Some good prospect links

The Yankee Analysts synthesized Keith Law (ESPN), John Sickels (Minor League Ball), Jonathon Mayo (MLB.com), John Manuel (Baseball America), Mike Axisa (River Ave Blues), EJ Fegan (TYA), and Brad Vietrogoski's (An A-Blog for A-Rod) lists to come up with one master top 10 prospects. Hint: Manny Banuelos was #1 by a long shot. http://www.yankeeanalysts.com/2012/02/standardizing-the-top-yankee-prospects-38735

River Ave Blues talks about Burt Reynolds, but not that Burt Reynolds. He's Robinson Cano's cousin and the Yanks just signed him to a minor league deal. http://riveraveblues.com/2012/02/yankees-sign-robinson-canos-cousin-burt-reynolds-64431/

Manny Banuelos, D.J. Mitchell, and Cesar Cabral threw live batting practice yesterday. They faced Ray Kruml, Kyle Roller, Ronnie Mustelier, and Shane Brown, also Yankees farmhands.  Reported by LoHud here... http://yankees.lhblogs.com/2012/02/22/wednesday-morning-notes-live-batting-practice-comes-early/

Andrew Marchand talked with Manny Banuelos over at the ESPN New York Blog http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/yankees/post/_/id/27460/banuelos-i-need-to-improve-fastball

Chad Jennings at LoHud Yankees Blog talked about the one remaining spot in the bullpen, and who will occupy it here... http://yankees.lhblogs.com/2012/02/22/the-one-spot-thats-left/ , a couple of our minor leaguers are mentioned in the article as possible candidates.

George Kontos has an oblique strain, but it looks like he'll start throwing again soon.
David Phelps, Adam Warren, Brett Marshall, Dan Burawa, and Chase Whitley all faced live hitters today. LoHud's Chad Jennings was on the case... http://yankees.lhblogs.com/2012/02/23/thursday-morning-notes-officially-im-nothing/

Greedy Pinstripes did a piece on Zoilo Almonte here...  http://www.thegreedypinstripes.blogspot.com/2012/02/meet-prospect-zoilo-almonte.html.

A while back, they also did one on Tyler Austin. http://www.thegreedypinstripes.blogspot.com/2012/02/meet-prospect-tyler-austin.html
Enjoy!

YEEP 7/31/11. Please, pleeaase don't sweep me.

Evil Em VP of the day. It was slim pickens today, but it goes to Rey Nunez and his 3 doubles at Staten Island.

In other news, Banuelos has been called up to AAA. Exciting, although I'm not sure he's ready. I guess it doesn't matter now because we aren't worried about trading him.Also, according to Josh Norris on twitter, Vidal Nuno has been promoted and will start tomorrow for Charleston.


AAA SWB: L 3-6 vs Rochester. L: DJ Mitchell
Russo: 2/4, R, 2B (.289)
JoVa: 1/4, 2 RBI, 2 K (.248)
Laird: 1/4, 2 K (.274). An uncharacteristic 6 game minor league hit streak dating back to before the call-up. I hope this motivation doesn't wear off.
Krum: 0/3, BB.
DJ Mitchell: 5 IP, 10 H, 6 ER, 3 BB, 2 HR. It's just one bad outing.
JC Romero: 1 IP, Zeros across the board.
Wordekemper: 1 IP, H, 0 ER.

AA Trenton: L 0-5 to Richmond. L: Mr. Garrison (back to his old tricks, I guess he left Mr. Hat in the bronx after his demotion.
Kruml: 0/4, K (.291)
CoJo: 0/4 (.275)
Boilin Zoilo Almonte: 1/4 (.288)
R-Ly Lyerly: 0/3, 3 K. No good.
Melkman Mesa: 0/3, K.
Dee Mack: 1/3, 2 K (.246)
Craig Heyer: 5 IP in relief, 5 H, ER, BB, 2 K (3.94 ERA)
Pope: 1 IP, H, ER, BB (.96 ERA at this level)

High A Tampa: L 0-7 to Charlotte. L: Marshall
Honest Abe Almonte: 2/4, 2 2B. I know I'll regret this tomorrow when I jinx his solid performance and he throws another 0/4 at us, but he's been damn good lately.
Castrol GTX Castro: 0/4, K.
K-Roll Roller: 1/3, 2B, BB (.242)
Luke Murton: 1/3 (.281)
Alcantara: 0/3, 2 K. Give it time, there's a huge difference between GCL and Tampa.
Marshall: 5.2 IP, 12 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 4 K. Managed to keep his ERA just under 4 after a horrific outing, but he's been much better than that lately, hiccup.

Low A Charleston: L 3-5 to Greenville. L: Ramirez
Eddy Sosa: 1/5, 2 K (.264)
Ray-Flo Flores: 0/4 (.269).  His season has been pretty good for a 19 year old.
Shane Brown: 2/3, R, K (.300).
Sanchize: 04, R, K (.236)
J-Ram Ramirez: 6 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K (4.24 ERA). Had an error also.

Short Season Staten Island: W 11-5. W: Rodriguez. Way to save the system from the sweep.
Mad Mase Williams: 1/4, R, RBI, BB, SB (14), (.335). Seems like he's always doing something productive.
Cheeto Culver: 2/5, RBI (.291)
Ben Gamel the Camel: 1/4, R, 2B, BB, K (.275). Nice to see him at a point where a 1/4 day decreases his average.
Grice: 1/4, R, 3B, RBI, BB (.282). same.
Angelo Bubba Gumbs: 2/4, 2 R, RBI (.273)
Rey Nunez: 4/5, 2 R, 3 2B, 3 RBI (.293). Nice to see this Dominican kid starting to thrive.
Wilton Rodriguez: 5 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 5 K (3.93 ERA on the season). Who am I to judge, if you're young (20), and putting up good stats, I should be following you.
Caleb Cotham: 2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, ER, 3 K (1.26 ERA)
Paullus: 2 IP, 3 H, ER, BB, 4 K (2.7 ERA)

YEEP 7/15/11: Who's the new guy?

Evil Em VP of the day: Jose Quintana. 7 IP, 9 K, 0 ER. That'll get you the MVP. Image thanks to... you guessed it, fourseamimages.com

AAA SWB: W 7-3 vs. Toledo. W: Flores
Russo: 2/4, HR, 2 R, 4 RBI, BB. Busy night for him.
Montero: 1/5, RBI, 3 K
JoVa: 2/4, 2 RBI, K
Laird: 0/2, K. He was ejected. Played LF today.
DJ Mitchell: 4.1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 5 BB, 4 K. I bet no one is up in arms about him not eclipsing 5 IP today.
Whelan: 1 IP, 2 H, ER, BS. He's back.
Wordekemper: 1 IP, K, 0 ER.
Kensing: 1 IP, K, 0 ER. I mention him because I read somewhere he was clocked at 93-94 recently.

AA Trenton W 3-1 vs. Reading. W: Garrison, S: Schmidt.
Ray Kruml: 0/4, R, K
CoJo: 1/3, BB, CS
Austin BRomine: 0/2, R, 2 BB.
R-Ly Lyerly: 1/4, K, RBI.
Boilin Zoilo: 0/4, 2 K. Newly promoted, obligatory adjustment period.
Melky Mesa: 2/4, 3B, 2 RBI. Nice game for him.
Nothing to speak of pitching wise. Steve Garrison had a good start, but he doesn't excite me.

High A Tampa: W 1-0 vs Palm Beach. W: Quintana, S: Burawa
Mustelier: 1/4, R, 2B. Promoted from GCL. I guess he's on the fast track. They did this instead of my suggestion to promote Shane Brown. I'm okay with it (not that Cashman cares that I'm okay with it) because both need to move quickly to be useful.
Walt Ibarra: 2/2, BB, picked off. He's 15 for his last 30.
Seggy Segedin: 2/4, K, E. He's starting to heat up at Tampa after a short adjustment period.
K-Roll Roller: 0/3, 2 K
Castrol GTX Castro: 0/3, K, E.
Jose Quintana (Jose Quintanadana): 7 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 9 K. Look what I can do. You thought I was a RP non-prospect, but I'm 22 years old and I can pitch mofo. Oh, and I forgot to mention, I'm lefty... :-/ hehe.
Daniel Burawa: 2 IP, 3 K 0 ER. That's it!

Low A Charleston: L 8-4 to Greensboro. L: Evarts
Eddy Sosa: 0/5, K
Ramon Flores: 0/5, K
Sanchize: 2/4, R, 2B, K, HBP. He's got a little pattern going of 2 hit games followed by no hit games. Overall, he's actually been pretty good lately though.
Nothing worth talking about in the pitching performances here.

Short Season Staten Island: L 2-1 to State College. L: W. Rodriguez
Cody Grice: 0/3, RBI
Cheetoh Culver: 0/4. In the midst of a mini-slump. At least he's not striking out though.
Angelo Bubba Gumbs: 1/4, K, SB (7). He's done a nice job on the basepaths. Still trying to decide who I like better between he and Culver.
Shane Brown: 2/3. He just won't stop hitting. Gotta love the resilience (.475 avg, that's right, AVERAGE, in 61 at bats).
Gerritse: 2 IP, K, 0 ER.
Tracy: 2 IP, 2 K, 0 ER.

GCL Yankees W 12-6 v Blue Jays. W: Polanco.
Janitor Custodio: 1/5, 2 R, 2 B, RBI. 15 for his last 44, 6 2B, 5 BB, 9 SB, 0 CS. (.420 OBP).
Jose Rosario: 3/4, 2 R, HR, 3 RBI, BB, K. Never realized that this kid is still only 19. They must see some serious potential with him to have put him in the GCL last season despite poor numbers. Looks like he might be fulfilling some of that potential now. He's 15 for his last 36 (.416), with 3 BB, 2 HR and a 9 game hit streak in his last 9 games.
DAdams: 2/4, 2 R, 2B, 2 RBI. Played a full game... at DH. They are just being reaaaaally cautious.
Junior Bichette: 1/4, R, BB, K. 4 games in a row with at least 1 hit.
Yeicok Calderon: 1/3, R, 2B, RBI,BB, K, SB (5). Getting tired of RAB misspelling his name.
Ravenous Ravel Santana: 1/3, R, 3B, 2 RBI.
Edwin Rodriguez: 2 IP, H, ER, BB, K
Checo: 1 IP, 3 K.

YEEP 7/11/11: Bombs Away

 Evil Em Vee P of the day: Raymond Kruml. This was a tough one, because so many people had great games today, but based on recent performance, I gave it to Kruml. Image Courtesy of Bare Bones (johnalbone.wordpress.com).

AA Trenton: L 6-7. L: Venditte:
Kruml: 3/5, 2 R, HR, RBI. Average up to .301, 2 HR in 2 G, 5th HR of the season. He's fast too.
CoJo: 0/5, 2 K. Ice cold these past few games.
Melky Mesa: 1/4, R, K, CS
R-Ly (Lyerly): 1/5, R, 2 K.
Heyer: 3 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, BB, 4 K. Not his best outing.
Josh Bromance Romanski: 3 IP, H, BB, 2 K. 0 ER since the call-up.
Sideshow Venditte: .1 IP, H, R, ER, HR. 2 bad games in a row.

High A Tampa: W 10-1 vs St. Lucie. W: Mikey O'Brien
Honest Abe Almonte: 2/4, R, BB, K. He's not cooling down, hopefully any time soon.
Walt Ibarra: 1/3, RBI
Boilin Zoilo Almonte: 3/5, R, 2 RBI, K. Also stayin hot.
K-Roll Roller: 2/5, R, RBI, K
JR Murph: 3/4, 2 R, 2B, HR, 2 RBI, K.
Rob Seggy Segedin: 1/4, R, K
Kelvin Castrol GTX Castro: 3/5, 3 R, 2 RBI. I like what you're doin GTX.
Mikey O'Brien: 5 IP, 2 H, ER, 4 BB, 3 K, HR. I don't like the walks, but other than that, great outing. He'll be in AA by next season IMO.
Daniel Burawa: 2 IP, H, 3 K. He's got half of a season to bring his ERA back from that horrific appearance a week or so ago. I think he will because he had great stuff.
K-Flan Flannery: 2 IP, H, K. Doin what he does.

Short Season Staten Island: W 9-1 vs Vermont. W: DeLuca
Mad Mase Williams: 4/6, 2B, 3B, RBI, K, CS. Two words. Real. Deal.
Cheetoh Culver: 2/5, 2 RBI
Bubba Gumbs: 0/4, BB, K, CS.
Shane Brown: 1/2, 2 R, 3 BB. Will somebody get this guy out please? .552 OBP, 1.25 OPS. Such a shame that he's 23.
Evan DeLuca: 5 IP, 2 H, ER, BB, 6 K. He's killin it. We could use a guy like him at Charleston, wink wink hint hint!
Matt Tracy: 2 IP, BB, K. 0 ER still.
Phil Wetherell: 1 IP, BB, 2 K. I strongly feel he will be a fast mover through this system.

GCL Yankees: W 8-7 vs GCL Pirates. W: Rodriguez, S: Hinojosa
Janitor Custodio: 1/5, 2 R, 2B, K, SB. 10 SB on the season already.
Ravenous Ravel Santana: 0/5, K. He's slowed down significantly since his hot start. Hope he's not just another De Leon
Tyler Austin: 1/3, HR, 2 RBI, BB, SB. He has NOT slowed down. .377 average, 3 HR, 9 SB on the season so far. Excellent production even from a 1B.
Junior Bichette: 0/4, R, BB, K. Looking forward to the 30 day rule to take effect with this kid. Time for him to make some adjustments.
Tejeda: 2/4, SB, CS. Playing very well so far.
Jose Rosario: 2/4, R, HR, 3 RBI. .325 with 1 HR, 1 3B, 1 2B, 4 SB in his last 10 games.
D Cruz: 2.1 IP, 7 ER, 2 BB, 3 K. Baaaaaaaad.
Edwin Rodriguez: 3.2 IP, 2 H, 2 K. 20 year old kid from the DSL. Good outing.
Jo De La Cruz: 2 IP, 1 H, 1 K.
Hinojosa: 1 IP, H, K. 2/2 in save ops.

YEEP 7/10/11: Putting on a Higa-Show

Evil Em Vee P of the day: Kyle Higashioka. Photo courtesy of realgm.com

Scranton Wilkes-Barre Yankees AAA: L 1-3 to Rochester. L: Pendleton
JoVa (Jorge Vazquez): 1/4, 2 K. The JoVa we have grown accustomed to.
Laird: 0/4, K. A rare bad game as of recent.
Lance Pendleton: 5 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, BB, 3 K, 2 HR. I am a huge Pendleton fan, although not because I think he's good or has potential to be good for that matter. He's just a guy who's fun to root for since he was such an unlikely candidate to do as well as he has. I really hope he carves out a niche for our major league team at some point and becomes good at whatever that niche is.
Kontos: 2 IP, H, 2 K, 0 ER. He was so close to being called up as a reliever. My guess is that he will be sooner or later.
Brack-Attack (Andrew Brackman): 2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 ER. Very encouraging. The walk is still there, and he didn't strike anyone out, but still reason for cautious optimism. Now it's just a matter of becoming consistent.

AA Trenton. L 5-8 vs Reading. L: Garrison
Kruml: 3/5, 2 R, HR, RBI, CS. That's his 4th HR of the year to go along with all of those steals. It really is unfortunate that he's 25. You can't teach speed though, and he most certainly has it. He might legitimately be able to help the major league team at some point.
CoJo: 1/4, R, 2B, BB, 3 K. Seems like he's striking out a lot lately. In fact he has 14 in his last 10 games. Slumping a bit after a pretty long hot streak.
Melky Mesa: 2/4, R, 2 RBI. He was moved to 4th in the lineup. Maybe the coaches noticed a reason for his recent hot bat.
R-Ly (Lyerly): 0/3, BB, 2 K. Not so hot.
Sideshow Venditte: 2 IP, H, ER, BB, K, HR.
Pope: 1 IP, 1 K.

High A Tampa: L 5-6 to St. Lucie Mets. L: Sneed
Honest Abe Almonte: 1/4, 3B, 2 RBI, BB, K. What, no steal?
Kelvin "Castrol GTX" Castro: 1/5, R, 2B, K.
Boilin Zoilo Almonte: 1/4, RBI, BB
Murton: 1/3, HR, 2 RBI,1 BB, 2 K. (.269 on the year, his 6th HR).
JR Murphy: 0/1 in a pinch hit appearance.
K-Roll Roller: 3/5, 2B, 2K. Everything he made contact with fell for a hit.
Seggy Segedin: 0/3, R, 2 K.
Jose Quintana: 4 IP, 5 H, 2 R, ER, 3 BB, 4 K. Not bad spot start. He's been doing well all year and he's only 22 so I guess I'll start talking about him.
James "Gipper" Gipson: 2 IP, 2 H, ER, 4 K. <3 the 4 K in 2 IP

Low A Charleston: Game 1: W 2-0 vs Delmarva. W: Nuding. S: Montgomery
Eddy Sosa:1/2, R.
Sanchize: 0/3, K. Boo! Include him in a trade for Ubaldo Jimenez! Just kidding. Not really.
Ramon Ray-Flo Flores: 0/3, K
Higashioka: 1/2, BB.
Nuding: 5 IP, H, 2 BB, 5 K. Excellent outing. He needs to put together a string of these to finish the season respectably though.
Mark Monte Montgomery: 1 IP, 2 H, 2 K. Ma boy is a strikeout machine!

Game 2: W 5-4 vs Delmarva. W: Evarts. S: Dott.
Sosa: 0/4, K
Higashioka: 2/3, HR. I'm proud of this kid because he finally seems to be finding his stroke. It's a shame he got demoted right when that happened.
Ray-Flo: 1/2, R.
Dott: 2 IP, BB, 2 K.

Short Season Staten Island: L 2-8. L: Rodriguez
Mad Mase Williams: 2/5. Keep hitting Mason.
Cheetoh Culver: 0/2, 2 BB, K.
Bubba Gumbs: 0/4, BB, K
Shane Brown: 2/3, 2 R, 2B. Back at it again.
No pitching prospects to speak of today.

GCL scheduled day off.

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)