8:27pm: Nunez has a right wrist contusions and is day-to-day, the team announced. X-rays were negative.
7:49pm: Eduardo Nunez left tonight’s game following a hit-by-pitch. Replays showed it got him in the left right wrist. He remained in the game to run the bases but was removed after being unable to throw a ball between innings. Poor guy finally gets a chance to play everyday and he’s getting hit by pitches left and right. Stay tuned for updates.
7:46pm: Mike Fish and T.J. Quinn say MLB has no physical evidence connecting A-Rod to payments for Biogenesis documents, so … what the hell is going on exactly?
5:31pm: Via Michael Schmidt: MLB may have evidence that a representative of Alex Rodriguez purchased documents from the Anthony Bosch-led clinic Biogenesis for the purpose of having them destroyed. Unsurprisingly, A-Rod’s camp has flatly denied the allegations. MLB has purchased documents from a former employee of the clinic to help further their investigation into players who may have received performance-enhancing drugs from Bosch and Biogenesis, and the league recently filed a lawsuit against numerous parties involved (no players) as well.
First, the good news: the Yankees are back home in the Bronx to open a three-game weekend series with the sudden division rival Orioles, who just took two of three from the Red Sox in Fenway Park. They used both Darren O’Day and Jim Johnson in each of the last two days, so the back-end of Baltimore’s bullpen might be a little short the next day or two.
Now, the bad news: the weather still sucks. After having the last two games against the Indians rained out, the Yankees are back home and are staring at another potential rain-interrupted game. It’s been raining on-and-off all day in New York, with most of the heavy stuff coming this morning. The forecast calls for another shower tonight and maybe possibly a playable window later on. Getting a little sick of this weather nonsense.
Also, some more bad news: right-hander Miguel Gonzalez will be on the mound for the Orioles. Between the regular season and postseason last year, he held the Yankees to four runs in 20.2 innings (1.74 ERA) with 24 strikeouts and just one freaking walk across three starts. Goodness. I guess it’s good nearly the entire lineup looks different right now than it did last year. Here’s the starting line…
And on the mound is the would-be 2000 Olympian, CC Sabathia. He was called up to the big leagues and had to be removed from the Olympic roster. USA won the gold anyway.
Tonight’s game is scheduled to start a little after 7pm ET and can be seen on My9. Yep, the first My9 game of the season. Obviously the rain may change things. If they do play, and I really hope they do, enjoy the game.
Andy Pettitte is dealing with a stiff back and will not start Sunday as scheduled, Joe Girardi announced. It first bothered him during his last start and then again last night. The left-hander threw his usual between-starts bullpen, however.
Phil Hughes will start tomorrow, Hiroki Kuroda will start Sunday, and then Pettitte will hopefully start either Tuesday or Wednesday following the off-day on Monday. They have to see how he feels the next few days before finalizing their plans for next week, obviously. The schedule allows the Yankees to push Pettitte all the way back to next Saturday before having to come up with a replacement starter, if need be.
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.
Casey Meisner | RHP
Background
Meisner attends Cypress Woods High School in Cypress, Texas, which is a Houston suburb. He pitched for the Texas Scout Team Yankees last fall, a showcase club the Yankees use the team to familiarize themselves with top Texas high schoolers during the Perfect Game World Wood Bat Championship each year. His college commitment is to Texas Tech.
Scouting Report
The first thing that stands out about Meisner is his size. He’s listed at 6-foot-7 and 185 lbs. so he’s tall and lanky with an awful lot of projection remaining. Meisner’s fastball typically sits about 86-88 these days, but he has shown 92 in the past, so there is some more velocity in there somewhere. His loopy mid-70s curveball looks like an out pitch on some days and still-developing pitch on others. A low-80s changeup that needs a lot of work rounds out his repertoire.
In addition to his size, Meisner stands out because he’s a very good athlete who has shown the ability to repeat his mechanics and keep his delivery in order better than most pitchers his size. He also throws strikes and draws rave reviews for his makeup and mound presence, which has been described as “business-like.” There are a bunch of short video clips on YouTube.
Miscellany
Neither Baseball America (subs. req’d) nor Keith Law (subs. req’d) ranked Meisner among the top 50 draft prospects in their latest rankings. Baseball America (subs. req’d) did, however, rank him as the 89th best high school player available in this summer’s draft. That’s roughly in the fifth to seventh round range. The Yankees love physically huge pitchers and players with good makeup, so Meisner sounds like someone who is right up their alley. We know he’s at least on their radar after playing for their Texas Scout team late last year. Meisner is a definite project, but he also has the tools to come out as a potential top ten pick in three years if he follows through on his college commitment.
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.
Jordan Sheffield | RHP
Background
A Tennessee kid who lives an hour or so outside of Chattanooga, Sheffield threw just three innings for Tullahoma High School this spring before blowing out his elbow and requiring Tommy John surgery. He had the procedure yesterday according to Maurice Patton. Sheffield is committed to Vanderbilt. He is Gary’s nephew.
Scouting Report
Listed at 6-foot-1 and 175 lbs., Sheffield sat in the low-90s for most of his career before sitting 94-95 with a few 97s during the Team USA 16-and-under trials last summer and the Perfect Game World Wood Bat Championship in October. He didn’t get much of an opportunity to show if the velocity spike was legit before the injury this spring. A power upper-70s/low-80s curveball is his top secondary pitch and a legitimate put-away offering, and his low-80s changeup is very much a work in progress. Sheffield showed pretty good control throughout his high school career. Here’s some more video.
Miscellany
Neither Baseball America (subs. req’d) nor Keith Law (subs. req’d) ranked Sheffield as a top 50 draft prospect in their most recent rankings, but both lists were published after the right-hander initially suffered the injury in early-March. Law called him a borderline top 100 guy earlier this week following the news of the elbow reconstruction. Sheffield was considered a tough sign before the injury, but the Yankees have a little bit of a history with buying guys away from Vanderbilt (Dellin Betances, specifically). There’s a decent chance he’ll go completely undrafted now. Sheffield is someone the Yankees could target with a late-round pick — sometime after the tenth round so they don’t risk losing draft pool money in case he doesn’t sign — just to see if he’ll turn pro should they have some extra draft pool money lying around.