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River Ave. Blues » Minors » Page 2

DotF: Dermis Garcia and Isiah Gilliam carry Tampa to a win

April 23, 2019 by Mike

Got some links and notes to pass along:

  • Both RHP Luis Gil (No. 7) and 1B Dermis Garcia (No. 13) made this week’s Prospect Hot Sheet. “Garcia is a bit of a one-tricky pony, but that one trick—massive raw power—sure is fun to watch when a pitch comes right into his swing path,” says the write-up.
  • With Nationals OF Victor Robles having graduated to the big leagues, Baseball America (subs. req’d) updated their top 100 prospects list, and RHP Jonathan Loaisiga now slots in at No. 100. He’s the only Yankee on the list.
  • MLB.com picked each team’s closer of the future. RHP Luis Gil was their pick for the Yankees. “Gil can hit 101 mph with his four-seam fastball and generates crazy spin rates on his power curveball,” says the write-up. Here’s video of Gil’s last outing.

Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (8-1 loss to Rochester)

  • LF Trey Amburgey: 0-4, 2 K
  • SS Gosuke Katoh: 1-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 K — five homers in 13 games this year after hitting five homers in 118 games with Trenton last year … I’m kinda glad we’re shutting down RAB before I have to start figuring out what’s real and what’s noise with the MLB ball in Triple-A
  • 1B Ryan McBroom: 1-3, 1 2B
  • LHP Nestor Cortes: 4 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 1 HR, 3/5 GB/FB — 58 of 91 pitches were strikes (64%)
  • LHP Rex Brothers: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 2 WP, 0/2 GB/FB — 20 of 37 pitches were strikes (54%) … 10/4 K/BB in seven innings, which is better than I would’ve guessed

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Minors Tagged With: Jonathan Loaisiga, Prospect Lists

12 Years of Prospect Watching at RAB

April 23, 2019 by Mike

Montero. (Jim McIsaac/Getty)

In six days, we are closing down RAB after covering the Yankees top to bottom for more than 12 years. It was quite a ride. Lot of fun, but also a lot of work, and now that the work outweighs the fun, it’s time to move on. RAB experienced a World Series championship and many really cool moments. I’m grateful.

The RAB era also covered countless minor league prospects. Most of them flamed out, because that’s what prospects do, but a select few broke out and became big league players. Some even did so with the Yankees. I’ve been posting my annual top 30 prospects list since 2007. That’s a lot of words on players who didn’t make it.

I’d say that, for the majority of RAB’s existence, the Yankees were labeled a poor player development team. It wasn’t until recently that they shed that label, but you know what? The Yankees lead baseball in WAR produced by homegrown players since RAB launched in 2007. From the Baseball Gauge:

  1. Yankees: +193.2 WAR
  2. Diamondbacks: +191.6 WAR
  3. Red Sox: +191.0 WAR
  4. Reds: +176.0 WAR
  5. Rockies: +170.3 WAR

Baseball America puts out organizational top 30 prospects lists each year and the Yankees have had 55 different top 30 prospects reach the big leagues since 2007, ten more than any other team. They also lead baseball in pitching WAR from the farm system at +119.6 during that time. The Dodgers are a distant second at +96.7 WAR on the pitching side. Bet you wouldn’t have guessed that.

We’ve already looked at what I consider the five most memorable games of the RAB era. Now let’s dip into the minor league scene and recap the last 12+ years in the farm system. Come with me, won’t you?

All-Time RAB No. 1 Prospects
2007: RHP Phil Hughes
2008: RHP Joba Chamberlain
2009: OF Austin Jackson
2010: C Jesus Montero
2011: C Jesus Montero
2012: LHP Manny Banuelos
2013: C Gary Sanchez
2014: C Gary Sanchez
2015: OF Aaron Judge
2016: OF Aaron Judge
2017: IF Gleyber Torres
2018: IF Gleyber Torres
2019: OF Estevan Florial

All-Time RAB No. 30 Prospects
2007: 1B Juan Miranda
2008: RHP Edwar Ramirez
2009: RHP Steven Jackson
2010: RHP Dellin Betances
2011: RHP Craig Heyer
2012: RHP Chase Whitley
2013: LHP Dan Camarena
2014: LHP Cesar Cabral
2015: OF Slade Heathcott
2016: RHP Austin DeCarr
2017: OF Leonardo Molina
2018: RHP Alex Vargas
2019: 1B/3B Dermis Garcia

All-Time RAB No. 10 Prospects
2007: RHP Kevin Whelan
2008: RHP Dellin Betances
2009: LHP Phil Coke
2010: RHP Jose Ramirez
2011: RHP Adam Warren
2012: CF Ravel Santana
2013: RHP Mark Montgomery
2014: LHP Manny Banuelos
2015: 1B/OF Tyler Austin
2016: C Luis Torrens
2017: SS Tyler Wade
2018: SS Thairo Estrada
2019: RHP Luis Medina


Rank prospects long enough and certain spots develop a personality. The No. 1 spot is the top guy, obviously. The No. 10 spot is where you put that second (or sometimes third) tier prospect you feel strongly about. There is a most definitely a difference between being the No. 10 prospect and No. 11 prospect in the organization. I can’t really explain it. When you’re in the top ten, you’re legit. Things start to feel a little iffy after that. Also, the No. 30 spot is usually a choice between several players, none of them great. That spot tends to go to a personal favorite. Maybe the guy with the best chance to be a big leaguer, though not necessarily become a great player.

With the exception of Florial, my most recent No. 1 prospect and still a baseball baby, every one of my No. 1 prospects reached the big leagues. I’m not trying to gloat. The No. 1 guy is usually the easiest to rank. Relative to other prospect rankers, I think I stick to my guns a little more. Plenty of folks jumped off the Sanchez bandwagon in 2014 and many shied away from Judge in 2017. Development is not linear. Gotta give these kids a chance to experience failure and adjust before pulling the plug.

I’m more proud that ten of my No. 10 prospects and seven of my No. 30 prospects reached the big leagues than I am that all of my No. 1 prospects reached the show (save Florial). More than half my No. 30 guys made it! Betances obviously went on to have a significant MLB career, though he also bounced around my rankings for a better part of a decade. Without checking, I have to think Dellin appeared on more RAB top 30 prospects lists than any other player. I ranked him every year from 2007-14 (!).

Anyway, Edwar Ramirez spent a few years in the show, Miranda and Jackson had cups of coffee, Cabral kept getting looks, and Heathcott did this …

… and that was pretty cool. Hughes and Chamberlain helped the Yankees win a World Series title in 2009. Sanchez, Judge, and Torres (and Florial?) will hopefully be part of the next World Series winning Yankees team. As much fun as the highly regarded prospects are — and believe me, they are a blast — there is a certain pleasure in watching those lower ranked prospects reach the big leagues after following their careers and blogging about it along the way.

Ten Best Prospects

  1. 2011 Jesus Montero
  2. 2017 Gleyber Torres
  3. 2008 Joba Chamberlain
  4. 2007 Phil Hughes
  5. 2013 Gary Sanchez
  6. 2016 Aaron Judge
  7. 2015 Luis Severino
  8. 2012 Manny Banuelos
  9. 2017 Clint Frazier
  10. 2007 Jose Tabata

The best prospect and the best player are not necessarily the same thing. Sometimes a prospect who flashes all the right tools and skills doesn’t pan out. Example: Jesus Montero. He was an out of this world great prospect, so much so that this cursed image exists in our gallery:

You can thank Baseball America for that. At his prospect peak in 2011, Montero was lauded as a hitting savant and he’d drawn Frank Thomas comps. He was such a good prospect that if I elected to use multiple years of the same player in these rankings, it would be 2011 Montero in the top spot and 2010 Montero in the second spot. You could dream on his easy opposite field power for days. To wit:

Obviously it never worked out. The Yankees traded Montero during the 2011-12 offseason and he pretty much ate his way out of the big leagues. He turns 30 later this year and seems to be out of baseball after hitting .273/.349/.382 in the Mexico last year.

In terms of pure hype, I think 2007 Hughes takes the cake. Back in those days top pitching prospects received so much hype because not enough people were factoring in attrition and injury rates. These days the prospect world does a much better job of baking risk into the cake, and thus top position players prospects tend to be ranked above top pitching prospects. Hughes didn’t live up to the prospect hype, but he spent more than a decade in the big leagues as a league average starter/really good reliever, and that’s not nothing.

Joba at his prospect peak was better than Hughes at his prospect peak and maybe he was more hyped. He did have that insane run in 2007, remember. Chamberlain was the better prospect because he had a better fastball and because his secondary stuff was just vicious. RAB came into its own during the “Joba should start!” internet wars and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t still curious to know what would’ve happened had the Yankees not jerked him around. That said, Joba did himself no favors by reporting to Spring Training out of shape multiple times.

Anyway, Judge is the best player to come out of the farm system on a rate basis since RAB launched — Robinson Cano debuted before RAB and Brett Gardner has accumulated the most WAR among homegrown Yankees during the RAB era, though Judge has him beat on a per plate appearance basis — but prospect rankers always seemed to keep him at arm’s length because he’s so big and had extreme swing-and-miss tendencies. In hindsight, Baseball America’s top 100 list in 2017 is a hoot:

86. SS Delvin Perez, Cardinals
87. RHP James Kaprielian, Yankees
88. LHP Anthony Banda, Diamondbacks
89. RHP Tyler Beede, Giants
90. OF Aaron Judge, Yankees

That said, ranking Judge cautiously was not unreasonable at the time. Sanchez and Torres had more prospect hype at their peaks because they were up-the-middle players with loud tools. Sanchez basically projected to be a Judge-type hitter at catcher whereas Gleyber had a high-end all-around game and plenty of baseball smarts. Judge is very much a hindsight prospect. If everyone had known what they know now, he would’ve been a top three pick in the draft and the game’s top prospect. During his prospect days though, he was difficult to project.

The final two spots in that top ten are difficult to pin down. 2008 Ian Kennedy and 2013 Mason Williams belong in that conversation, as does 2018 Justus Sheffield. I think Frazier and Tabata are the right guys for the last two spots. Clint had the pedigree as the former high draft pick and Tabata, gosh, it’s easy to forget just how highly regarded he was back in the day. He was a consensus top 30 global prospect who reached Double-A at 19 and Triple-A at 20. Tabata back then is what people wish Florial is now.

Five Biggest Busts

  1. C Jesus Montero
  2. RHP Andrew Brackman
  3. OF Jose Tabata
  4. OF Mason Williams
  5. OF Slade Heathcott

I don’t like dwelling on busts because many times flaming out is treated as a character flaw when it really just boils down to Major League Baseball being extremely difficult, and also players getting hurt sometimes. Montero’s and Tabata’s approaches were not as advanced as they appeared in the minors, Williams and Heathcott had trouble staying healthy, and Brackman was an inexperienced two-sport guy who never could figure out a delivery at his size (6-foot-10). Meh. Some guys make it, most don’t. Learn from the ranking mistakes and move on.

Five Personal Favorites

  1. 3B Miguel Andujar
  2. RHP Ross Ohlendorf
  3. 3B Marcos Vechionacci
  4. RHP Jose Ramirez
  5. RHP Graham Stoneburner

Like everyone else, I develop personal favorites while following the farm system, and sometimes there’s no good reason why it happens either. You fall in love with so many prospects over the years and, given the nature of the beast, most of them never make it, so when one of them turns into Andujar, it feels like a million bucks. I loved (and still love) his insane bat-to-ball stills, his ability to hit anything anywhere, his power potential, and his energy and love for the game. Let’s watch some Andujar highlights, shall we? I miss watching him play.

I was a big Ohlendorf guy. I even bought an OHLENDORF 39 shirt. True story. His fastball moved all over the place (but apparently it didn’t have as much velocity as remember based on the pitch tracking data) and his slider was promising, plus he was a smart dude with a knack for making adjustments. Guys like Ramirez and Stoneburner stood out during their prospect days but would be a dime-a-dozen now. Oh, you throw 96-98 mph with a sharp slider and no command? Get in line.

Vechionacci was pretty much the opposite of Andujar. He could play the hell out of third base but he couldn’t hit much. I kept waiting and waiting and waiting for that big breakout year at the plate and it never came. It wasn’t until his fourth season with Double-A Trenton that he slugged better than .370 while playing at least 100 games. I fell in love with more random prospects over the years than I could possibly count (I thought Ramon Flores would be Michael Brantley, basically), but Andujar is easily at the top of this list for me. He’s in his own tier. After covering the system for 12+ years, sending RAB out with this group of homegrown players is pretty rad.

Filed Under: Days of Yore, Minors Tagged With: Prospect Lists

DotF: Sanchez plays rehab game; Dermis Garcia continues hot start in Tampa’s win

April 22, 2019 by Mike

According to Joe Dixon, RHP Matt Sauer will have Tommy John surgery this week. Bummer. He was placed on the Low-A Charleston injured list last week and it has since been determined he needs ligament reconstruction. The Yankees have not confirmed the news, though that’s not unusual for a non-40-man roster minor leaguer. Sauer, 20, allowed three runs in 8.2 innings with the RiverDogs before the injury. The Yankees gave him $2.5M as their second round pick in 2017.

Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (8-6 loss to Rochester)

  • LF Trey Amburgey: 1-5, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2 K — now hitting .288/.323/.441 with Scranton after hitting .258/.300/.418 in Trenton last year
  • 1B Ryan McBroom: 1-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 SB
  • 2B Gosuke Katoh: 2-4, 1 K — multiple hits in five of 12 games this year
  • RHP Drew Hutchison: 4.1 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 5 BB, 2 K, 3 HB, 5/2 GB/FB — 52 of 96 pitches were strikes (54%) … five walks and three hit batsmen in 4.1 innings? not even mad, that’s an impressive number of free baserunners
  • LHP Stephen Tarpley: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 1/0 GB/FB — 13 of 23 pitches were strikes (57%) … 7/4 K/BB in six total innings this year

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Down on the Farm Tagged With: Matt Sauer

DotF: Castillo extends hitting streak, Garcia goes deep again in Tampa’s loss

April 20, 2019 by Mike

Just a heads up, there will be no DotF tomorrow. None of the affiliates have games scheduled for Easter Sunday. Not sure if that’s intentional or a coincidence. I feel like I would remember it if they do that each year. Whatever. Anyway, no DotF tomorrow for that reason. Don’t wait around.

Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders Game One was suspended due to rain in the top of the third inning. Here’s the box score. It wasn’t loading properly when I wrote this, but maybe it’ll work by time you click it. The game will be completed when they play Buffalo in June.

Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders Game Two was rained out. It’ll be made up as part of a doubleheader during that June series.

The Double-A Trenton Thunder were rained out. The game will be made up as part of a July 2nd doubleheader.

High-A Tampa Tarpons (2-1 loss to Clearwater)

  • CF Pablo Olivares: 0-4
  • 2B Diego Castillo: 1-4 — 9-for-25 (.360) during his seven-game hitting streak after starting the season 1-for-34 (.029)
  • DH Oswaldo Cabrera: 0-4
  • 1B Dermis Garcia: 1-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K — fifth homer of the season was an inside-the-parker … 8-for-21 (.381) with two doubles and four homers in his last five games
  • RF Isiah Gilliam: 1-2, 1 HBP — got picked off first
  • C Donny Sands: 0-3, 2 K
  • RHP Rony Garcia: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 2/4 GB/FB — 50 of 80 pitches were strikes (63%) … 22/6 K/BB in 18.1 innings thus far

Low-A Charleston RiverDogs (3-1 win over Augusta)

  • LF Brandon Lockridge: 1-4, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 K
  • 2B Kyle Gray: 0-3, 1 BB, 2 K
  • CF Josh Stowers: 1-4, 1 K — 9-for-21 (.429) during his five-game hitting streak
  • 3B Nelson Gomez: 1-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K, 1 E (missed catch) — 5-for-17 (.294) with a double and three homers in his last five games
  • DH Canaan Smith: 1-4, 1 R
  • RHP Luis Medina: 5 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 4/1 GB/FB — 48 of 77 pitches were strikes (62%) … getting progressively better each time out
  • RHP Shawn Semple: 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 2/3 GB/FB — 37 of 52 pitches were strikes (71%) … 30/2 K/BB in 17 innings now … I can’t imagine he’ll be down here much longer, he’s not being challenged

The Short Season Staten Island Yankees, Rookie Pulaski Yankees, and two Rookie Gulf Coast League Yankees teams begin play in June.

Filed Under: Down on the Farm

DotF: Abreu, Otto, and Myatt labor on the mound

April 18, 2019 by Mike

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…]

Filed Under: Down on the Farm

DotF: Loaisiga makes Triple-A debut, Estrada stays hot in loss

April 17, 2019 by Mike

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…]

Filed Under: Down on the Farm

DotF: Garcia homers twice, Schmidt struggles in Tampa’s loss

April 16, 2019 by Mike

The Yankees have signed OF Omar Carrizales and assigned him to Triple-A Scranton, report Kegan Lowe and Conor Foley. The former Rockies prospect (another former Rockie!) hit .229/.289/.376 (84 wRC+) with seven homers and eleven steals in 90 Double-A games last season. Carrizales took 1B Mike Ford’s spot on the roster. Ford was called up to replace the injured Greg Bird. Just a warm body move to help get through the injuries. Nothing more.

The Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders were rained out. They’ll play a doubleheader tomorrow.

Double-A Trenton Thunder (7-6 win over Akron in ten innings, walk-off style)

  • 2B Hoy Jun Park: 1-5, 2 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 2 K — holding his own in Double-A so far
  • SS Kyle Holder: 0-4, 2 K, 1 HBP
  • RF Ben Ruta: 0-6, 2 K, 1 SB
  • PR-1B Brandon Wagner: 1-1, 1 RBI — he pinch-ran for 1B Chris Gittens in the late innings, then provided the walk-off single
  • CF Rashad Crawford: 1-5, 1 RBI, 1 K
  • RHP Trevor Stephan: 3 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 1/2 GB/FB — 50 of 72 pitches were strikes (69%) … his first three starts this year haven’t gone too well … hopefully he turns things around soon
  • RHP Domingo Acevedo: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 1/1 GB/FB — eleven pitches, nine strikes

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Down on the Farm Tagged With: Omar Carrizales

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