NY minor league prospect news (2013 edition)

mabrowndog

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Following up on last year's thread, here are BA's Top 30 in the NYY system along with age as of April 1 and top level played in 2012. Last year's rankings are in parentheses. Players who dropped in the rankings in red.
 
1. Mason Williams, OF, 21, A+ (5)
2. Slade Heathcott, OF, 22, A+ (10)
3. Gary Sanchez, C, 21, A+ (4)
4. Tyler Austin, OF, 21, AA (20)
5. Jose Campos, RHP, 20, A- (5 SEA)
6. Brett Marshall, RHP, 23, AA (11)
7. Angelo Gumbs, 2B, 21, A- (14)
8. Manny Banuelos, LHP, 22, AAA (2)
9. Ty Hensley, RHP, 19, R (--)
10. Rafael DePaula, RHP, 22, R (--)
11. Mark Montgomery, RHP, 22, AA (23)
12. Ramon Flores, OF, 21, AA (13)
13. Bryan Mitchell, RHP, 21, A- (17)
14. Nik Turley, LHP, 23, AA (27)
15. J.R. Murphy, C, 21, AA (9)
16. Jose Ramirez, RHP, 23, A+ (--)
17. Austin Romine, C, 24, AAA (8)
18. Melky Mesa, OF, 26, MLB (--)
19. Dellin Betances, RHP, 25, AAA (3)
20. Austin Aune, SS, 19, R (--)
21. Dante Bichette Jr., 3B, 20, A- (6)
22. Greg Bird, 1B, 20, SS-A (28)
23. David Adams, 2B/3B, 25, AA (26)
24. Adam Warren, RHP, 25, MLB (15)
25. Corey Black, RHP, 21, A- (--)
26. Matt Tracy, LHP, 24, AAA (--)
27. Corban Joseph, 2B, 24, AAA (--)
28. Cito Culver, SS, 20, A- (12)
29. Tommy Kahnle, RHP, 23, AA (--)
30. Gabe Encinas, RHP, 21, SS-A (--)
 
Those in last year's BA Top 30 who've moved on:
 
1. Jesus Montero, C - SEA
16. D.J. Mitchell, RHP - SEA
18. Brandon Laird, 3B/OF - HOU
21. David Phelps, RHP - NYY
 
And those who dropped out of the rankings:
 
7. Ravel Santana, OF
19. Zoilo Almonte, OF
22. Zach Nuding, RHP
24. Jack Cave, OF
25. Claudio Custodio, SS
29. Chase Whitley, RHP
30. Branden Pinder, RHP
 
BA ranked the Yankees system 11th:
 
They're getting ancient in the big leagues and don't have replacements ready yet. Their best prospects (Mason Williams, Slade Heathcott, Gary Austin, Tyler Austin) are promising but a few years away.
 
Objectively, I think 11th is a pretty generous ranking, especially in light of Banuelos having Tommy John surgery and Betances shitting the bed. Both were once seen as future studs and perhaps could be again, but they were huge hits to NYY's system depth. The collapses of Romine, Bichette, Warren & Culver were pretty major. With the exceptions of Aune, Black and maybe Bird, the bottom half of the rankings are kids who suffered major injuries, regressed significantly in 2012, or were placed in the rankings by default. Adams, Tracy & Joseph are hardly the types of players I envision when I think of "prospects". 
 
But the biggest laugher on that list is Melky Mesa. I mean, #18? Seriously?? This is his 10th year in the Yankees' system, and he put up a .230 BA and .271 OBP in 133 PA at AAA with a 43/7 K/BB last season. Oh, but he hit 23 HR including 14 at AA in 369 PA, so I guess he's now legit. This would be like having a rookie-eligible Darnell McDonald in the Red Sox' Top 20 last year. It's a joke.
 
Anyway, it should be interesting to see whether some of these kids can right the ship. Banuelos will miss the entire year after going under the knife in October, but I see no reason why he can't return to form. There's still plenty of pitching depth, but this team really needs their position players to continue making huge strides. They haven't produced a homegrown starter since Brett Gardner 6 years ago.
 

mabrowndog

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Big blow to #9 prospect, RHP Ty Hensley, who'll miss 2-3 months after hip surgery.
 
The Yankees first-round pick from the 2012 draft, Ty Hensley, will miss the 2-3 months following surgery to correct an impingement in the right hip.
 
The surgery will be performed Wednesday by Dr. Bryan Kelly, the same surgeon who performed Alex Rodriguez’s surgery.
 
“He had a pulled abdominal and it turned out this was the cause,” Senior VP of Baseball Operations Mark Newman said.
 
Hensley is a 6-foot-5, 220-pound right-hander who the Yankees selected out of Santa Fe High School in Oklahoma. The 19-year old pitched in five games last year in the Gulf Coast League going 1-2 with a 3.00 ERA.
 

jon abbey

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Nuno will be 26 in a few months, doesn't throw very hard, and pitched in AA last year.
 

terrynever

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jon abbey said:
Nuno will be 26 in a few months, doesn't throw very hard, and pitched in AA last year.
And you're absolutely right about those details. But baseball history is filled with the stories of players who made an adjustment at some point in their career that took them from suspect to prospect. Nuno added a changeup last year and pitched well in AA ball. Is he still a suspect, or is he a young lefty ready to blossom? We'll find out this season as he makes the jump to Scranton. Whether he gets a chance to displace prospects who were drafted higher is another story. The minor leagues are full of players like Nuno who have to wait in line while more prized prospects get to flop time and again, season after season.
 

jon abbey

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He might be a lefty ready to semi-blossom, but he's not young.
 

terrynever

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jon abbey said:
He might be a lefty ready to semi-blossom, but he's not young.
Age is relative. He seems pretty young to me!
 
Seriously, if this season turns into a disaster, we're going to see more than Nuno up in the big leagues. I just like his approach. He throws strikes to the corners, mixes his pitches, and the change is a plus pitch for him. And he seems very composed on the mound.
 

terrynever

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El Nuno opening night starter for Scranton. Tosses 4 scoreless, then touched for 2 runs in fifth before getting yanked. 4.2 innings, 3 hits, 6Ks. No walks. 79 pitches, 55 strikes. Gave up a two-run homer with no outs in fifth. Quick hook?
 

jon abbey

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I was watching that box, it looked like he was on an 80 pitch limit.
 

jon abbey

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Rafael DePaula with an impressive stateside debut so far for low A Charleston: 4 2 0 0 1 10, only 60 pitches.
 

jon abbey

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I jinxed him, he lost it a bit in the 5th. Final line: 4.1 5 2 2 1 11
 

jon abbey

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Terry's boy Cito Culver with his first career multi-HR game, he is still only 20 (21 in August).
 
Nuno/Montgomery with a combined complete game loss (2-1) in AAA, combined line of 9 5 2 2 0 11.
 

terrynever

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jon abbey said:
Terry's boy Cito Culver with his first career multi-HR game, he is still only 20 (21 in August).
 
Nuno/Montgomery with a combined complete game loss (2-1) in AAA, combined line of 9 5 2 2 0 11.
Good for Cito but Nuno is my boy. Him and Mason willams. Monty is your boy. He had 5 Ks in two innings but took the loss.
Seven innings of 3-hit ball for Nuno.

I think it's going to be a fun year to follow these guys. Didn't even mention Sanchez yet. He could be in Trenton by July.
 

terrynever

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Dellin Betances gave up six runs in 2/3 of an inning today against Buffalo. Scranton loses, 6-1.
 

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Vidal Nuno, 6 innings tonight against Rochester, 0 runs, 4 hits, 1 walk, 8 Ks. Prospect yet?
 
This kid might be the Yanks' No. 4 starter in about two months. Nova and Hughes will have to continue to suck for that to happen. I believe they can do it.
 

jon abbey

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Putting up numbers in AAA doesn't automatically make you a prospect, you know that. Nice to see him doing it, though.
 
Phelps is good, and Wang will likely be ahead of Nuno also, but he's got a shot certainly. He's not on the 40 man roster (neither is Wang), which won't help him.
 

terrynever

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jon abbey said:
Putting up numbers in AAA doesn't automatically make you a prospect, you know that. Nice to see him doing it, though.
 
Phelps is good, and Wang will likely be ahead of Nuno also, but he's got a shot certainly. He's not on the 40 man roster (neither is Wang), which won't help him.
This is sustained quality pitching since last summer. If he keeps getting hitters out at this rate, something's going to happen, especially if the 4-5 or even just the 5 spots in the rotation continue to struggle. Int. Lg. hitters batting .159 vs. Nuno in three starts covering 17.2 innings, which is a very small sample size, of course.
 
I'm just saying if Nuno continues to baffle hitters for two more months, and the back end of the rotation is still shaky, the kid gets a shot.
 

jon abbey

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terrynever said:
This is sustained quality pitching since last summer. If he keeps getting hitters out at this rate, something's going to happen, especially if the 4-5 or even just the 5 spots in the rotation continue to struggle. Int. Lg. hitters batting .159 vs. Nuno in three starts covering 17.2 innings, which is a very small sample size, of course.
 
I'm just saying if Nuno continues to baffle hitters for two more months, and the back end of the rotation is still shaky, the kid gets a shot.
 
Oh, I agree. That still doesn't make him a prospect, though.
 

terrynever

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jon abbey said:
Oh, I agree. That still doesn't make him a prospect, though.
Nova holds the key to Nuno's future. I hopes he rights himself quickly, beginning tonight, because of his legit stuff. In his final 13 starts of 2012, his ERA was 6.36, and he didn't look good against Detroit last week, even though he thought he did. Phelps likely gets the first crack at No. 5 if Nova stumbles for another three or four starts. Then Nuno. I can't see Wang coming back at this point. It has been too long.
 
I don't agree with you about Nuno's status. He's a prospect. Lefty pitchers sometimes take longer to develop. Maybe he's not a prospect in the real sense of the word, since he turns 26 soon, but he is a contender for a spot in the rotation, either this year or next. He is the most advanced of the AAA starters as he combines control with solid stuff. Maybe that's because the other "prospects" have been so spotty.
 
Having been around minor league baseball here in Pawtucket for 30 years, one of the things that really bugged me was the line between prospects and suspects. Prospects are the players the organization drafted high, or traded talent for. They get first crack at everything. Betances is a great example. Brackman was the same way before him. How long do you wait on these guys? In Brackman's case, five years. They look like the same pitcher to me, tall and erratic.
Suspects are the guys drafted low, or undrafted, and keep getting passed over by the big team. I think Nuno can pitch his way out of that mold because he is lefthanded and still reasonably young.
 

jon abbey

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You're just arguing semantics, and I'm not sure why. David Phelps has also done nothing but get guys out his entire career, including last year in the bigs, and he still isn't in the rotation, in large part because he was never deemed a serious prospect. That's just the way it works, and it's overall not really irrational (obviously some guys defy the odds). Phelps is ahead of Nuno, Warren might be also, and Wang definitely will be if he looks like he did in the WBC once he gets to AAA (which I believe is supposed to happen in the next week or so).
 
Anyway, Nuno could come up and dominate in the major league rotation for the rest of the season, and he still wouldn't be a prospect. He would be a successful major leaguer, though, which would be great.
 

terrynever

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jon abbey said:
You're just arguing semantics, and I'm not sure why. David Phelps has also done nothing but get guys out his entire career, including last year in the bigs, and he still isn't in the rotation, in large part because he was never deemed a serious prospect. That's just the way it works, and it's overall not really irrational (obviously some guys defy the odds). Phelps is ahead of Nuno, Warren might be also, and Wang definitely will be if he looks like he did in the WBC once he gets to AAA (which I believe is supposed to happen in the next week or so).
 
Anyway, Nuno could come up and dominate in the major league rotation for the rest of the season, and he still wouldn't be a prospect. He would be a successful major leaguer, though, which would be great.
Okay, I'll agree with the last part. You never can have enough starters. Having two or three starters pitching well in the high minors is important to the big team's success.
In 2014, it's likely the Yanks will let Hughes depart rather than pay him $10M per year. If Nova flops, then Phelps and either Warren or Nuno could be the 4-5 starters in 2014, with Banuelos eventually replacing Nuno when he gets healthy.
I agree that Warren is ahead of Nuno. It would be great if he is effective as the long man, the role they can't really afford to have Phelps continue if Nova/Hughes don't wake up soon.
It's a good baseball conversation early in the morning, Jon. Now I'm going to go walk the dog.
 

jon abbey

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They're going to need more guys than that next year if they stick to this $189M thing, because it won't be easy getting one of Kuroda and Pettitte under that number, let alone both.
 

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jon abbey said:
They're going to need more guys than that next year if they stick to this $189M thing, because it won't be easy getting one of Kuroda and Pettitte under that number, let alone both.
I think they have to let Kuroda go due to the budget along with Hughes. Pettitte can make his own call because the Yanks can't turn him down unless he has a sub-par season. So you're looking at CC, Pettitte, Nova, Phelps, Warren, Nuno and maybe Banuelos is ready. That's a lot of ifs.
 

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Mark Montgomery so far in 2013:
7 IP, 4 hits, 1 ER, 0 BBs, 12 Ks.
 
Minor league career to date:
99.2 IP, 60 hits, 19 ER, 38 BBs, 162 Ks (401 total batters faced).
 
Craig Kimbrel career minor league numbers:
151 IP, 74 hits, 31 ER, 95 BBs, 242 Ks.
 
It is simply unfair that the Yankees will have this kid replacing Rivera.
 

jon abbey

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I hope he replaces Joba before that, as I said in the game thread. Those K/9 numbers at every level so far, yowza.
 

jon abbey

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3 HRs for JR Murphy tonight, NY's AA catcher who will turn 22 next month. He had a .849 OPS coming into tonight, and with Romine's continued health issues, he may be pushing his way up the ladder.
 
Gary Sanchez is also killing it in A ball (.933 OPS before another HR tonight) and will hopefully move up before too long, it will be interesting to see how they keep all of them catching as much as possible.
 

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Rafael DePaula with an impressive 5 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 10 SO effort today, he is out now. 33 Ks in 17.1 IP so far this season.
 

mabrowndog

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MiLB.com has further details.
 
The No. 2 prospect in the Yankees organization, center fielder Mason Williams, was arrested early Thursday morning and charged with a misdemeanor count of driving under the influence, according to multiple news outlets.
 
The New York Daily News and MLB.com have both reported the arrest, which occurred in Tampa and stemmed from Williams driving about 10 mph above the speed limit and "weaving in the lane" at 2:45 a.m. on Thursday morning. Williams plays for the Class A Advanced Tampa Yankees of the Florida State League.
 
Williams failed the field sobriety test administered after he was pulled over. He did, however, pass two breathalizer tests, according to a Tampa Police spokeman. The legal limit for blood alcohol content in Florida is .08, and neither of Williams' tests reached .07.
 
Brian Cashman confirmed to the Daily News that Williams had been arrested but had no further comment. According to the Daily News, driving under the influence in Florida is a second-degree misdemeanor, and Williams could potentially face jail time if found guilty.
 
In 18 games for the Tampa Yankees, Williams is batting .271 with a .400 on-base percentage. He is tied for second in the FSL with 15 walks and is ranked as the No. 41 prospect in baseball by MLB.com.
 
I can't imagine him being convicted after passing two breathalizer tests.
 

ronlt40

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mabrowndog said:
MiLB.com has further details.
 
 
I can't imagine him being convicted after passing two breathalizer tests.
 
Most if not all states have an DWAI (driving while ability impaired) law thats from .06-.08. So they could have arrested him for that. More troubling would be if the officer suspected he was impaired by something other than alcohol and indicated clues to such substances during the sobriety tests.  
 

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ronlt40 said:
Most if not all states have an DWAI (driving while ability impaired) law thats from .06-.08. So they could have arrested him for that. More troubling would be if the officer suspected he was impaired by something other than alcohol and indicated clues to such substances during the sobriety tests.  
FL does not though.  In FL you can get a straight up DUI for being "impaired" regardless of what you blow.  I.e., it could be a .02 and as long as the state convinces a jury that you're "impaired" due to drinking or drug use, then you can be convicted.  However, it's very unlikely to go that route with two below blows.  It'll most likely be plead down to reckless driving. 
 

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I can't find individual home/road splits, but it's worth noting that NY's AA team in Trenton has 3 team HRs at home and 19 on the road thus far, which has got to be frustrating for guys like Austin and JR Murphy.
 

mabrowndog

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jon abbey said:
I can't find individual home/road splits, but it's worth noting that NY's AA team in Trenton has 3 team HRs at home and 19 on the road thus far, which has got to be frustrating for guys like Austin and JR Murphy.
 
Minor League Central is a great splits resource. 
 
The HRs at home have been hit by Kyle Roller, Neil Medchill and Slade Heathcott. Odd indeed.
 

jon abbey

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Thanks, dog. Austin has a .650 home OPS and a .939 road one, Murphy is at .813 at home and 1.035 on the road. On the flip side, Jose Ramirez's impressive pitching numbers through three starts become a lot less impressive when you notice all three of his starts have been at home. It's got to make evaluating that whole team hard.
 

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NY is being really careful with Jose Campos this year, I think they plan something like 12-13 starts of 3-5 innings each. Tonight he had a nice 4 1 0 0 0 3, good to see him at least starting on the road back.
 

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Mason Williams is hitting .225 in Tampa this season. Got arrested for suspicion of drunken driving at 3 in morning. Story is a couple teammates needed a ride home and called Willams, who got flagged trying to be helpful. This is the kid's first look at adversity. Some young pros never recover from it.
 

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Rafael DePaula promoted to A ball, and Jose Ramirez is going to stay in AAA (it wasn't clear if his recent promotion was temporary because of other guys going to the bigs/opting out).
 

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Betances may finally be putting it together now that he's been moved to the pen, 11 3 1 1 3 13 combined in his last six appearances, with a FB that gets up to 98.
 

jon abbey

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JR Murphy has been killing it in AAA since being promoted a couple of weeks ago, .929 OPS in 46 ABs. He is a 22 year old catching prospect, I wonder when he will pass Romine in the pecking order (moot point for this season unless Cervelli has a setback). 
 
Edit: That .929 OPS was before his 4-6 tonight, so closer to 1.000 now. 
 

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jon abbey said:
Betances may finally be putting it together now that he's been moved to the pen, 11 3 1 1 3 13 combined in his last six appearances, with a FB that gets up to 98.
 
The Yankees have been great at developing minor league RELIEF talent but my lord are they awful at developing real starting pitching talent.