Introducing Your 2012 Charleston River Dogs. Part 1 of 3: Starting Pitching

The Charleston River Dogs are poised for a great season thanks to a solid pitching staff and an excellent hitting lineup.

The coaching staff of the Charleston River Dogs, the Yankees' Single A affiliate, has been taking questions all offseason about their team for the upcoming season.

"Is this the best team you have ever coached at this level?"

"Are these the best outfielders you've ever coached in single A?"

"Is this the most talented class of players that has come through Charleston since the Joba, Hughes, and Montero class?"

You get the idea. The answer has been unequivocally "yes." Given the fact that the Yankees have all of this talent coming into Charleston and moving up through the ranks, I thought it would be fun to look at the who's who of 2012 Charleston prospects before the season gets underway.

I'll start off by saying I'm not going to get much into the organizational guys since there is very little chance they'll ever reach the majors. Suffice it to say that guys like Kyle Higashioka, Andersen Feliz, Garrison Lassiter, Kelvin Perez etc. will be back for another season to fill out the innings and back up the real prospects.

Starting Pitchers

1. Headlining the starting rotation will be newly acquired 20 year old Jose Campos from the Jesus Montero trade. You can check out his scouting report in the link, but he's a big 6'4 pitcher with all the talent in the world. If he refines his secondary offerings he has future ace potential in the major leagues. His fastball gets as high as 98 mph, that's enough to excite me. There's an outside chance he starts in High A, but that rotation is already a bit crowded.

2. Bryan Mitchell (no not the Redskins 3rd down halfback/special teams extraordinaire) will also start the season in Charleston. Mitchell is 6'2, will be 21 at the start of the season, and he has one of the best curveballs in the entire system. His fastball can also touch 96 with good movement. He also has a change up. The key for him is learning to harness and control his stuff. His 4.09 ERA is not going to take him very far in the minors, but he's got some of the best stuff in the whole farm system and towards the end of last season in Staten Island he started to put it all together and dominate.

3. Here's the guy I talked about in my last article who is rolling off everyone's tongue as this year's sleeper. Matt Tracy is a big, 6'3, 212 lb lefty drafted out of college. He is much older than the other two at 23 years old, but he also has something #1 and #2 do not, a powerful left handed arm that can throw the ball up to 94 mph, rare amongst lefties. As if this wasn't enough, he also throws a dominant change up and a developing curveball, which the Yankees farm system is notorious for being able to develop very well. Given his age, he could move very quickly to High A Tampa this year, and if there is space I could even see him in AA Trenton by the end of the season. In prospect circles, I have heard the name Andy Pettitte thrown around a lot when this guy's name comes up.

4. Another lefty, probably more highly touted than Tracy to start the 2011 season, will likely stand in his shadow to start the 2012 season. Evan DeLuca will be 21 to start the season, so he still has some projection left in him, although at 6'1 his size may be called into question. He started off hot in Staten Island last year then teetered off towards the end. His fastball is similar to Matt Tracy at 94 mph, but he struggles much more to control it. Much like Tracy, he also throws a change up and a curveball. In a lot of ways, he is a younger, smaller version of Matt Tracy, which gives him more time to develop but also has him at somewhat of a physical disadvantage. As of right now I would say the greatest likelihood is that DeLuca ends up in the bullpen long term. Given his tool set, however, he could be a late inning type reliever. He's got a long way to go though and control may be a major issue with him unless he has a breakthrough season somewhere along the line.

5. The 5th slot is more difficult to predict than the other four. If Rafael DePaula ever gets his visa, this is his slot to lose. If not, which is currently looking like the case, then the spot is a crapshoot. That's what happens when you lie to the US government in the post 9/11 era. To tell you the truth he probably deserves it to a certain extent, but that's neither here nor there. William Oliver, Wilton Rodriguez, Kelvin Perez, and Vidal Nuno are all candidates, although I suspect Nuno will be doing something in Tampa next season. Most of the above players are organizational fodder. Nuno, who has probably the most talent, is another guy like Jose Quintana who we will probably lose at the end of the season if he does anything good. The only one on the list who could morph into a prospect is Wilton Rodriguez, but I'd say that's doubtful.

That does it for the starting rotation, next up will either be the relievers or the hitters, not sure which.

YEEP 8/12/11: Betances and Nuno solid, GCL rolls again

Evil Em VP: Dellin Betances

AAA SWB: L 4-7 to Syracuse. L: Banuelos
Russo: 0/5, RBI, 4 K (.278)
Montero: 2/5, R, HR, RBI, 2 K (.283): #13 on the season. That's 3 in 10 games.
JoVa: 1/3, BB, K (.253)
Banuelos: 5.2 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 3 K. The walks are back, but not a terrible outing.
Whelan: .2 IP, H, ER, BB (2.3 ERA)

AA Trenton: L 2-3 to Harrisburg. L: Pope
Krum: 0/4, RBI, 2 K (.241)
Kruml: 0/3, BB, K, CS (.288): Good to see him back. Probably just needs a couple of days to shake the rust.
R-Ly Lyerly: 1/4, 3B, K (.258)
Melkman Mesa: 2/4, 2B, K (.239).
Boilin Zoilo Almonte: 0/4, 2 K (.262). He's done okay, but he does seem a little bit overmatched at this level. I'll give him some time though, since he does seem to take a while to adjust to each level.
Betances: 7 IP, 5 H, ER, BB, 6 K. Great outing. This is exactly what we are looking for from him.
Sideshow Venditte: 1 IP, BB, 2 K (2.79 ERA)
Pope: .1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, HR (2.57 ERA)

High A Tampa: L 4-6 to Dunedin. L: Black
Honest Abe Almonte: 1/4, R, K (.251)
Walt Ibarra: 0/4 (.290)
A-Rod: 2/3, R, 2 2B, HR, 2 RBI. I don't know who this kid is, but he's really old for his level. (Just kidding)
K-Roll Roller: 0/1, K (.253)
Luke Murton: 0/4, 2 K (.285)
Dee Mack: 1/4, K (.315)
Castrol GTX Castro: 1/4, R, 2B, 2 K (.315)
Gipson: 1 IP, H, ER, K, HR (2.95 ERA)

Low A Charleston: W 3-1 vs West Virginia. W: Kahnle. S: Montgomery
Eddy Sosa: 2/5, K (.263)
Shane Brown: 0/3 (.276)
Vidal Nuno: 5 IP, H, ER, 6 K, HR (2.4 ERA). He's been great for Charleston since converting from reliever.
Kahnle: 3 IP, 2 H, 2 K (4.11 ERA). That's his 2nd long outing in a row with 0 ER. Took him from about a 5 ERA to 4.11
Monte Python Montgomery: 1 IP, BB, 2 K (2.6 ERA). That's his 10th save.

Short Season Staten Island: L 3-12 to Auburn. L: DeLuca
Cody Grice: 0/4, BB, 2 K (.278). He led off today, didn't go so well.
Cheeto Culver: 2/3, R, 2 BB, K, SB (5), E (15) (.278). Looks like he's out of that funk he was in for a while. That's 2 multi-hit games in a row. I'd love to see him finish strong this season.
Ben Gamel the Camel: 0/4, R, BB, 2 K (.296)
Casey Stevenson: 2/4, R, BB, K, E (4) (.291)
Ty Austin: 2/4, 2B, 2 RBI, BB, K (.219). He's starting to come around now at this level.
DeLuca: 1.1 IP, 3 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, K (4.37). That's four really bad starts in a row. Not good.
Cotham City: 2 IP, 2 H, R, 0 ER, 2 K (1.35 ERA)
Richardson: 1 IP, ER, 4 BB, 3 K. The rare walking in of a run without any hits. Yucky.

GCL Yankees: W 12-8 vs GCL Tigers
Ravenous Ravel Santana (Rav 4? I'm tryin out the new nick name): 2/4, 3 R, 2B, BB, SB (10) (.297). No strike outs today, a good sign. 17 for his last 35 (.486). No homers in the last 10 games though. Bust?
Janitor Custodio: 3/4, 3 R, RBI, BB, SB (23). .359/.457/.841 in his last 10 games with 7 SB and 1 CS. The only catch? He only has one extra base hit in that time (2B).
Isaias the hata Tejeda: 0/1 (.339). He left in the top of the 3rd innning for some reason.
Hurst: 2/3, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB, E (2) (.667). Replaced Tejeda at catcher.
Bichette Happens: 4/5, 2 R, 2 2B, 4 RBI, E (6) (.344). Beast.
Matt Duran Duran: 1/3, 2B, 2 RBI, BB, K (.267)
Bubba Jones: 1/5, 3 K (.263)
Henry Pena: 0/5, 4 K (.257)
Mark Prior: 1 IP, H, ER, K, 2 HB. Hitting 2 guys is a bad sign. Gotta get that control.
Rutzkrieg Rutckyj: 5 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 4 K (5.2 ERA)
Hayden Sharp: .2 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 0 K. There's your rude awakening Sharp.
Daniel Martinez: 1 IP, 2 H, K (1.29 ERA). He's got 15 K in 14 innings. He's a bit old for the level though (21).

YEEP 7/28/11: Hungry like the wolves (Matt Duran Duran)

Evil Em VP of the day: Matt Duran (3/4, HR). Image thanks to newrochelletalk.com.

7th rounders Bubba Jones and 18th rounder Hayden Sharp have been signed. This is what I had to say about Sharp when we drafted him.

"18th round: Hayden Sharp, 6-6, 200, RHP HS, He is signed to play at Central Oklahoma. Nothing on his other pitches though, or his command. As a senior he was used mostly as a reliever and had 82 strikeouts. Keith Law on Twitter: Pop-up guy for the draft this year - Hayden Sharp from Morris, OK. Hit 98 on Thursday, lot of 93-96, quarterback committed to Ctrl Oklahoma" He has gotten quite a few comps to Brett Marshall.

Yardbarker on Bubba Jones:  "6-1, 210-pounds, left handed hitting 18-year-old with power out of Edmonds-Woodway high school in Washington. He played catcher, first, and some outfield in high school, but was drafted as a first baseman by the Yankees. He has no agent representing him and a commitment to the University of Arizona."  From what I understand, he is a power bat who will start out at GCL.

AAA SWB: W 6-3 vs Buffalo: W: Carlyle. S: Flores
Russo: 0/4, RBI, K
Montero: 0/4, BB
JoVa: 1/5, R, HR, RBI, 2 K. That's his 24th HR, at least the power is coming back. He's also got 68 RBI. That's some good production.
Laird (Bash Brother): 2/5, 2 R, 2B. The bash brother nickname is in reference to the fight he and his brother got in at the bar, and also in reference to the Mighty Ducks.
A bunch of acquired pitchers pitched tonight, the most significant IMO is Randy Flores: 1 IP, 2 K, 0 ER. Still think he could contribute a lot in the LOOGY role.

AA Trenton: L 3-8 to Richmond. L: Betnaces
Kruml: 0/4, BB, 3 K. This breaks a long hit streak for him. Most of them were 1/4 types though.
CoJo: 0/3, 2 R, 2 BB, K.
Austin BRomine: 1/5, RBI
R-Ly Lyerly: 1/5, 2 K.
Melkman Mesa: 2/4, R, RBI, K. :)
Boilin Zoilo Almonte: 0/3, BB
Betances: 5 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 4 ER, BB, 3 K. This outing is not nearly as bad as it looks. He pitched 5 shutout innings and then let up 5 runs on 6 batters in the top of the 6th. He's not really used to pitching deep into games. Hopefully they're unleashing him a bit now.
Sideshow Venditte: 2 IP, H, 0 ER, 3 K. (ERA down to 2.86). He just keeps doing it at every level.
K-Flan Flannery: 1.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, BB, 2 K. He was the closer at Tampa. Mostly pitched 1 inning at a time. His first inning was much better than the second, I'll give him a free pass.
Pope: .1 IP, Zeros. (0.00 at Trenton, still).

High A Tampa: W 12-2
DAdams: 3/5, 2 R, 2B, BB (.348)
Musketeer Mustelier: 1/6, 2B (.305)
K-Roll Roller: 2/5, 2 R, HR, RBI. 4th HR at Tampa, 13th of the season total.
Seggy Segedin: 1/5, R, RBI, 2 K
Luke Murton: 2/4, 3 R, HR, 2 RBI. #8 for him.
Castrol GTX Castro: 3/5, R, 3 RBI, K, SB (4). Back on track after a bried slow spell.
Nothing of terrible importance with the pitching.

Low A Charleston: L 8-13 to Greenville. L: Rondon
Eddy Sosa: 1/3, R, 2 BB, 2 K
Sanchize: 2/5, 2 R, 2B, 3B, 2 RBI, 2 K. I like it, except for the K's.
Ray-Flo Flores: 1/3, R, RBI, BB, K. The strong work continues.
Recchia: 1 IP, H, R, BB, 0 ER. 2.66 ERA on the season.

Short Season Staten Island: L 4-3 to Batavia. L: Tracy
Mad Mase Williams: 1/4, 2 R, SB (13), BB, (.342)
Cheeto Culver: 1/3, RBI, BB (.296)
Cody Grice: 2/4, RBI, K, CS (1), (.276)
Gamel the Camel: 0/3, 2 K, SB (3)
Evan DeLuca: 3.2 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 5 BB, 5 K. ERA is 2.56 on the season, it's just a performance fart.
Vidal Nuno: 1.1 IP, 3 K, ZEROS. (.72 ERA).
Matt Tracy: 3 IP, 2 H, ER, 4 K. Pitched pretty well actually, but we didn't score enough to win.

GCL Yankees: W 8-3 v GCL Blue Jays. What else is new with these guys? W: Cruz
Jose Rosario: 0/4 (.318)
Brewer (Brewski): 1/2, 2 R, RBI, 2 BB, 2 SB (2). Rehab. He'll be back in AAA soon I suppose.
Isaias Tejeda: 0/3, R, BB, K (.351 - watch out for small sample sizes).
Matt Duran: 3/4, 2 R, HR, 4 RBI. Just his 2nd game, pretty decent start I guess.
Ravenous Ravel Santana: 1/4, HR, 2 RBI, 3 K. Thats HR number 8 on the season. I just worry that this guy has Kelvin De Leon written all over him, especially when he strikes out 3 times like that. (.250)
Daniel Lopez: 0/4 (.300)
Alcantara: 0/4, 2 K (.278)
Justin James: 2/2, R, 2B (.393). Me likey.
Marquez: 2 IP, 2 BB, 2 K, 0 ER. IDK why I'm writing about him, I don't think much of him.
Kanekoa Texeira: 1 IP, K, 0 ER. He's back again.
Mad Cowsert Disease: 1 IP, 2 K.

YEEP 6/30. Jesus "I've still got some power in me yet"

 Evil Em Vee P of the night: Jesus Montero (2/4, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI)

AAA SWB L 7-3 to Norfolk. Warren got the loss.
Montero: 2/4 with 1 HR, 1 RBI. In Norris' interview with Ashmore, Ashmore did say Montero's power didn't come around until this time last year. I hope he's right.
Laird: 1/3 1 RBI
Adam "the Warden" Warren: 5 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 1 K. Everyone's entitled to a meh game every now and then.
Andrew Brackman: 2 IP 2 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 1 HR. Still a mess. I just hope he figures something out this offseason, because he's really far away from where he needs to be right now.

AA Trenton: W 8-6. W: Mr. Garrison S: Horne
Kruml: 3/5, 2 R, 2 SB (25). He's on fire. Starting to wonder if Kruml, and not his evil twin Krum, should have gotten the promo to AAA.
CoJo: 3/5, 2 R, 2B, 1 RBI (.296)
BRomine: 2/5, 3 R, RBI. Consistency, which is what I want to see from him this time of year, which is when he began to tire out last season IMO.
R-Ly (Rob Lyerly): 0/3, 1 RBI, 1 K. 9 RBI in 10 g so far in AA. That's what you look for out of a 1B. The other thing you look for, however, is power.
Chase Whitley: 2.2 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 2 BB, 2 K, H.
Josh BRomance Romanski: 1 IP, 0 R, 1 BB
Alan Horne: .1 IP, 0 R,  1 BB, 1 K, S. A save's a save. 2/2

High A Tampa: Postponed

Low A Charleston:  L 1-5. L: Greene
E Sosa: 0/3, 1 BB
Sanchize: 0/3, 1 BB, 1 K.
Higgy (Higashioka): 0/4
S Greene: 5 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K. When defense fails you, there's not much you can do. They had 4 errors tonight. This was a recurring theme in the minors tonight. He also made 2 of the errors himself though.
Franciso Rondon: 2 IP, 5 K, 0 H, 0 R. Got the promo from SI. Deserved it. Continued his success. 0 ER in 8.2 IP so far this season total.

Short Season Staten Island: W 6-5. W: Nuno
Mason "Mad Mase" Williams: 0/4, 1 RBI
Cito "Cheetoh" Culver: 1/4, 1 RBI, 2 K
Angelo "Bubba Gumbs Shrimp" Gumbs: 1/3, 1 R, 1 BB
Vidal "Nono" Nuno: 5 IP, 5 H, 5 K, 0 ER. Excellent relief appearance. He's done very well in that role so far. (10.1 IP, 6 H, 1 BB, 10 K). 23 though so old for his level.
Pinder: .2 IP, 1 K, 0 H, 0 R, 1 K, S. (2.25 ERA on the season) 4 saves already. I like his poise so far.

GCL Yankees L 14-11. L: Johnson
Claudio "the janitor" Custodio: 3/4, 2 R, 2B, 2 RBI, BB, 3 SB (7). Keep it up kid.
Ravenous Ravel Santana: 1/6, 2 K, SB. It's okay Rav
Junior Bichette: 1/3, 1 R, 3B, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 1 K
Yeicok Calderon: 0/6, 3 K. Yucky.
Dawerd Cruz: 4 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K. The Yankees committed 8 errors in this game. Pathetic. They did also have 6 SB though.

That's it for the night. It's tough to pick a Evil Em Vee P tonight, but I have someone in mind. I'll just say Rondon was a close 2nd, however because he's older and at a lower level, I have to give it up to Jesus tonight.