Couple notes to get us started:
- Glowing report on OF Everson Pereira in this week’s Prospect Hot Sheet. “When Pereira signed, he was an athletic center fielder with a well-rounded balance of tools and skills, hitting well in games with a fluid swing, good bat control and strike-zone judgment. At the time, Pereira was mostly a line-drive hitter with gap power, but he’s grown an inch and added significant size and strength, to the point where he now has plus raw power. And that power is already showing up in games … Pereira was so good in extended spring training (he hit eight home runs there) that he now will skip over the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League and make his pro debut with Pulaski,” says the write-up. Swoon. The Yankees signed the 17-year-old Pereira for $1.5M last summer.
- The Yankees have released RHP Chad Martin and OF Timmy Robinson, reports Matt Eddy. Robinson, the team’s 21st round pick in 2016, swatted 17 homers with a .216/.359/.378 (117 wRC+) line in 146 career games in the low minors.
- 3B Brandon Drury was named the Triple-A International League Player of the Week. He went 16-for-34 (.471) with four doubles and a homer last week.
The Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders and Double-A Trenton Thunder both had scheduled off-days today.
High-A Tampa Tarpons (6-5 loss to Fort Myers, walk-off style)
- SS Diego Castillo: 0-4, 3 K
- RF Alex Palma: 1-3, 1 R, 1 2B — was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the sixth … not sure what’s up with that
- 1B Brandon Wagner: 1-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 2 K
- RF Isiah Gilliam: 1-4, 1 R
- 2B Hoy Jun Park: 2-4, 1 R, 1 3B, 2 RBI
- RHP Nick Nelson: 3 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, 0/4 GB/FB — 22 of 39 pitches were strikes (56%) … third time in his last five starts that he’s walked at least four … he didn’t do it in any of his first eight starts