NY minor league prospect news (2016 edition)

jon abbey

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Bird with his first HR of the fall, also two more walks, giving him seven in 43 fall PAs. It's definitely a good sign that even with a whole frustrating year off, he still doesn't seem to be chasing, and of course any and all power is great to see. It's easy to forget in the wake of Babe Sanchez that Bird's 2016 final two month debut was pretty impressive too, a .871 OPS and 11 HRs in 178 PAs (Pudge Sanchez's record-setting two months by comparison were a 1.032 OPS and 20 HRs in 229 PAs).

Also burgeoning cult hero Gleyber Torres homered again, I am not sure I have ever seen Keith Law this high on a Yankee prospect. The Yankee-related stuff from his chat earlier today is below, the only thing I don't get is why Chance Adams doesn't get more respect, but I guess he just needs to keep doing it...

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KLaw chat -

hi Keith! Thanks for these chats! Regarding Gleybar Torres, 280/340/440 is that too optimistic for his prime? Can he be better then that?

KLAW: Better, I see a superstar.


At this point, is Senzel the obvious hitter you'd want from this last draft?

KLAW: No, Rutherford is.


How did Kaprielians stuff suddenly get better? Wasn't he injured all year? This is really sss for his improved stuff isn't it?

KLAW: His stuff was like this in March and April, then his elbow barked but he never needed surgery - he just rested and rehabbed. Came back this month and the stuff was still there.

He also said that Chance Adams won't be on his top 100 list.

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jon abbey

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BA with their offseason NY top 10 list today. I really like this list, Rutherford and Kaprielian aggressively high even though they haven't had a lot of game action yet and Adams right on the edge of the top 100 overall:

1. Gleyber Torres, ss
2. Clint Frazier, of
3. Blake Rutherford, of
4. Jorge Mateo, ss
5. James Kaprielian, rhp
6. Aaron Judge, of
7. Justus Sheffield, lhp
8. Chance Adams, rhp
9. Dustin Fowler, of
10. Domingo Acevedo, rhp

Frank (Indianapolis IN): How many of these guys are likely to make the BA 100?

Josh Norris: With the caveat that the Top 100 is a long way off, but I could very easily see Nos. 1 through 8 in this system making the Top 100. That’s Torres, Frazier, Rutherford, Mateo, Kaprielian, Judge, Sheffield, Adams. It’s a really, really good system.

Jay (New Hartford, NY): If Adams is able to stick as a starter with the questions concerning his build, what kind of projection do you have for him?

Josh Norris: Adams’ ceiling is a No. 2-3 type of guy. He’s part of the reason I would suggest not trading the farm for a big-name pitcher at this point. I think it’d be prudent to see if they can’t fill the rotation with guys like Kaprielian, Adams, Sheffield, Montgomery etc.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/yankees-top-10-prospects-chat/#JIeRMcCR6tWDA5GO.97
 

jon abbey

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It's worth noting how many of those guys were added in the last year, Torres/Frazier/Sheffield all came in the Chapman/Miller deals and Rutherford was their first round pick last June. Also Kaprielian and Adams were both 2015 draft picks, so that is six of the top eight added in a 14 month period from June 2015-August 2016.
 

Wingack

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Well, what I particularly like is that we don't really see anyone that the Yankees signed in their 2014 Latin American binge on the list. Those guys are still coming.
 

jon abbey

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Baseball America listed the 62 minor league pitchers who touched 100 at some point this season, and NY has 7 of them, including a few I've never heard of. It's worth noting that both relievers NY got from CLE in the Miller deal are here (Heller and Feyereisen).

Anyelo Gomez
Ben Heller
Daris Vargas
Dillon Tate
Domingo Acevedo
J.P. Feyereisen
Luis Medina

http://www.baseballamerica.com/viewpoint/ask-ba-minors-100-mph-pitchers/#ZsIWuEd8S3PuciYL.97

Edit: Some guys were added and subtracted after the initial list, NY is now at a crazy 9 out of 65, Domingo German and Freicer Perez added.
 
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jon abbey

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Cashman said today that Gleyber Torres will start the year in AA "and we'll see where it goes from there." Since presumably he will be at SS, it will be interesting to see what that means for Jorge Mateo, who was already not so happy about still being in high A last year (not that he had a good enough season to come close to complaining), odds seem to be increasing he'll be dealt this winter.
 

jon abbey

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Gleyber Torres is still killing it in Arizona with the league wrapping up next week, 3 for 4 again today, leading the league in BA (.392), OBP (.516!!!), and OPS (1.182), despite being the youngest player in the league at 19.
 

jon abbey

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There is a very knowledgable poster on the RAB comment threads who calls himself "Go Win", and who writes up every NY minor league game in detail when he has time. Yesterday he posted his top 100 NY prospect list (!!!), so I will post it here FWIW, with his comments:

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Yankess top 100 prospect list

Some of you requested in the past that I share my list of top prospects. After quite a lot of work I ended up with a top 100 list. In a separate post I will share a few general notes. If I have the time I will post my notes on these prospects throughout the post-season (I plan to do it in alphabetical order to keep mixing some top and not so much prospects to avoid monotony).

Before the list let me just share that ranking prospects is very subjective and I do not pretend to be right. Also I know my ranking will defer in many cases from most rankings as I have a more positive view on some players (for example I believe Jordan Montgomery will be an impact major leaguer) and a more negative opinion on some others (for example I view Tyler Wade strictly as a UT type due to lack of power which affects his ranking). As I always I will be wrong most of the times but is fun to have my own opinion.

Finally I am not including the summary of the profile of each player in this post (hopely I can share my notes of most of them over time). I am happy though to answer any questions or comments you might have on any of the below names. . . So shoot!

1. Gleyber Torres
2. Clint Frazier
3. Jorge Mateo
4. Aaron Judge
5. Blake Rutheford
6. James Kaprielian
7. Justus Sheffield
8. Chance Adams
9. Jordan Montgomery
10. Domingo Acevedo

11. Dustin Fowler
12. Dillon Tate
13. Miguel Andujar
14. Wilkerman Garcia
15. Mason Williams
16. Luis Torrens
17. Tyler Austin
18. Thairo Estrada
19. Estevan Florial
20. Chad Green

21. Tyler Wade
22. Jonathan Holder
23. Ian Clarkin
24. Nick Solak
25. Kyle Higashioka
26. Trey Amburguey
27. Dietrich Enns
28. Freicer Perez
29. Drew Finley
30. Billy McKinney

31. Dermis Garcia
32. Hoy Jun Park
33. Leonardo Molina
34. Domingo German
35. Rony Garcia
36. Abiatal Avelino
37. Jake Cave
38. Taylor Widener
39. Stephen Tarpley
40. Jio Orozco

41. Oswaldo Cabrera
42. Donny Sands
43. Nolan Martinez
44. Will Carter
45. James Reeves
46. Erick Swanson
47. Tito Polo
48. Josh Rogers
49. Ben Heller
50. Diego Castillo

51. Gio Gallegos
52. Kyle Holder
53. Nick Green
54. Austin DeCarr
55. Nestor Cortes
56. Jacob Lindgren
57. Rashard Crawford
58. Yefrey Ramirez
59. J. P. Feyereisen
60. Juan de Paula

61. Tyler Webb
62. Cody Carroll
63. Chris Gittens
64. Ronald Herrera
65. Carlos Vidal
66. Isiah Gilliam
67. Dan Camarena
68. Johnny Barbato
69. Brody Koerner
70. James Pazos

71. Alexander Palma
72. Daris Vargas
73. Eduardo Rivera
74. Joe Mantiply
75. Mark Payton
76. Nick Rumbelow
77. Nelson Gomez
78. Chaz Hebert
79. Mike Ford
80. Adonis Rosa

81. Caleb Frare
82. Matt Wotherspoon
83. Juan de Leon
84. Jordan Foley
85. Jeff Hendrix
86. Jose Mesa Jr
87. Nick Nelson
88. Ty Hensley
89. Luis Cedeno
90. Brady Lail

91. Ricardo Ferreira
92. Brooks Kriske
93. Dom Thompson Williams
94. Mandy Alvarez
95. Brian Keller
96. Caleb Smith
97. Simon de la Rosa
98. Zack Zehner
99. Daniel Alvarez
100. Gosuke Katoh

Others considered: Connor Jones; Miguel Flames; Angelo Gomez; Drew Bridges; Juan Jimenez; Miguel Yajure; Travis Hissong; Trevor Lane; Dillon McNamara; Angel Aguilar; Timmy Robinson; Brian Reyes; Hobbie Harris; Sean Carley; Juan Escorcia; Rafael Lara; Jonathan Padilla; Jhalan Jackson; Denienger Perez; Daniel Ramos; Kolton Mahoney.
 

jon abbey

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With this followup (also not written by me, but by this RAB poster, if that's not clear):

=================================================================

Following my top 100 prospect list below, let me share some additional reflections:

1. I think an argument can be made that the top 13 prospects in the list could be considered for the Top 100 prospects lists in all of baseball. Torres, Frazier, Mateo, Judge, Rutheford and Sheffield are consensus Top 100 and will make most (if not all) of the lists. Kaprielian (BaseballAmerica), Adams (BaseballAmerica) and Acevedo (MinorLeagueBall) have been included in at least one. Tate has been considered for one (MinorLeagueBall). And I think that a pretty solid case can be made for Fowler, Andujar and Montgomery although they most probably will be left out. It is impressive how many potentially impact players the Yankees farm has.

2. I also think that most of the Top 60 would make several of the other teams top 30 lists. To give an example Cody Carroll is ranked #62 and he is a starter that was part of the SAL All Star roster and sat 92mph to 94mph with a fastball with heavy sink that translated into a 51% ground ball rate and a 3.15 ERA with almost a K per inning pitched. Of course he still needs to continue developing his secondary stuff but the point is that there is a lot to like in many prospects in the system that is impressively deep well beyond the top 13 mentioned above.

3. The issue of lack of starting pitchers at the highest levels of the system is over-blown in my point of view. The combination of Cessa, Severino, Mitchell, Green, Adams, Montgomery and Enns provide quite a few options at the highest levels of the minors. Of course most of them are not yet finished products (for example Severino and Green need to develop their change-ups) and / or need more reps in AAA. But there are more than enough alternatives that I feel confident that at least a couple of them will make a positive impact in the major league club during 2017. And this is without even considering that a pretty interesting second wave of starters will most probably spend quality time in AA this year (led by Sheffield, Acevedo and Kaprielian).

4. The depth of starting pitchers goes all the way to the lower levels of the minos. There are a few under the radar names in the lower minors that have impressive upside, including Freicer Perez, Drew Finley, Rony Garcia, Jio Orozco, Nolan Martinez and Taylor Widener. Also while making the list it was pretty evident how many sleepers are in the lower minors (names like Adonis Rosa, Juan de Paula and others). Obviously the lower the level of the system the most probable is that a prospect will not pan out. But the sheer number of interesting guys makes me confident that starting pitching will be an area of strength of the system in years to come.

5. With the exception of first base I think a solid case could be made that the system is pretty solid at almost every position. This is really unusual. Before this year a few positions were a bit thin including third base, catcher and even corner outfielder. That quickly changed this season. 3B outlook improved significantly with the progress of Andujar and Gleyber Torres profiles as a more than adequate 3B prospect if the Yankees have a need. The depth of catching improved significantly with a finally healthy Torrens, the appearance of Higashioka and the positive signs in Sands conversion. And the corner outfield spots took a shot in the arm with the trade for Frazier and the draft of Rutherford (I think he projects best in left field)
 

BigMike

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Interesting stuff, and the funny thing is his list isn't even comprehensive, as he missed Louis Medina, who supposedly hit 100mph before his 17th birthday.

And there are multiple guys below 50 on that list who have or will play in the majors (K Holder, Feyereisen, Lindgren,)
 

Wingack

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5. With the exception of first base I think a solid case could be made that the system is pretty solid at almost every position. This is really unusual. Before this year a few positions were a bit thin including third base, catcher and even corner outfielder. That quickly changed this season. 3B outlook improved significantly with the progress of Andujar and Gleyber Torres profiles as a more than adequate 3B prospect if the Yankees have a need. The depth of catching improved significantly with a finally healthy Torrens, the appearance of Higashioka and the positive signs in Sands conversion. And the corner outfield spots took a shot in the arm with the trade for Frazier and the draft of Rutherford (I think he projects best in left field)
But even at first base the Yankees have Greg Bird and Tyler Austin that could provide a pretty potent combo moving forward.
 

jon abbey

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Right, but Bird is already graduated and he's talking about minor league depth specifically.

I agree that it's strange that young players who have already graduated to the bigs (Sanchez, Severino, Bird) are ignored in this kind of discussion, it seems like there should be a better way to integrate the two but this is the way everyone does it currently as you know.
 

Wingack

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Oh yeah def. I was just looking at it with a little broader lens. The pieces at first base are there for the organization and it is a position that is shockingly shallow across MLB.
 

jon abbey

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Gleyber Torres finished his Arizona Fall season 1st in OPS (1.158), 1st in BA (.403), 1st in OBP (.513!!), and 2nd in SLG (.645), despite being the youngest player in the league (he turns 20 in December).

Really impressive stint for him, he will likely crack the top 10 overall on MLB prospect lists at some point in 2017, probably a 2018 arrival.
 

jon abbey

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Zack Littell, who Cashman got today from SEA for Pazos, was Seattle's #14 prospect according to mlb.com. He had a very good year in high A ball, including pitcher of the month for his league in June, and didn't turn 21 until October. NY's minor league rotations are going to be really competitive this year internally, they just keep adding more and more talent.

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Selected in the 11th round of the 2013 Draft out of Eastern Alamance (N.C.) High, Littell spent his first two pro seasons in Rookie ball before graduating to Class A Clinton in 2015. He broke out during his second tour with the LumberKings in 2016, earning a promotion to Class A Advanced Bakersfield in July after pacing the Midwest League in strikeouts at age 20.

Littell's heater is his best offering, registering in the low 90s and topping out at 94 with late life. He fearlessly attacks hitters with the pitch, commanding it to both sides of the plate while working down in the zone so as to generate ground-ball outs. His curveball is his primary secondary offering and makes him particularly tough on same-side hitters, but he'll need to refine his changeup in order to neutralize lefties at higher levels.

After not missing bats early in his career, Littell has begun to pile up strikeouts this season thanks to an uptick in his stuff and overall pitchability. Throwing strikes has never been an issue for the right-hander, as he entered 2016 having walked 2.3 hitters per nine innings, and he receives rave reviews for his makeup, both on and off the mound.

http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=milb&player_id=641793#/career/R/pitching/2016/ALL
 

patoaflac

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If all these prospects are so great, it looks like Cashman has been a genius hiding somewhere all these years, and/or all other GM's have become idiots.
By all the noise yankee fans are making, I would think the XXIst century will play as the XXth.
Time for Sox fans to turn to other sports.
 

jon abbey

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If all these prospects are so great, it looks like Cashman has been a genius hiding somewhere all these years, and/or all other GM's have become idiots.
By all the noise yankee fans are making, I would think the XXIst century will play as the XXth.
Time for Sox fans to turn to other sports.
Obviously this is tongue in cheek, and just as obviously Boston is loaded with young stud position players who are already in the majors in addition to a reasonable set of prospects themselves. They are clearly the team to beat in the AL East for at least the next two seasons.

But that shouldn't minimize what Cashman has been able to do in the last year or two to try to strengthen NY's future. Today Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis called Gleyber Torres a top 5 overall prospect in MLB when they make their new lists in January, and Cashman got him plus Adam Warren plus two other guys with promise for two months of Aroldis Chapman, who he had just traded for six months earlier. CIN didn't protect Eric Jagielo today, by the way, one of the top two guys NY sent them for Chapman along with Rookie Davis.
 

jon abbey

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Also, Pazos isn't chopped liver, he is a lefty with two options left who touches 98 and who Hal Steinbrenner was raving about last spring as part of the future. But NY has built a lot of depth with AAAA-type relievers and this allowed them to get some value for one of them while protecting other similar ones and getting a guy who they won't have to protect for a couple of more seasons. Pazos could easily end up being an impact guy in the pen this year for SEA, wouldn't surprise me at all.
 

jon abbey

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Awesome to hear. I imagine his success in the AFL at such a young age is a big reason for the praise.
Yeah, he used the AFL as a showcase like Bird and Sanchez before him the past two winters, but he was a top 20 prospect before that too. Amazing they got not only him for two months of Chapman, but also Warren back for a year-plus as well as two lottery tickets...

One thing worth keeping an eye on in years to come is how Torres progresses in relation to Eloy Jimenez, as Cashman evidently got to choose between him and Torres in that deal, and both look like they could end up as serious studs.
 

Wingack

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simplicio

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I thought people were down on Mateo this year. Surprised to see him up so high still.
 

jon abbey

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Yeah, that's high for Mateo, people really love his speed tool, I guess.

Tyler Wade is the one I don't get, he admittedly is very young (just turned 22 last week) and played a solid SS in AA last year, but he seems to be a singles hitter with very little extra-base power. He did steal 10 bases in the short Arizona league, at least, but I'd have Miguel Andujar over him at the least.
 

Wingack

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Yeah, that's high for Mateo, people really love his speed tool, I guess.

Tyler Wade is the one I don't get, he admittedly is very young (just turned 22 last week) and played a solid SS in AA last year, but he seems to be a singles hitter with very little extra-base power. He did steal 10 bases in the short Arizona league, at least, but I'd have Miguel Andujar over him at the least.
Might be one of those cases where they view Wade to be a lock to be a major league starter somewhere. Regarding Mateo, it seems the experts haven't been that down on him (like the have been with Judge), so maybe they still see the tools developing.
 

Cesar Crespo

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Aren't Mateo's issues more behavioral anyway? He's always been rated on his tools more so than his results.
 

jon abbey

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Yeah, similar to Sanchez a few years ago, he wasn't happy with his slow rise through the system, and now adding Torres, a better prospect at the same position at the same level isn't helping. Torres has started to play 2B some, Mateo has started to play CF some, but I think most close followers of the NY system would agree that Mateo is the most likely of the top prospects to be traded, although things can change in a hurry as they did with Sanchez (who dropped off most top 100 lists entirely in 2015).
 

Wingack

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Yeah, similar to Sanchez a few years ago, he wasn't happy with his slow rise through the system, and now adding Torres, a better prospect at the same position at the same level isn't helping. Torres has started to play 2B some, Mateo has started to play CF some, but I think most close followers of the NY system would agree that Mateo is the most likely of the top prospects to be traded, although things can change in a hurry as they did with Sanchez (who dropped off most top 100 lists entirely in 2015).
I guess they just aren't concerned that his skills have diminished, which is obviously a good thing. The pop and elite speed still seem to be there.
 

Wingack

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So it looks like the Yankees did a bunch of fun little videos for all of their top prospects. There are a lot of them but I will try to dig them up and post them here. They are definitely worth watching.

Gleyber Torres:

 

jon abbey

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Jim Callis was asked today which team's system has the best top 10 prospect list, and he still has NY #1 over CHW despite the White Sox getting two top 5 and two other top 40 prospects in their Sale and Eaton deals.

"I love this question, though I have to add a caveat before I answer it. We formulated the current team prospect rankings on Prospect Watch back before the trade deadline in July. Though we've updated them with trades and graduations, some of them will look much different when we redo the lists again in February. My clear top four is based on what the lists look like today, factoring in both star talent and depth on the Top 10s:

1. Yankees: 2016 acquisitions have bolstered baseball's best farm system -- shortstop Gleyber Torres (one of the game's top five prospects), outfielders Clint Frazier and Blake Rutherford, left-hander Justus Sheffield and right-hander Albert Abreu.

2. White Sox: Winter Meetings trades skyrocket this system up the list, with second baseman Yoan Moncada (No. 1 on MLBPipeline's Top 100); right-handers Lucas Giolito, Michael Kopech, Reynaldo Lopez and Dane Dunning; and outfielder Luis Alexander Basabe arriving from the Red Sox and Nationals.

3. Braves: Shortstop Dansby Swanson, second baseman Ozzie Albies and third baseman Kevin Maitan will team with Freddie Freeman to form what could be baseball's best infield of the future. The success of Atlanta's rebuilding project depends on how well pitching prospects such as Kolby Allard, Ian Anderson and Mike Soroka pan out.

4. Dodgers: The Dodgers are loaded with gifted hitters (first baseman Cody Bellinger, outfielders Alex Verdugo and Yusniel Diaz, second baseman Willie Calhoun) and right-handers (Jose De Leon, Yadier Alvarez, Walker Buehler)."

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/211482510/pipeline-inbox-who-has-best-top-10-prospects/?topicid=151437456