andujar’s lone winter ball home run, and below are some minor league notes and links before we get to the performances:

• The Arizona Fall League announced their top prospects team. OF Billy McKinney, SS Thairo Estrada, OF Estevan Florial, and LHP Justus Sheffield all made it. McKinney made it as a first baseman, interestingly enough.
• Jim Callis ranked the top ten prospects traded this offseason. RHP Jorge Guzman, who went to Miami in the Giancarlo Stanton trade, was No. 2. RHP Juan Then was No. 9. He came over in the Nick Rumbelow trade. “(He is a) projectable 17-year-old who already reaches 94 mph with his fastball and also owns a promising changeup and curveball,” wrote Callis.
• Callis was asked about a combined Yankees and Red Sox farm system. “(A) combined Top 50 would include about 35 Yankees and 15 Red Sox. The contrast would be even more stark at the top, with left-hander Jay Groome and third baseman Michael Chavis the only Boston farmhands who would crack a combined Top 10,” he said. Hooray for a deep farm system.

The Arizona Fall League season ended back in November. I will refer to you the previous edition of DotF for the final stats and commentary.

Dominican Winter League

• 3B Miguel Andujar: 18 G, 12-65 (.185), 7 R, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 4 BB, 9 K, 1 CS, 1 HBP (.185/.243/.231) — he hasn’t played in over a month, so he’s home resting up for next season … and no, Andujar’s winter ball performance won’t hurt his chances of winning the big league third base job in Spring Training … the Yankees will value his 130 regular season games last year over his 18 winter ball games
• 1B Tyler Austin: 7 G, 4-25 (.160), 2 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 3 BB, 12 K (.160/.250/.360) — he’s been out of action since early-November … you don’t produce, you don’t play down here … Austin does have a minor league option remaining for 2018, so he’ll probably do the up-and-down thing again
• IF Abi Avelino: 38 G, 43-139 (.309), 2 2B, 1 3B, 9 RBI, 13 BB, 15 K, 19 SB, 4 CS (.309/.364/.338) — he could probably use a fresh start in an organization with less upper level infield prospect depth … it’s tough being stuck behind Andujar, Estrada, SS Gleyber Torres, and SS Tyler Wade
• RHP Raynel Espinal: 1 G, 0.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K (0.00 ERA and 9.00 WHIP) — that was an interesting outing … 26-year-old quietly had a 1.09 ERA (2.23 FIP) with 33.5% strikeouts and 5.4% walks in 74.1 relief innings at three levels last season
• RHP Domingo German: 3 G, 1.2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 1 WP (21.60 ERA and 3.00 WHIP) — made three appearances in mid-December then went home for the holidays … these short winter ball stints have always been weird to me (what’s the point?), but players keep doing them and teams keep allowing it, so I guess they serve some purpose
• RHP Adonis Rosa: 9 G, 3 GS, 24.2 IP, 14 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 8 BB, 21 K, 1 HR, 1 WP, 1 HB (1.82 ERA and 0.89 WHIP)

Mexican Pacific League

• OF Jabari Blash: 20 G, 18-63 (.286), 16 R, 2 2B, 5 HR, 13 RBI, 17 BB, 27 K, 1 CS, 2 HBP (.286/.451/.556) — he came over in the Chase Headley salary dump … by the way, ZiPS projected Blash for 25 homers in 440 plate appearances in 2018 … huh
• 1B Ryan McBroom: 30 G, 34-107 (.318), 2 2B, 5 HR, 18 RBI, 13 BB, 21 K, 4 SB, 4 CS (.318/.397/.447) — came over in the Rob Refsnyder trade and had a mediocre year in Double-A (98 wRC+) … he’s going to be stuck behind Austin on the Triple-A first base depth chart, not to mention Mike Ford if he comes back as a Rule 5 Draft guy
• RHP Dallas Martinez: 2 G, 4.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 WP, 1 HB (6.23 ERA and 1.15 WHIP)

Venezuelan Winter League

• C Francisco Diaz: 41 G, 35-128 (.273), 18 R, 2 2B, 1 3B, 10 RBI, 11 BB, 15 K, 3 SB, 1 HBP (.273/.333/.305)
• OF Alex Palma: 47 G, 57-190 (.300), 13 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 22 RBI, 8 BB, 18 K, 5 SB, 2 CS (.300/.328/.395) — interested to see what he does next year … Palma had a good 2017 season and he has lots of tools, and he’s only 22, so maybe he’s just starting to figure some things out
• RHP Daniel Alvarez: 16 G, 21 IP, 19 H, 8 R, 6 ER, 16 BB, 17 K, 2 HR (2.57 ERA and 1.67 WHIP) — interesting stat line there
• RHP Luis Cedeno: 18 G, 16.2 IP, 23 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 11 BB, 13 K, 1 HR, 2 HB (4.32 ERA and 2.04 WHIP)

Winter ball will indeed be played in Puerto Rico this year. The Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League started an abbreviated 18-game schedule on Friday. Jon Morosi says they will play day games to limit the use of electricity for stadium lights in the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Maria. No Yankees farmhands are listed on rosters at the moment.

Justus Sheffield, the @Yankees' No. 4 prospect, left today's @MLBazFallLeague game in the 2nd inning after getting hit (left leg) by @Dodgers' Will Smith's line drive. Gameday: https://t.co/eIMtXNsI3p pic.twitter.com/G7lxdD9QaR

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) November 11, 2017

LHP Justus Sheffield was removed from yesterday’s Arizona Fall League start after two innings as a precaution after taking a line drive to his left thigh. The video is above. That’s going to leave a bruise. The AzFL season ends Thursday, so that was his final start. Tough way to end the season, but a good season it was. Here are some other minor league notes:

• Randy Miller spoke to a scout who saw all seven players the Yankees sent to the Arizona Fall League this year, so check that out. The six actual prospects the team sent to the AzFL received strong reports. (Sorry, RHP Andrew Schwaab.)
• Danny Wild spoke to RHP Cody Carroll about his career to date, and the things he’s working on in the AzFL. Carroll throw very hard. The goal now is to improve his secondary stuff and command.
• LHP Justus Sheffield (No. 5), RHP Albert Abreu (No. 6), and SS Thairo Estrada (No. 10) all appeared on last week’s Prospect Hot Sheet. The AzFL is usually very hitter friendly. Glad to see the Sheffield and Abreu are doing well out there.

Arizona Fall League

• SS Thairo Estrada: 17 G, 24-68, 12 R, 2 2B, 1 HR, 8 RBI, 3 BB, 19 K, 2 BB, 1 CS, 2 HBP (.353/.397/.426) — lotta strikeouts for the contact guy
• OF Estevan Florial: 16 G, 15-59, 11 R, 3 2B, 1 3B, 3 RBI, 10 BB, 24 K, 2 SB, 2 CS, 1 HBP (.254/.371/.339) — started great, but he’s hit the skids the last week or two … he’s in a 4-for-32 (.125) rut at the moment
• SS Kyle Holder: 10 G, 14-40, 4 R, 2 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 2 BB, 4 K, 1 CS, 1 HBP (.350/.386/.525) — had a great second half and a great AzFL … I think next year will be a big year for him
• 1B/OF Billy McKinney: 16 G, 17-57, 8 R, 4 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 20 RBI, 11 BB, 13 K, 1 SB, 1 HBP (.290/.391/.455) — so far he’s played nine games at first base, six in left field, and one at DH
• RHP Albert Abreu: 5 G, 5 GS, 22.2 IP, 15 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 12 BB, 23 K, 3 HR (3.18 ERA and 1.19 WHIP) — at one of his recent starts, Jonathan Mayo had Abreu at 92-96 mph with his fastball, 88-91 with his changeup, and 80-82 with the curveball … Mayo also mentioned Abreu as a possible top 100 prospect in a recent mailbag
• RHP Cody Carroll: 8 G, 10.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 16 K (0.00 ERA and 0.56 WHIP) — lights out
• RHP Andrew Schwaab: 8 G, 9.1 IP, 12 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 6 BB, 6 K, 1 HB (6.75 ERA and 1.93 WHIP)
• LHP Justus Sheffield: 5 G, 5 GS, 20.1 IP, 14 H, 8 R, 7 ER, 3 BB, 22 K, 3 WP (3.10 ERA and 0.84 WHIP)

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