Introducing Your 2012 Charleston River Dogs. Part 3/3: The Hitters

The River Dogs play at Joseph P. Riley Park in Charleston. The park also has an affiliation with the Citadel. Image thanks to citadelsports.com

Coming off their worse season since 1995, back when they were still affiliated with the San Diego Padres, the River Dogs were in desperate need of an infusion of talent for the 2012 season. The pitching staff looks like it will be improved in a major way from last season, which you can read about here (starting pitchers) and here (relief pitchers). The area that will see the most improvement, however, will be the lineup.

The River Dogs will be comprised of many players who played last season in Short Season Staten Island, and even a few who could make the jump straight from the GCL to Charleston. This will be a fun team to follow this season, although New York fans are most concentrated and numerous in the Northeast where few of us will get to see them play. I'll do the positions in number order, starting with the C and ending with CF. There will likely be a rotating DH.

Catcher- It's funny that catcher is the position this post starts out with, because it's probably the only weak hitting position at this level. Last year, River Dogs fans were lucky enough to watch JR Murphy and Gary Sanchez behind the dish, depending on which part of the season it was. Both are legitimate prospects with significant upside. This year will be different. Some combination of Wes Wilson, Nick McCoy, and Kyle Higashioka will be responsible for the catching duties. None of these players have significant upside, or is ever expected to make it to the major league level. Higashioka has an outside shot to make it as a backup, since he is a defensive whiz who has shown some power in the past. Having Higashioka will be nice for the pitchers though since he is known for his stellar defense. Although unlikely, there could be a revelation by mid-season that could rapidly change the catching landscape in 2012. Isaias Tejeda emerged as a legitimate catching prospect last season with his breakout season in the GCL, which saw him hit .331 with 6 HRs and 5 SB in just 39 games. If he starts off really hot in Staten Island, then he could get a quick promotion to Charleston and get his first taste of full season ball. There's an outside chance he begins the season there, although I wouldn't bet on it.

First Base- 20 year old Tyler Austin will get the lion's share of the reps at first base. He will also see significant time at 3B, with Reymond Nunez filling in at 1B when he's at 3rd. Austin is a 13th round pick out of high school in Atlanta. He's 6'2 and weighs 200 lbs. His hit tool is what will get him to the majors. Finding a position for him will be the major challenge. He's been focusing on his defense in the offseason though, and we have heard from scouts before that hard work translates into defensive improvement, even if the natural ability isn't always there. He put his name on the map last season, when he tore apart the GCL and Short Season Staten Island, hitting a combined .354/.418/.579 with 6 HRs and was a surprising 18/18 in stolen bases in 49 games. I would caution that he is not a player who is considered to have plus speed, so those 18 stolen bases should diminish over time, especially if he bulks up like he must if he wants to tap into his power potential. Hitting for power is something he will have to do if he wants to play 1B in the majors.

Second Base- Drafted as a shortstop, and postulated to be an outfielder in the future by some, Angelo "Bubba" Gumbs will start the season as Charleston's second baseman. A smooth handed fielder drafted in the 2nd round, many scouts felt after watching him last season that he could stick at second base, as long as he doesn't grow too much. The 19 year old also has shown impressive range and a powerful arm. Given his transition from CF though, he still has a long way to go at this position. He's 6' tall, and weighs 190 lbs. His hitting as an 18 year old in Staten Island was a bit inconsistent, but he showed good patience and has a quick, compact swing that has scouts believing he could have some plus power in the future and hit for better average than we saw in 2011. One scout even ranked him as a top 6 prospect in our system. While that may be overzealous, he does have a bright future. He hit .264/.332/.406 for Staten Island last season, with 3 HR and 11 SB in 18 tries. He is a lot more raw still than a guy like Tyler Austin or Dante Bichette Jr., but he's also very young and could continue to improve exponentially with experience.

Third Base- This is the guy that everyone wants to see in Charleston. A supplemental round draft pick in 2011, Dante "Bichette Happens" Bichette Jr. came out of the gate slow in the GCL. People were beginning to question the wisdom of drafting him so high when all of a sudden he exploded and began to mash. As if that weren't enough, he also showed an excellent feel for playing third base, which was a major question coming into the season. Joe Girardi is a long time friend of the family to the Bichette's, so many people felt there was an heir of nepotism to this draft pick. Those criticisms were soon put to rest when Bichette Jr. finished the season batting .335/.440/.507 on the season, with 4 HRs and 48 RBI in 52 games. The scouting report on Bichette Junior is great. If the draft were redone after the season, most scouts agree that he would have been a top 10 pick. The 6'1, 215 lb kid is a tireless hard worker, and knows what it takes to succeed in the major leagues. He has a year round mentor and hitting coach in his father as well. He may struggle in Charleston as the jump from GCL to Low A can be a daunting one, but don't look for this kid to stay down too long. It's possible he will be held back in Staten Island for one extra season, but the Yankees have moved prospects from the GCL straight to Charleston with less impressive seasons than this (see Slade Heathcott). Tyler Austin will also get some time at this position, and both will also DH at times.

Short Stop- Cito "Cheeto" Culver was the first round draft pick in 2010. Similarly to Bichette, he was signed very quickly and played a full season in the GCL in 2010. He now has two seasons under his belt and his hitting statistics have been disappointing, although he has flashes of brilliance. Cito has excellent speed and has all of the tools to be a fantastic defender, which is extremely important at short stop. He's 6'0 tall and weighs 190, which is a reasonably good size for a short stop. He's got excellent range, plus arm strength, and good hands. The error totals were high in his first two seasons, but this is very typical of even the best young short stops. Most of the question marks surrounding Culver are with his bat, mainly from the left side. There has actually been talk amongst scouts that he might be well served to abandoned switch hitting and bat from the right side full time. This is extreme at this stage of the game, but it's not out of the question. Last year he hit .324 from the right side, and .224 from the left side. These are short season statistics so the sample size isn't particularly large, but this will be the main thing to watch as Culver continues to develop. He will also look to be more aggressive on the basepaths. Cito had 10 stolen bases in 10 tries last season. He's a very smart base runner, and with experience he should become more aggressive as well. A very patient hitter, Culver will greatly improve his average (.250) and on base percentage (.323) this year if he starts hitting better from the left side. Some scouts are saying his lefty swing is pretty out of whack right now, so he may have a long way to go. We knew Cito Culver was a long term project when we drafted him, but the common thread with many long term projects is their athleticism, and Culver lacks nothing in that department. There is no reason he shouldn't improve upon his numbers from last year given his athleticism.

Left and Right Field-  Okay I'm going a little bit out of order here, but you'll see why I chose to lump left and right field together in a moment. The outfield situation in Charleston for 2012 is going to be unique. There are three players who could be first class centerfielders for the River Dogs. Not all of them can play there, so Mason Williams will be the every day guy in CF. The other two guys are Ravel Santana and Daniel Lopez. They will compete for playing time with Ben Gamel in left and right field. The question remains whether Santana will be fully recovered from his gruesome leg injury (broke his leg below the knee) in time to start 2012 in Charleston, or whether he will be taking it slow and may spend time in Staten Island first. Talent wise, he would be playing for the River Dogs. Daniel Lopez is a different question. The question with him is whether or not the front office thinks he's ready for full season baseball. Ben Gamel is basically a lock to be on the roster, and will probably spend time in both left and right field.

"Ravenous" Ravel Santana is a beast. At 6'2, 175 lbs he has a lot of room to beef up, and yet he's already hitting homeruns at an impressive rate. With his incredibly quick hands, advanced patience for his age, and power to all fields, he was able to hit 9 homeruns in just 41 games and 162 at bats. This is a small sample size, but at that rate, he would hit 30-35 homers in a 160 game season. This was all at the age of 19, so he has a lot of time to develop even more power. He also has considerable speed. He managed to steal 10 bases in 13 attempts on the short season. In the field, the tool that sticks out the most is how the ball comes out of his hand like it's being shot out of a cannon. I have not read a single source that denies the sheer power that is his arm. He is a 5-tool athlete, plain and simple. The triple slash from 2011 is .296/.361/.568. His future success largely depends on how well he recovers from that injury. Apparently he's running around pretty well right now according to twitter comments by Bichette Jr., but we've seen with David Adams how debilitating these injuries can be.

Ben Gamel is another 20 year old with an excellent plate approach. He doesn't have the size or tools of Ravel Santana, but he's a lefty with a nice swing. He's listed at 5'10, and 156 lbs according to milb.com, but he's probably closer to 5'11 and 165 now. Gamel hasn't shown much in the way of power yet (2 HR las season), and his frame isn't all that projectable. What he offers is a solid but not great defender with a great plate approach. He hit .289/.379/.432 last season. He's got some speed, and he stole 7 bases this past season. If he can develop some power then he can put himself on the map, but he doesn't currently have any one tool that separates him from the pack besides patience.

The main question with Daniel Lopez is where he starts 2012. Given that he is so raw, he may well end up in Staten Island. He's an extremely speedy runner with developing power, and he has shown the ability to hit for average early on in his career. Yet another 20 year old, he is 6'2 and has a very stringent offseason workout program. For more info on him, check out my post about him at Daniel Lopez: Super Sleeper.

Center Field- I have unintentionally saved the most exciting prospect that will be in Charleston in 2012 for last. Mason "Mad Mase" Williams was a 5th round draft pick signed for $1.45 million. He's got speed and a sweet swing that allowed him to hit .349 and take home MVP honors in the New York Penn League last season. He had 3 homeruns and stole 28 bases in 68 games last season and was caught 12 times. His OBP was .395 and he had a slugging percentage of .468. The only question with Williams is if/when the power develops. If Mad Mase is able to develop power, he could be a Curtis Granderson type in the future. If not, he could develop into a better version of Brett Gardner, as his swing is naturally much better than Gardner's. Scouts are drooling over Mason Williams and every time trade talks come up with other teams, his name is brought up by the trading partner.

That completes the three part series on the Charleston River Dogs. You'd be hard pressed to find a team more exciting than this one in the entire system. With the exception of maybe the Empire State Yankees (AAA), there is no team that even comes close to the amount of high ceiling talent that will start the season in low A. There are at least 4 players who could be top 100 prospects with a strong showing this season (Campos, Bichette Jr., Ravel Santana, and Tyler Austin), and one who already is (Mason Williams). It's unlikely all will meet expectations, but if one or two of them do then the farm system is going to look pretty healthy by year's end.

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."

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 8/11/11: Lower Level OF Show their Mettle

Evil Em VP: Lance Pendleton. The ultimate Yankees underdog.

By the way, some old friends have been promoted to the majors recently. Congratulations are in order for Arodys Vizcaino and Jimmy Paredes, yes Jimmy Paredes, who are former members of the Yankees farm recently called up for the Braves and the Astros respectively. I don't think Paredes would have ever seen action for the Yankees, but I wish we never parted ways with Vizcaino for the likes of, you guessed it, Javier Vazquez.

AAA SWB: L 0-1 to Gwinnett. L: Pendleton
Russo: 0/4, 2 K (.282)
Jesus Montero: 1/4, K (.282)
JoVa: 1/3, 2B, K (.253)
Laird: 0/3, 2 K (.264) He's in an 0/17 skid after his hot streak coming off his first big league experience. I guess the adrenaline rush has officially worn off.
Pendleton: 5 IP, 6 H, ER, BB, 2 K, HR (3.02 ERA). I'd venture to guess that on most other teams he would be a part of the major league bullpen right now, whatever his role might be.
Brack Attack: 3 IP, H, 2 K (6.86 ERA)

AA Trenton: W 8-5 vs Binghamton. W: Halsey. S: Pope
Krum: 1/3, HR, 2 RBI, BB, K (.246). 1st homer of the year.
CoJo: 0/5, 2 K. 6 for 40 rut (.150)
R-Ly Lyerly: 3/5, 2 R, SB (1) (.258). Nice game
Melkman Mesa: 1/3, 2 R, BB, 2 K (.235). That average is slowly climbing, but I think it's safe to say he took a large step back this season no matter what he does to finish it off.
Boilin Zoilo Almonte: 1/4, 2B, 2 RBI, K (.273). Opposite of what I said about Melkman.
Pope: 1 IP, BB, 2 K (1.32 ERA)

High A Tampa: W 4-0 vs Clearwater. W: Brett Marshall
Honest Abe Almonte: 1/3, K (.251). Continues his hot play.
Walt Ibarra: 0/3 (.294)
K-Roll Roller: 1/2, R, 2 BB, SB (1), BB (.255)
Luke Murton: 2/4, RBI, 2 K (.288). With Mujica still playing third base for Trenton and not getting the job done, I can't imagine a promotion is far off for the red hot Murton.
Dee Mack: 1/3, 2 R, RBI, BB, K, SB (1) (.317). I'm glad he at least found his stroke at this level.
Castrol GTX Castro: 1/4, K, CS (3) (.303). He's been managing to stay just over .300 on the season for a while now.
Brett Fire Marshall: 5 IP, H, 2 BB, 4 K (3.88 ERA). Good to see him bounce back after two not so great outings in a row. It's been a long season but he's finishing strong and hopefully he can bring some of this momentum to AA next season.
Kramer Sneed: 1.2 IP, 3 H, 2 K (3.62 ERA). Lefty with a pulse alert.
Rudolf the red nosed Reinier Casanova: 2.1 IP, H, BB, 4 K (4.05 ERA). Keeps bouncing back and forth between GCL and Tampa. I guess their close vicinity has allowed him to do this without having to move.

Low A Charleston: L 0-4 to West Virginia. L: Ramirez
Eddy Sosa: 0/4, K (.260). The way he started the season, I thought he had promise, but given his lack of power and lack of use of his speed tool this season, I'm gonna have to say that I expect him to finish the season as not much more than future organizational filler.
Sanchize: 0/1 (.256). Was pinch hit for in his 2nd at bat. No news on why.
J-Ram Ramirez: 6 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 2 ER, BB, 4 K, HR (4.9 ERA). He's had worse.

Short Season SI: W 7-5 vs Williamsport. W: Gerritse. S: Arneson
Mad Mase Williams: 2/3, R, 3B, 3 RBI, BB, CS (11) (.369). The only flaw in his game right now is the lack of power and the base running. Given his aggressiveness I do think he will eventually work out his basestealing. I think Cito Culver should take a page out of his book. As far as his power goes, he does seem to hit a lot of doubles and triples. Usually this represents gap power which in young players usually translates to real power as they fill out. I am hopeful that Williams will be a bigtime talent in the coming years.
Cheeto Culver: 3/5, 2 R, 2 2B, RBI, SB (4) (.272). He was due for a game like this. Nice job Cheeto.
Ben Gamel the Camel: 2/5, K (.306). Stayin hot.
Cody Grice: 2/5, R, 2B, RBI, K (.288). This trio of outfielders has been great. Including Heathcott, our lower levels are stacked with OF.
Ty Austin: 1/5, 3 K, E (2) (.179). He has had some trouble adjusting between the promotion and the injury.
Reymond Nunez: 1/4 (.288). Seems like he always drops at least one hit. I love that in a player.
Gerritse: 1.1 IP, H, BB, K, 0 ER (1.25 ERA)
Phil Wetherell: 2 IP, 2 K, 0 ER (1.74 ERA)
Arneson: 1 IP, 2 H, ER, BB, K (3.6 ERA)
Not a lot of promising starting pitchers here besides maybe Mitchell, who has disappointed, and DeLuca, but this level is stacked with promising relief pitchers. They've all got a ways to go but I can ring off about 10 guys who have had a lot of success at this level this season. Matt Tracy, Nuno, Gerritse, Pinder, Wetherell, Cotham, Recchia, Arneson, Richardson, Montgomery. That's a lot of guys, and even if one of them makes the majors, then that would be a success. I like our chances that 1/10 could do it.

GCL Yankees: Double Header
Game 1: W 6-4 vs GCL Phillies. W: Encinas
Ravenous Ravel Santana: 1/4, R (.280)
Janitor Custodio: 3/4, R, 2 RBI, SB (22) (.323). Looks like he's gonna end this season the same way he started it... legit
Matt Duran Duran: 0/3, BB (.256)
Junior Bichette: 0/4, 2 K (.319). It's okay, his mini-slump would end later.
Valera (not the gas station): 2/2, 2 BB (.284).
Bubba Jones: 1/3, BB (.286)
Yeicok Calderon: 0/2, R, BB, K (.236). His season started off very exciting but has ended in some disappointment.
Henry Pena: 0/1 (.259), he'll make up for this pinch hit appearance later.
Daniel Lopez: 1/4, 2 R, 3B (.314)
Gabriel Encinas: 5 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, BB, 2 K (5.10 ERA).
Mad Cowsert Disease: 1 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 K (2.04 ERA)
Hinojosa: 1 IP, H, R, 0 ER, 0 K (2.13 ERA)

Game 2: W 7-3 vs GCL Phillies. W: Rodriguez
Ravenous Ravel Santana: 3/4, 2 R, 2B, RBI, 2 SB (9) (.292). Hell yes.
Janitor Custodio: 0/3, R, RBI, BB (.315)
Isaias the hata Tejeda: 2/4, R, 2B, 3 RBI (.343). It really is hard to pick a favorite on this team.
Matt Duran Duran: 1/3, 2 RBI, 2 K (.262).
Bichette Happens: 2/2, 2 BB (.329). After a mini-slump, this was a great game for him (he was 3 for his last 23 before this game)
Henry Pena: 2/3, R, 2B (.300)
Justin James: 0/2, 2 R, BB (.306). He's in a little mini-slump of his own (2 for his last 19)
Tay-Mo Morton: 4 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 K (2.16 ERA).
Edwar Rodriguez: 3 IP, H, BB, K (3.23 ERA)

YEEP 8/9/11- Jesus Homers, the Janitor Cleans Up

Evil Em VP: Claudio Custodio: 3/3, 2 SB.

The Yankees have signed 25th rounder Adam Smith (I guess his parents had never heard of Adam Smith's Trading Company, or maybe they had). They also signed a Czech catcher who played in American high schools for 2 years named Daniel Vavrusa. I doubt if he's any good, European baseball talent rarely is.

AAA SWB: Double Header
Game 1: W 4-3 vs Gwinnett Braves. W: Whelan
Russo: 1/3, R, RBI, BB, K (.285)
Dan Brewski Brewer: 2/4, R, 2 K (.275)
Jesus Montero: 1/3, HR, 2 RBI, BB (.285). That's 12 now and counting.
JoVa: 0/3, BB (.249). No strikeout for once.
Laird: 0/2, BB (.271)
Adam the Warden Warren: 6 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K. Meh outing.
Whelan: 2 IP, H, 2 K. Great job salvaging a win.

Game 2: Probably gonna have to wait until tomorrow for the update on this one.

AA Trenton: L 5-6. L: Stoneburner. They almost came back in the 8th and 9th but fell one run short
Krum: 0/5, RBI, K, SB (17). Not a day you want out of a leadoff guy, although the SB is nice.
CoJo: 1/4, R, L (.269)
R-Ly Lyerly: 1/4, HR, 3 RBI, K (.254). He was a huge part of the 8th inning portion of the comeback. That's his 4th HR since the promotion.
Melkman Mesa: 1/3, 2B (.234)
Boilin Zoilo Almonte: 0/3, BB, K (.272)
Graham Cracker Stoneburner: 5.2 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, HR. Not his best outing, but still has a 2.86 ERA.
Josh Bromance Romanski: 1.1 IP, 3 H, ER, 3 K (2.04 ERA)
Pope: 1 IP, K (1.42 ERA)

Short Season Staten Island: L 0-1 to Williamsport. L: Wetherell.
Mad Mase Williams: 1/4, 2B (.359)
Cheeto Culver: 0/4, (.270), E (13). Not liking the recent errors.
Ben Gamel the Camel: 1/4, 2 K (.295)
Cody Grice: 0/4, K (.284)
Reymond Nunez: 1/4, 2B (.295)
Casey Stevenson: 2/3 (.285)
Tyler Austin: 0/3, BB (.143) Back from injury finally, hopefully he picks up where he left off at GCL.
Bryan Mitchell: 6 IP, H, BB, 2 K (4.82 ERA). We have a Bryan Mitchell sighting. Consistency is the key.
Paullus: 2 IP, H, BB, 2 K (4.74 ERA)
Wetherell: .2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, K (1.93 ERA): Must have been screwed by Cheeto's error.

GCL Yankees: L 3-4 to GCL Blue Jays: L: Polanco
Ravenous Ravel Santana: 3/4, R, 2B, K, SB (7) (.281). His season is within respectability, and he's young with great tools. He's on his way.
Janitor Custodio: 3/3, R, 2B, BB, 2 SB (21) (.308). This kid just continues to exceed expectations, and I will continue to cheer for him. He's 21/22 on the season in SB as well.
Isaias the Hata Tejeda: 0/4, RBI, K (.337)
Junior Bichette: 0/3, 3 K (.329)
Matt Duran Duran: 2/3, HR, 2B, 2 RBI (.278). Second homerun of the season.
Bubba Jones: 0/3, 3 K. He and Bichette were aweful today.
Daniel Lopez: 0/3 (.316)
Justin James: 0/3, K (.319)
Mark Prior: 1 IP, H, BB, 2 K (0.00 ERA)
Reynaldo Polanco: 3.1 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 2 K (5.04 ERA). His first bad one in a while, I'll excuse it.
Checo: 1.2 IP, H, BB, 3 K (2.79 ERA)

YEEP 8/3/11: One Sanchize fits all.

Evil Em VP: Gary Sanchez (2 HR). Image thanks to  www.puristbleedspinstripes.com
AA Trenton: L 2-3. L: Romanski
CoJo: 1/4, K (.274)
Boilin Zoilo Almonte: 1/4, SB (2) (.284). He's faring pretty well here so far. I'd like to see the power come around though.
R-Ly Lyerly: 0/4, 2 K (.259). He's just 7 for his last 41 (.171), and 0 for his last 14. Got to get it together R-Ly.
Melkman Mesa: 2/4, R, 2B, 2 K (.233)
Dee Mack: 1/3 (.248).
Graham Cracker Stoneburner: 7 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, BB, 4 K (1.86). Nice outing, keep it going brah.
Josh Bromance Romanski: 1.2 IP, H, ER, 2 K, HR. Got the loss, but he's been so good at this level so far (1.65 ERA).
Pope: .1 IP, Zeros.

Low A Charleston: L 3-7 to Asheville. L: Evarts
Higgy Higashioka: 0/3 (.257)
Ray-Flo Flores: 1/4, R
Sanchize: 3/4, 2 R, 2 HR, 3 RBI, K (.251). That's numbers 13 and 14 on the season. I think he's found his stroke because he is on an absolute tear. That's 4 HR in his last 3 games, 5 in his last 7. He's 10 for his last 28 (.357), with 13 RBI and 2 BB during that 7 game stretch. He's still striking out too much, but hopefully that will dissipate with time. I'm close to saying he's back.
Recchia: 1.1 IP, H, K (2.66 ERA).

Short Season Staten Island: L 5-13. L: Martinez.
Mad Mase Williams: 1/2, RBI, 2 BB, CS (9) (.355). That's an awful lot of caught stealings, but I think I can accept that right now. I like that he is so aggressive because that's how you get better.
Cheeto Culver: 0/3, BB (.284). Seems like he either gets a multi-hit game or no hits at all. He also had another error today. That's 11 in 44 games.
Gamel the Camel: 2/4, HR, BB (.289). That's the 1st homerun of his minor league career. Congrats!
Cody Grice: 2/4, HR, BB (.291). Ditto for Grice. Congrats!
Angelo Bubba Gumbs: 1/4, R, 2B, BB, K (.279).
Reymond Nunez: 1/5, RBI (.300)
Stevenson: 2/4, R, 2B, HR, RBI, K (.287). That's 3 HR for him.
Matt Richardson: 1 IP, R, ER, 2BB, K (2.35 ERA). Not much today in the minors in terms of pitching.

GCL Yankees: W 8-5 vs GCL Pirates. W: Cruz. S: Maines. They're now 27-12. They're in first by 5 games. Records don't matter in the least at GCL, but when this kind of record is coupled with the talent we currently have at this level, it is extremely encouraging. I digress.
Janitor Custodio: 1/5, R, BB, 2 K, SB (17) (.295). His average has come down considerably, but that was bound to happen.
Ravenous Ravel Santana: 4/4, 2 R, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 BB (.276). His average needed a day like this, and just like that it's within respectable range.
Junior Bichette: 1/4, RBI (.322)
Matt Duran Duran: 2/4, 3 R, BB, K (.250). That's more like it.
Bubba Jones: 1/2, R, BB (.250) I'm excited to watch this kid play. Yet another dangerous bat in this lineup.
Henry Pena: 0/2, R, RBI, 3 BB, K (.280)
Daniel Lopez: 1/5, K, SB (15) (.284)
Corey Maines: 1 IP, H, BB (2.25 ERA)

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 7/25/11. Tejeda the hata.

Evil Em VP of the day: Isaias Tejeda of the GCL Yanks. Read on and you'll see why.  Image courtesy of BeGreen90 on Flickr.

Side note: We signed our 4th round pick Matt Duran. Congrats Duran, I think it's a great signing.

AAA SWB: W 15-1 v Syracuse. W: Soriano
Kevin Russo: 4/6, 2 R, 2 RBI. He's been on fire since returning, but he's done this before. He is probably going to be a solid backup who intermittently spends time in the minor leagues for the rest of his career.
Montero: 2/4, 2 R, HR, RBI, BB, 2 K. That's his 9th HR of the season. Now is when he usually turns his season around. If he doesn't get traded at the deadline I would actually expect a call-up soon after. It will no longer matter if he loses his value at the major league level.
JoVa: 2/4, 2 R, HR, 4 RBI, BB. What, no strikeouts? Wow.
Adam Warren: 4 IP, 2 H, 3 BB, 0 ER, 2 K. Not sure why he only went 4, but I do know he could pitch Saturday if Nova isn't ready, so it might have something to do with that.
Rafael Soriano: 1 IP, K, 0 ER
Kontos: 1 IP, 2 H, K.
JC Romero: 1 IP, 1 K. I'd like to take this opportunity to say that he is definitely better than Boone Logan. I do believe it's only a matter of time.

AA Trenton: W: 9-8. W: Venditte. S: Pope
Kruml: 1/5, R, RBI, SB (32).
Boilin Zoilo Almonte: 0/2, R, 3 BB. Gotta like those walks.
R-Ly Lyerly: 1/5, R, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 K.
Melky Mesa: 1/4, R, BB, 2 K.
Sideshow Venditte: 3 IP, 2 H, ER, BB, 4 K (2.94 ERA on the season). Just keep wondering what level he they will start to catch up with him at.
K-Flan Flannery: .2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 K. Has had trouble adjusting, have to give him time though.
Pope: 1.1 IP, H, 2 K, S (2). Great job quite literally saving this game for the Thunder. Still no earned runs since returning to AA.

High A Tampa: W 6-1 v Fort Myers. W: Quintana
Honest Abe Almonte: 0/5, R, RBI, 2 K. He's ice cold again. I can't follow someone who's never had sustained success.
DAdams: 1/5, 2B, 2 RBI (.308) Good to see him in High A.
Mustelier Musketeer: 0/4, BB, K. First bad game in a while (.302)
K-Roll Roller: 2/4, HR (3) (.250)
Luke Murton: 3/5, R, K. Stopped following him for a while, but he was really hot to start off the year and now he seems to be picking it up again. He's 12 for his last 36 with 4 BB, 1 HR and 2 doubles in his last 10 games. He's now batting .273.
Kelvin Castrol GTX Castro: 2/3, 2B, RBI, BB, K (.308). Still kickin on this solid season.
Jose Quintanadana: 5.2 IP, 7 IP, ER, BB, 4 K. He hasn't had a single bad start yet. I think we might have found ourselves another solid prospect. Small sample sizes obviously but he could fill the void that Jose Ramirez has left with his horrible season.

Low A Charleston: L 0-1 to West Virginia. L: Ramirez
Eddy Sosa: 0/3, K. He's come back down to Earth after a hot start (.270 now).
Ray-Flo Flores: 3/4, SB (9). (.272).
Jose Ramirez: 6 IP, 5 H, 5 BB, ER, 3 K. Wayyyyyy too many walks. He's been better lately but I have to believe it's luck.

Short Season SI Yankees: W 2-1 v Tri City. W: Paullus. S: Pinder (9)
Mad Mase Williams: 1/4, CS (6), K. .343 this season, but all the CS are getting a bit concerning.
Cheeto Culver: 1/4, RBI, K (.290)
Angelo Bubba Gumbs: 0/4, 2 K (.280)
Cody Grice: 1/3, R, SB (7). Last time I wrote about how I might have been wrong about him, and since then he has proven that I was right from the beginning, he was a good signing (.280 after a very slow start).
Gamel: 0/3, 2 K.
Gerritse: 1 IP, 2 H, ER, 2 BB, K, BS. His first bad outing at this level. (.61 ERA on the season). Also his first BS.
Ben Paullus: 1 IP, 2 K, 0 ER.
Pinder: 1 IP, H, 2 K, 0 ER (.69 ERA). Their relief corps at this level is extremely impressive, hopefully the success translates to the higher levels.

GCL Yankees: W 7-1 v GCL Braves. W: Morton
Janitor Custodio: 1/5, RBI, K (.321).
Jose Rosario: 0/5, K, (.293)
Isaias "the hata" Tejeda: 3/5, 2 R, 2 HR, 2 RBI. Batting .386 on the season, and he has 5 HR. Coming from a catcher, these are phenominal. I'm curious as to why he hasn't been talked about more because he's only 19 and the 5 HR are over just 19 games.
Junior Bichette: 1/3, R, BB. (.306)This kid has really started to come around. For an 18 year old in the GCL, it is now safe to say that he is raking. he's 20 for his last 40, with 5 doubles, 2 triples, and a HR. He also has 6 BB over that time. Seems like he's a really mature hitter. Had a good teacher.
Yeicok Calderon: 2/5, R, 2B, K. (.266)He's 11 for his last 20, with a HR, a triple, and 5 doubles.
Ravenous Ravel Santana: 3/5, 3 R, 3B, RBI, SB (4), CS (1). 7 for his last 17 (.411). This is a hot team right now.
Daniel Lopez: 1/4, RBI, SB (12). (.325). He definitely has the speed, and he rounds out what is likely the best OF in the GCL, and it's not all that close. (Calderon, J James, Ravel Santana, Lopez)
Marquez: 2 IP, H, 3 K. Rehab.
Taylor Morton: 4 IP, 5 H, ER, BB, 3 K. Love love love this kid.
Agramonte: 1.2 IP, H, 2 BB, 3 K, 0 ER. 20 year old out of the DR. Performed really well in the DSL, and now he's here.

.

YEEP 7/12/11: Just 2 games today

Evil Em VP of the day: Claudio Custodio. He sure is a little guy, but he hits like a grown ass man. Image courtesy of Flickr.


Charleston RiverDogs: L 9-3 to Greensboro Grasshoppers. L: Greene
Eddy Sosa: 1/4, 2 R, BB, 2 K
Sanchize: 2/4, 2 RBI, BB, K. This is the type of line he's gonna need to keep putting up to get where he needs to be by the end of the season so he can end up in Tampa next year.
Ray-Flo Flores: 1/4, RBI, 2 K.
Kyle Higgy Higashioka: 1/4, 2B. I hope they are still allowing him to Catch. He's mostly been DHing.
Greene: 4 IP, 11 H, 7 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 2 HR. This is his first truly bad start in his last 10 appearances. Even after tonight, his ERA is 3.29 in his last 10 games.


GCL Yankees: L 10-9 vs GCL Pirates. L: Cowsert
Janitor Custodio: 2/4, 2 R, BB, K, SB (11)
Jose Rosario: 2/5, 2 R, 3B, K. Good game from him. He's been playing extremely well lately.
Ty Austin: 2/5, R, RBI, K. Beast
Junior Bichette: 2/5, R, RBI, K, CS. Atta boy, now lets follow this one with more multi-hit games, not hitless ones.
Yeicok Calderon: 1/5, R, 3 K. Yikes
Ravenous Ravel Santana: 1/2, R, HR, 2 RBI. HR #4 on the season. Still only batting .247 though. Left the game for an unknown reason.
Encinas: 3 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 5 K.
Varce (BS): 2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
Cowsert: 1 IP, 2 H, ER, 3 K
Maines: 1 IP, 2 K. At least 1 pitcher pitched well today.

YEEP 6/28/11 - Ravenous Ravel

Evil Em Vee P of the night, Ravel Santana. In two games, he was 5/9 with 1 HR, 1 2B, and 2 RBI. Photo courtesy of PinstripesPlus.com


AAA Scranton 9-2 Shallacking by Norfolk.
Lazus Montero (because he's LAZY) 0/3 with 1 BB. Not showing why he should be called up, nor is he proving any recent reports wrong.
Brandon Laird 1/4, 1 R, 2 K. Not like him to strike out twice.
Greg Smith: took the loss. He is in fact mortal. 6 IP 7 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 6 BB, 2 K, 2 HR

AA Trenton 3-1 Win over New Hampshire Venditte gets the win, Horne the save.
CoJo (Corban Joseph)- 3/4, 2 2B, 1 R, 1 RBI. Got his average up to .293, 13 for his last 35 (.371) and 12 BB in his last 10 g.
BRomine: 0/4... he's entitled. Yeah that's right walk away.
R-Ly:1/3, 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K. Keeps proving people wrong!
DeeMack: 0/3 1 K
ManBan (Manny Banuelos): 5.0 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K 1 HR. That's what we like to see, now no more hiccups, okay gangster?
Pat "Sideshow" Venditte: 2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 K. Keeps beating the odds. Tim Norton singled him out as an incredibly hard worker he wouldn't bet against before Norton went down with his season, possibly career ending injury.
BRomance-ski (Josh Romanski): 1 IP, 2 H. Good work out of the pen. I like his LOOGY potential. Sidenote, if Bromance-ski is a LOOGY, does that make Venditte a SWOOGY? I say YES!
Alan Horne, the closer: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 K. Hey, not so bad kid.

High A Tampa 3-0 loss to Brevard County. Hero Heredia took the loss
Honest Abe: 0-4 1 SB
Walt Ibarra: 1/4 1 k
K-Roll: 1/4 1 2B
JR Murphy: 0/4 2 k Struggling mightily since the call-up. I'd be willing to bet Higashioka would be batting better than .111 right now, but I'll give him time to adjust.
Seggy: 1/4 1 k
Kelvin Castro: 0/2 1 BB
Jairo "the Hero" Heredia: 6.0 IP, 7 H, 3 ER 3 BB, 3 k, 3 HR. This outing was on the rough side, and he's lucky no one was on base when those HR were hit because he did let up a decent amount of baserunners. I'll cut him a break on this one though because he's been amazing besides this outing, which to be honest wasn't all that bad.

Low A River Dogs - Postponed

Short Season Staten Island Yankees 11-9 Win over Hudson Valley
Cheeto Culver (Cito Culver): 3/5, 2 R, 2 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K. Alright now he's 8 for his last 22 after this game, I think I'll jump on the bandwagon finally. Still not following Bubba Gumbs Shrimp yet though.
Shane the Mane Brown: Gotta keep mentioning him if he keeps doing things worth mentioning, 4/5, 1 HR, 3 R, 1 RBI. Pitchers can only hope to contain him right now.
Bryan Mitchell: 3.2 IP, 9 H, 6 ER, 3 BB 4 K. As they say where I come from, he got raped tonight.
Gerritse: 1.1 IP, 3 K. He's done a nice job so far! He got the Double U.
Caleb Cotham: 1.2 IP, 3 H, 2 K. Also has done a nice job.
Zach Arneson: 1.1 IP, 2K. Likewise
Paullus: .2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 K, 1 HR. Rough
Pinder: .1 IP, got the illusive save in this one.

GCL Yankees Game 1 - continuation of yesterday's game 6-5 Win over GCL Tigers
Claudio Custodio (SS): 2/5 1 r, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 k. 20 year old kid, not sure where this production is coming from. Last year he batted just .217 in the DSL in over 200 at bats. We'll see how long this lasts.
DAd (David Adams- old enough to be a lot of these guys' dad): 1/5, 1 r, 1 2B, 2 k. Still didn't leave him in the entire game, but I guess their reaaaally easing him back into it. He's hitting .471 so far so it's certainly not lack of skill keeping him down here.
Tyler Austin: 1/5 1 r, 1 HR, SB (3) 2 RBI. This kid can hit. Batting .400 so far, 19 years old. Tough to make it as a 1B though.
Junior (Dante Bichette will herein be called Junior because I'm convinced that's the only reason we drafted him - 3B): 1/3 1 r, 1 RBI, 2 BB 1 K. Does seem to have a good approach. 7 BB in 6 g so far. He'll have to hit the ball at some point though, .105 BA is not gonna cut it.
Ravenous Ravel Santana: 4/5 1 2B, 1 RBI. And he's off. We've heard about this guy's 80 power 80 speed but it appears that maybe he can hit as well. Very Excite!
Taylor Morton: 1 IP, 1H, game suspended after one inning and then restarted today. I like this kid though, he's been good so far and has legitimate stuff.

Game 2: GCL Yankes 3-2 Win over GCL Tigers
Ravenous Ravel: 1/4 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K. I guess this kid is pretty serious
Tyler Austin: 2/3 2 R. Played 3rd in this game, maybe there's hope for him yet. Hasn't had a single walk yet in 7 g, but obviously he's getting some good pitches to hit so let's not fix what's not broken.
Yeicok Calderon (does he even need a nickname with a name like that?): 1/3 1 K.
Jorge Alcantara (Very bad ass sounding name): 2/4 1 2B, 1 K. Batting .500 in the young season.
Mike Gipson (Gip... Mom's like you choose Gip... chooooooose Gip... sorry): 2 IP 2 K. Rehab start, he'll be in Charleston soon. One of the big 3 relievers there.
Edwin Rodriguez: 3.2 IP 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K. 21 year old kid out of the Dominican, he played well there...

That's about it for today, enjoy your night everyone! Nice win for the big boys tonight as well!!!

Lower Level Outfielders

There isn't much in AAA or AA in the Yankees system as far as OF go. Most are either organizational filler, 4th OF ceilings, or just don't have much of a future. Some may sniff the major leagues as a 4th OF or fill in for an injured player, like Golson, Brewer, but are unlikely to stick on any team. We have about 12 kids I'm excited about in the lower levels (High A to GCL). I'm going to list them in order and say why I'm excited and why I have each of them in this position.

1. Slade Heathcott- He's 20. obvious choice as our 1st round draft pick, but this season he has really performed well when not injured. He has shown some improvement with SB and power, but has struggled to stay healthy. He is definitely an outstanding defender, but the key is going to be keeping that shoulder healthy so he will still have a cannon if/when he reaches the major leagues. The Yankees drafted him as a project, someone who they knew would require a year or so of learning and practice before starting to pay dividends. We are starting to see a return on him, and hopefully he continues to improve.

2. Mason Williams-19 yo only in short season A with SI this year, but he's already making a splash with his speed and power. He was a signability guy in the 5th round last season, so we got him later than we should have, and we got a young player whom we can groove in whatever way we'd like. The speed and power are promising, as is his fielding. He is better sooner than Heathcott was, but Heathcott started his second season in Charleston, so it's a little different.

3. Ravel Santana- 19 yo I don't know much about him, but I know he's an international signing who lead the DSL in HR (10) and SB (22) last season. Apparently scouts say he has 80 power and 80 speed. That's one hell of a prospect if he can put it all together. That's a big if though and we've seen how guys like this can fail with Kelvin De Leon and Melky Mesa. He's in the GCL this season.

4. Ramon Flores- Another 19 yo. In Low A, he has shown an advanced approach at the plate. He has cooled down with his average and power, but continues to draw walks. This advanced approach could get him far, but he's going to need to keep improving his power numbers, and hit for a better average than he has so far this season... .254/.373/.399/.772

5. Zoilo Almonte- 22 yo. He's in high A, probably close to a AA promotion if his current hot streak continues. He had a similar hot streak at the same time last season, but it came to a halt when he was promoted to high A. This season, however, he has almost as many HR in less than 1/2 the games of last season. He also has stolen bases at a higher rate, and has similar OBP and avg tendencies, but is striking out at a lower rate for sure. He's OPSing at .869. 22 yo in High A is a red flag though.

6. Yeicok Calderon- 19 yo.He has solid power (8 HR in DSL last season), and hits for a solid avg, but it remains to be seen if these skills will transfer stateside. So far, so good .278/.350/.666/1.07 in very limited sample size, 2 HR and 2 SB as well.

7. Eduardo Sosa- Venezuela- 20 yo in low A with a lot of speed and an advanced approach at the plate. Strikes out too much but also draws a lot of walks and knows how to get on base. 10 SB in 11 attempts. Not much power.

8. Jorge Alcantara- 19 yo in GCL- showed an advanced approach in the DSL. Has showed some power and a good approach in the GCL so far. He'll likely see a lot of time in the OF since Bichette is the 3B there. Definitely a guy to watch. .433 OBP in the DSL last season.

9. Ben Gamel- 19 yo. have read a lot about his potential, it's not as high as some of the others but some project him as a solid OF. Enough to dream on a bit I suppose. Jury's still out.

10. Angelo Gumbs- still 18. Hasn't had much success so far, and has mostly played SS, but projects as a 2B/OF. We will see what this kid has to offer, he's a 2nd round pick so he could be good. Has shown a good amount of speed so far, hopefully getting some experience under his belt will help.

11. Shane Brown- 23 yo in SI. Realistically he shouldn't be on this list but he has started off really hot this season (1 HR, .375/.464/.542/1.006), so I put him on here as an outside chance, eg. a Neil Medchill/D'eangelo Mack type who are unlikely to pan out.

12. Henry Pena- 20 yo, GCL- almost didn't put him on the list, but I'll wait till he comes back to pass judgment. I've heard good things but haven't seen any come to fruition.

Long shots/honorable mention- Cody Grice (I liked this pick), Abe Almonte (has been hot lately, maybe his found it, doubt it), and Melky Mesa (severe regression this year)