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.

Four in Keith Law's top 100

Mason Williams ranked #34 on Law's list. Image thanks to bronxbaseballdaily.com

23. Banuelos
34. Mason Williams
55. Gary Sanchez
83. Dellin Betances

Notably, Jesus Montero was #9 and Gerrit Cole was #10.

As far as the Yankees organizational top 10, Keith Law had the Yankees ranked as follows.

1. Banuelos
2. Mason Williams
3. Gary Sanchez
4. Dellin Betances
5. Tyler Austin
6. Jose Campos
7.  Dante Bichette Jr.
8. Austin Romine
9. JR Murphy
10. Slade Heathcott

There are a couple of surprises with his rankings. First of all, Mason Williams ahead of both Gary Sanchez and Dellin Betances. He believes the only component of Mason Williams' game that is missing is strength, and that this will come with time. I can understand that view, but I think throwing him right to #34 was excessive. If he slumps this year he'll be out of the top 100, and then his ranking this year looks pretty bad. I'll say this, I think it is a bold move and I give him credit for that. This is easily the highest Mason Williams will be ranked by anyone.

The next surprise was Dellin Betances all the way down at #83. Law basically makes the argument that Betances is a reliever long term. Seems to be the consensus amongst a lot of scouts, and at 23 you have to start asking the question of whether or not he'll ever get the control he needs to be a starter. This year, however, he won't be restricted to 5 innings per start, so hopefully he'll be able to get in more of a groove. I do think that scouts underestimate his ability to find his delivery in the middle of a game after he's lost it. In fact, I've read several accounts that have had him finding his delivery mid-inning, or even mid at bat. I still have faith that Betances could find himself in the rotation, but Law is right about one thing. He needs to find his control and he needs to do it soon, or he'll be sent to the bullpen.

The third surprise was that Tyler Austin came in at #5. There hasn't been anyone who has ranked him that high yet. He's a solid hitter but he has more question marks than some of the people deeper on this list. For example, even Bichette Jr. is closer to having a position. JR Murphy has the hit tool to go along with the ability to play many positions, not to mention the fact that he has already developed some power. Another bold ranking, which I again don't necessarily agree with but give him a lot of credit for sticking his neck out on this one. That is more than most scouts are willing to do.

Finally, it was surprising not to see Ravel Santana in the top 10. I will assume that this is because of the gruesome ankle injury he suffered last year. If Law had done his homework, however, he'd have realized that by all accounts Santana's ankle is almost fully healed, and he's already running around on it with the same cannon that was strapped to his arm last season.

Anyway, kudos to Keith Law for keeping it real and going with his own gut on these rankings instead of the general perception of the scouting community. To quote Daniel Tosh, "for that, we thank you."

Jose Campos Scouting Report

Jose Campos: Image thanks to snyguys.com

Evil Empire Prospects nick name: Killa Cam

The recent trade, like it or not, of Jesus Montero and Hector Noesi netted the Yankees two pitchers, one extremely promising young major leaguer, and one extremely promising young minor leaguer. Michael Pineda is the major league pitcher they received. Although there is a great deal of excitement surrounding his arrival, he is not a prospect, he's a major league arm. Jose Campos, on the other hand, is fair game for this blog.

Jose Campos is 19 years old from Venezuela and measures 6'4, while weighing in at 195 lbs according to milb.com. Kelvim and Alcides Escobar are his cousins. His statistics have been quite impressive thus far. His first year he pitched in rookie ball, but only threw 33 innings at the age of 17. He posted a 5.73 ERA along with 23 strikeouts. The next year in the same league (VSL Mariners) he threw 57 innings and had a 3.16 ERA with 59 strikeouts and just 19 walks. Needless to say this earned him a promotion to Short Season ball in 2011, where he was nothing short of dominant. He pitched 81.1 innings of 2.32 ERA ball and struck out 85 batters while walking just 13 (1.44 BB/9). That was good for number one in the Northwest League in both ERA and strikeouts. Baseball America ranked him the 3rd best prospect in the league. Did I mention he was dominant?

His fastball ranges from 92-95 and has reached 98 mph on occasion. He locates the fastball very well, as is indicated by his miniscule walk numbers. Scouts say he has a lot of movement with late life on the fastball, as well as some good deception in his delivery. It has also been described as a heavy fastball. He also throws a slider, and curveball which have flashed plus potential. The slider sits at 83-84 MPH with late breaking action, although it isn't a huge break. The curveball is 12-6 but it doesn't have great breaking action. It sits at 73-74, and right now serves more as a changeup since there isn't much break. He also throws a changeup which is in the early stages of development. Here is a great scouting video on him from baseball instinct.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffYFiIAZ70Q

 Scouts praise his makeup, and say he has a ton of poise on the mound. His ceiling is anywhere from a #1-2 starter to a late inning reliever. That will always be the case with a guy this young who is able to get that kind of velocity, movement, and deception on his fastball. The jury is out on his other pitches, but he's got a projectable frame and a great mindset on the mound. He will either start at High A Tampa or Low A Charleston this year for the Yankees. Many are speculating that he will be in high A, but with the depth of our pitching right now I wouldn't rule out Charleston.

Baseball America slots him in as our #5 prospect, as does mlb.com. They put him ahead of Romine. Personally, I want to see him develop some secondary offerings before he is thrown ahead of Romine, so he is currently my #7 prospect, behind Ravel Santana, who I have moved up to #6 since he is making a full recovery from his gruesome injury.

Coming Soon: Rafael DePaula Scouting report.