River Avenue Blues

Minor League Links: Patterson, Scout’s Notes

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Mark Montgomery and J.R. Murphy. And Larry Rothschild, him too. (Presswire)
Mark Montgomery and J.R. Murphy. And Larry Rothschild, him too. (Presswire)

Josh Norris brought the heat with a lot of great minor league info these last few days, so let’s round it all up…

  • Q&A with Gil Patterson: The Yankees minor league pitching coordinator discussed promotions, big league readiness, and RHP Jose Campos’ innings limit for the season. They’re hoping to get 85-90 innings out of him after losing last year to an elbow fracture/bone bruise.
  • Double-A Trenton Scout’s Notes: Praise for C J.R. Murphy, RHP Jose Ramirez, and RHP Danny Burawa, but not so much for OF Tyler Austin.
  • High-A Tampa Scout’s Notes: Positive reviews for 2B Rob Refsnyder, C Gary Sanchez, and RHP Corey Black, but OF Mason Williams gets torn to shreds for his effort, or lack thereof. Not the first time we’ve heard that.
  • Low-A Charleston Scout’s Notes: Mostly bad here, which isn’t all that surprising. Campos and RHP Gabe Encinas get a little bit of love, however.

Yankees hang on for 3-2 win over Royals

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Source: FanGraphs

Don’t look now, but the Yankees are on something of a roll. Saturday’s 3-2 win over the Royals was their fourth straight victory and 11th in their last 15 games. Since the 1-4 start, they’ve gone 21-9. Pretty remarkable. Let’s recap…

  • Dandy Andy: After two dud outings, Andy Pettitte rebounded to hold Kansas City to two runs in seven rock solid innings. He missed his spots a few times pretty badly — none worse than the pitch Billy Butler hit for a solo homer — but nothing like those last two starts. Pettitte struck out seven and walked just one, recording eleven outs on the ground compared to just three in the air. Needless to say, it was very good to see vintage Andy out there after that little hiccup.
  • Shields’ Two Mistakes: The Yankees were down 2-1 in the fifth inning when Royals’ starter Jamie Shields made two mistakes. First, he hit nine-hole hitter Chris Stewart with a two-strike pitch to leadoff the inning. Second, he grooved a 3-1 fastball to Vernon Wells with two outs, a pitch that landed over the left field wall for a go-ahead two-run homer. Shields pitched very well aside from those two mistakes, but they ultimately cost him and his team the game.
  • Leftovers: David Robertson struck out the side in the eighth and was absolutely disgusting. Just nasty stuff. Unhittable. Mariano Rivera allowed a double in the ninth but otherwise nailed things down for his 14th save in as many chances … Jayson Nix has reached base seven times in the series after picking up two hits and a walk in this game … the Yankees managed to win even though the one through five hitters went a combined 2-for-19 with a walk. One of those hits was the Wells homer, the other a Travis Hafner infield single … Lorenzo Cain walked on three balls in the fifth inning because apparently no one in the ballpark was paying attention. It was a long at-bat with a lot of pickoff throws to first, but still. How does no one catch that?

MLB.com has the box score and video highlights, FanGraphs some other stats, and ESPN the updated standings. In case you’re wondering, the Yankees now lead the AL East by a full game. It’s early though, I wouldn’t get too excited just yet. They’ll go for the sweep on Sunday afternoon, when Hiroki Kuroda gets the ball against right-hander Ervin Santana.

Wang pitches into the eighth in latest AAA start

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The Yankees released IF Gil Velazquez, RHP Ryan Pope, and LF/DH Cody Johnson from their Triple-A squad today. OF Thomas Neal was activated off the DL while IF Alberto Gonzalez was officially added to the roster after being acquired in a trade last week.

Triple-A Scranton (4-3 win over Gwinnett)

  • 2B Corban Joseph: 2-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 K, 1 HBP — nine hits in 34 at-bats (.265) since being sent down
  • DH Curtis Granderson: 2-4, 1 RBI, 2 K — had a little more on him earlier
  • LF Zoilo Almonte: 0-4
  • 3B Ronnie Mustelier: 1-4
  • CF Melky Mesa: 2-4, 1 R, 2 2B, 1 RBI — five hits in his last eight at-bats
  • RHP Chien-Ming Wang: 7.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 1 HB, 18/2 GB/FB — he’s got three more starts left before his next opt-out date
  • RHP Cody Eppley: 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 1/1 GB/FB — only six of 13 pitches were strikes (46%)
  • LHP Clay Rapada: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 1/1 GB/FB — seven of ten pitches were strikes

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Curtis Granderson singles twice in latest rehab game

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In his third minor league rehab game with Triple-A Scranton, Curtis Granderson went 2-for-4 with two strikeouts. He singled once to right and once back up the middle. Granderson spent the game at DH as planned, and he played all nine innings. Donnie Collins says Curtis is expected to remain with the team until the end of their homestand on Monday, so I suppose he could be activated off the DL and re-join the big league team as soon as Tuesday. I guess we’ll find out.

Game 35: Rebound

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(Jamie Squire/Getty)
(Jamie Squire/Getty)

The Yankees have won three straight and 20 of their last 29, but they need a rebound today. Specifically, they need Andy Pettitte to rebound from two dreadful starts and get back to being, well, Andy Pettitte. He says his cutter is the primary culprit, but when a pitcher that age had back trouble a few weeks ago, it’s hard not to wonder if there’s something more to the struggles. Here’s the lineup that will face righty Jamie Shields…

  1. CF Brett Gardner
  2. 2B Robinson Cano
  3. LF Vernon Wells
  4. DH Travis Hafner
  5. RF Ichiro Suzuki
  6. SS Jayson Nix
  7. 1B Lyle Overbay
  8. 3B Chris Nelson
  9. C Chris Stewart

And on the mound is the guy Baseball America ranked as the 49th best prospect in baseball prior to the 1995 season, left-hander Andy Pettitte.

I truly despise Saturday night games, but what can you do. The game is scheduled to start at 7:10pm ET and can be seen on YES. Enjoy.

Eduardo Nunez Update: Nunez still feels something in his ribcage and did not take batting practice on the field today as expected. He’ll take today off and try again tomorrow.

2013 Draft: Tim Anderson

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The 2013 amateur draft will be held from June 6-8 this year, and between now and then I’m going to highlight some prospects individually rather than lump them together into larger posts.

(ECCC Baseball)
(ECCC Baseball)

Tim Anderson | SS

Background
Primarily a basketball player at Hillcrest High School in Tuscaloosa, Anderson went undrafted in 2011 and headed to East Central Community College in Mississippi. He came into the weekend hitting .503/.564/.911 with nine homers and 36 steals in 45 games this spring, and he’s committed to attend the University of Alabama at Birmingham next year.

Scouting Report
Listed at 6-foot-1 and 175 lbs., Anderson is an excellent athlete whose best present tool is his speed. He has bat speed and a level swing from the right side, but he doesn’t use his lower half well and hasn’t shown much power. He’s basically a slap hitter at this point. Defensively, Anderson is one of the few players in this draft with a legitimate chance to remain at shortstop long-term thanks to his quick feet and reactions. His arm leaves something to be desired and his overall game is raw for a college sophomore because he’s only been playing baseball full-time for two years. The speed, swing, and pure athleticism point to a very high ceiling but also a lot of risk.

Miscellany
Baseball America (subs. req’d) and Keith Law (subs. req’d) ranked Anderson as the 34th and 43rd best prospect in the draft in their latest rankings, respectively. The Yankees love those toolsy up-the-middle athletes, so Anderson is right up their alley. He needs a lot of work and won’t climb the ladder all that quickly despite being two years removed from high school, so it’s fair to consider him a project. The athleticism will get him drafted early despite that lack or refinement, and the Yankees have three picks right at the end of the first round (26th, 32nd, 33rd).

Feinsand: Yankees plan to call up David Adams on Wednesday

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Via Mark Feinsand: The Yankees are planning to call up infielder David Adams this coming Wednesday, the first day he is eligible to be added to the big league roster after being released and re-signing to a minor league contract last month. The team will give him a chance to play third base everyday.

Adams, 25, is hitting .314/.404/.477 (153 wRC+) with two homers and 99 plate appearances for Triple-A Scranton this year. He’s been a full-time third baseman since last July, but he came up as a second baseman and even spent some time at first this year. Although Ben Francisco seems like the obvious candidate to lose his roster spot, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Yankees cut Chris Nelson in favor of Adams instead. Kevin Youkilis has just started working out in Tampa according to Chad Jennings, so he isn’t close to returning. Pretty great opportunity for Adams, who I ranked as the team’s 18th best prospect before the season.