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Hot .GIF Action: Rafael DePaula

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After nearly two years in visa purgatory, right-hander Rafael DePaula finally made his stateside debut yesterday. He struck out eleven in 4.1 innings with the Low-A Charleston River Dogs, throwing a ton of fastballs, a handful of sliders, and just a few changeups. Forty-nine of this 71 pitches were strikes and there were a ton of swings and misses, like the one you see above. I didn’t count, but it was easily over ten whiffs and probably closer to 20.

Baseball America ranked the 22-year-old DePaula as the Yankees tenth best prospect a few weeks ago, calling him “the biggest X-factor in the system” while saying his “ceiling is as high as any Yankees minor league pitcher.” New York desperately needs some young impact pitching to emerge, so it sure would be nice if DePaula builds off yesterday’s start and climbs the ladder in a hurry. More .GIFs after the jump.

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Hot .GIF Action: Nick Goody

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The Yankees spent $140k to sign right-hander Nick Goody as their sixth round pick last year, and he went on to post a 1.12 ERA (~0.89 FIP) with 52 strikeouts and just nine walks in 32 innings after turning pro. The former LSU closer is a low-90s fastball/slider guy who doesn’t have much of a changeup, but he won’t need one in relief. The combination of performance and stuff earned him the 21st spot on my Preseason Top 30 Prospects List.

Goody struck out two and allowed a single in a scoreless inning of work against the Orioles tonight, showing off all three pitches and a herky-jerky delivery that provides deception. A few more .GIFs after the jump.

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Hot .GIF Action: Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Betances

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Perpetual prospect Dellin Betances threw a scoreless inning on the road against the Astros this afternoon, and to quote Houston’s announcers, he was “scary wild.” That’s pretty typical for the right-hander, who had a nightmare season a year ago and has struggled to harness his admittedly impressive stuff over the last six years. The 25-year-old ranked 23rd on my preseason top 30 prospects list, and today he walked two, struck out two, hit a batter, and uncorked a wild pitch. We’ll start with the good stuff, like the big fastball in the .GIF above. More to follow — click to embiggen — after the jump.

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Hot .GIFs: Rondon’s slider & Kahnle’s fastball

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It seemed a bit odd when the Yankees added left-hander Francisco Rondon to the 40-man roster early in the offseason, keeping him away from the Rule 5 Draft. The 24-year-old pitched to a 3.93 ERA with 80 strikeouts and 42 walks in 71 innings across three levels last year, mostly with Double-A Trenton. Solid, but he wasn’t talked about a top (or even good) prospect and didn’t seem 40-man worthy.

Rondon threw two scoreless innings in this afternoon’s game, allowing a walk and a single while striking out two. As you can see, the kid has a pretty awesome slider. Downright CC Sabathia-esque, if I may. After seeing that, it’s easy to understand why they added him to the 40-man now, that breaking ball gives him at least lefty specialist potential. Some more clips of the slider after the jump. Make sure you click to embiggen.

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Hot .GIF Action: Nik Turley

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It was not a good Grapefruit League debut for left-hander Nik Turley. Not at all. The team’s 11th best prospect allowed five of the six batters he faced to reach base — in his defense, some hilarious defense contributed to that — and all five came around to score. The 23-year-old allowed those five runs (four earned) on three hits and a walk in just one-third of an inning. It was pretty obvious he was nervous given how he was overthrowing and wild. It happens.

Despite the poor showing, Turley still managed to break out a few .GIFable pitches, like the curveball you see above. He used both the curve and changeup in addition to the regular fastball, especially once all hell started to break loose and outs were needed. More .GIFs after the jump, and you can click them all for a larger view.

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