Prospect Smorgasbord

Prospect Smorgasbord

In an effort to catch up with everything happening in the minor league world of the New York Yankees, I offer you a prospect smorgasbord. Let’s kick it.

Notable Info

-          Slade Heathcott, Rob Segedin and JR Murphy were called up to Tampa from Charleston.

-          Tim Norton, who was throwing very well has a badly torn labrum. Ditto Justin Maxwell who finishes the year with a 40% strikeout rate. As a hitter.

-          David Phelps landed on the AAA DL along with Kevin Whelan and Jorge Vazquez. Wilkens Arias is also on the AA DL.

-          Caleb Cotham and David Adams are both rehabbing with the GCL Yankees.

-          Austin Romine no longer has concussion symptoms and is getting back into the swing of things. He should be playing in games again soon enough.

-          Rob Lyerly was called up to Trenton from Tampa.

-          Austin Romine will play for the US team in the 2011 Futures game.

-          Francisco Cervelli is apparently still on the Yankees. Shocking, yes.

GCL and Staten Island Rosters

Gulf Coast League Yankees

Notable GCL Names:

Taylor Anderson- 2010 draft pick, athletic, raw OF with smooth LH swing.

Tyler Austin- 2010 draft pick, raw power, eventually a corner OF, currently playing at 3B.

Yeicok Calderon- Good hitting OF, signed out of the DR in 2008, left handed, some power and advanced approach.

Ravel Santana- Another DR bonus baby, good combination of power/speed, should be fun to watch.

Dante Bichette- Obviously 2011 1^st round pick, he should hit for average and power but is raw.

Fu-Lin Kuo- repeating in the GCL, 2009 international signing from Taiwan.

Taylor Morton- RHP 2010 draftee from Tennessee, touches mid 90s, good command, above average changeup and curveball that needs work- good size, good projection.

Gabe Encinas- 2010 6^th round pick, sits low 90s, above average changeup and curveball for prep product, nice ceiling if he can add some velocity

Evan Rutckyj- Big LHP (6’5, 210), very raw, throws low 90s with a fringy slider right now

Staten Island Yankees

Staten Island Notables:

Mason Williams- Raw, toolsy athletic outfielder with plus speed and defense

Ben Gamel- Raw corner outfielder, decent approach at the plate with some power from left side

Zach Wilson- 2011 pick, former ASU 1B, has power but can swing and miss, should perform well at SI

Angelo Gumbs- 2010 2^nd round pick, very raw/athletic/fast, very toolsy

Cito Culver- 2010 1^st round pick, switch hitting SS, you know all about him already

Philip Wetherell- 2011 selection as a reliever, sits 90-96 with swing and miss splitter- fast mover

Bryan Mitchell- Lots of upside, throws good low 90s fastball with plus curveball

Branden Pinder- 2011 16^th round pick, sinker/slider w/ a changeup, middle reliever

Zach Arneson- 2011 9^th round reliever, sits 92-96 with a fringy cutter

Here’s a quick pitching/hitting leaderboard I put together for the Yankee system:

Offense:

Pitching:

Rob Segedin and Kyle Roller have hit very well all year. The 2010 draft picks were both college bats, so it makes sense they’d perform well at these lower levels.

Corban Joseph continues to hit and get on base- all he’s ever done. Yesterday, Jason Parks at BP named him one of the better 2B prospects in the game calling his ceiling a “second division starter”. We’ll take that.

JR Murphy has really had a solid year and his call up to Tampa is well deserved.

Gary Sanchez has had a difficult year, with the injuries and the misconduct. He’s still putting up good numbers and his ceiling is still among the highest in the system.

It’s too bad Tim Norton got so badly hurt- after recently getting called up to AAA, he figured to see some time in the majors this year.

Jairo Heredia has landed back on the map with a terrific first half. He’s got his control problems…uh, under control and is missing bats.

Speaking of missing bats, Tommy Kahnle is a reliever I figured would move pretty fast but his 5.93 BB/9 (!) is pretty eye opening.

Dellin Betances dropped on this list after a horrific outing this week, but has also been having a very good season.

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