NY minor league prospect news (2019 edition)

jon abbey

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A lot of times it is health, Abreu was one of the guys NY got at the deadline in 2016 (from TEX for Beltran) and he only managed to pitch 53 innings in 2017 and 72 in 2018, he went past that today with 75.1 so far this season. He has a 3.82 ERA in AA at 23 and is probably fighting to keep his 40 man spot for now (based on potential still), but he looks a lot more promising than Acevedo right now (or Chance Adams).
 

Marciano490

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Thank you Yankee loving bastards for allowing me to snag him in my dynasty league before he was on others’ radar. You aren’t so bad after all.
 

jon abbey

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None of them are prospects, as they are all from 27-29, but NY has three starters in the AAA All-Star game on MLBN right now. Mike Ford at 1B, Kyle Higashioka (hitting third for the IL!) and the under the radar Ryan McBroom at DH. I think the only pitcher they have on the team is JP Feyereisen, another guy who deserves a shot somewhere soon, NY or elsewhere.
 

jon abbey

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Keith Law has Deivi up to #29 in his midseason top 50 prospects update out today, it is subscriber only but here is the Deivi part:

29. Deivi Garcia, RHP, New York Yankees

Garcia is just 5-foot-9, and his isn't a very physical or wide frame, but I've seen him three times this summer, and he's always 90-96 with three viable off-speed pitches, usually at least two of them showing plus, and hitters cut through his fastball like he's throwing 105 with spin. There's a ton of deception in his delivery -- from behind the plate, I can't pick the ball up until the last possible second from his hand -- and he pitches in the strike zone with the confidence of a big leaguer. I can't put a huge ceiling on a kid this small, but I like him as much as I can like a pitcher this size and weight.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/27161120/keith-law-midseason-top-50-prospects-update
 

jon abbey

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Did Tommy Lasorda ghostwrite that? Is pitcher size still a thing?
Everyone mentions this with Deivi, I guess it's just about whether they think he can hold up for a full season as a MLB SP. He is still so young (I think Marcus Stroman is the most recent prominent SP that short, he was drafted out of college at 21 and didn't get past AA until his age 23 season), so he has time to build his innings up but that and more consistent control are the only things left he needs to show.
 

jon abbey

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Tomorrow is the deadline to sign draftees and NY just signed their last two from the top 20 rounds, 2nd rounder 2B Josh Smith from LSU (who gets DJ LeMahieu comps) and 17th rounder CF Pat DeMarco from NCAA champions Vanderbilt. DeMarco is from Brooklyn and hit 5th for the 59-12 national champs, including a game-tying HR in the title game.

So NY signed everyone they picked from the first 20 rounds except 20th rounder Jack Leiter, who I don't think they ever thought they had an actual chance for anyway (not sure what the thinking was here exactly, but clearly something was behind it).
 

Marciano490

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Everyone mentions this with Deivi, I guess it's just about whether they think he can hold up for a full season as a MLB SP. He is still so young (I think Marcus Stroman is the most recent prominent SP that short, he was drafted out of college at 21 and didn't get past AA until his age 23 season), so he has time to build his innings up but that and more consistent control are the only things left he needs to show.
Understood. I was more curious whether the small build thing with regard to pitchers, and whether that was still conventional or scientific wisdom. I remember with Pedroia and then Benintendi people were pooh poohing the idea that smaller guys couldn't hit for power. Are shorter pitchers with smaller frames actually more injury prone?
 

jon abbey

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Are shorter pitchers with smaller frames actually more injury prone?
No idea, and also I think there are few enough where it's hard to derive much of anything from prior examples.

Moving to tonight's results:

Luis Medina is another of NY's higher rated pitching prospects, he just turned 20 and has been in low A Charleston all year. Going into 2018, BA said he had the best fastball and the best curve in the entire system, but he has had major control issues, 55 walks in 58 innings coming into tonight (!!). But tonight he has put it all together for once, 6 2 0 0 1 10 on 95 pitches, good to see.

Also Estevan Florial hasn't done much since coming off the DL, but he was 4-4 (all singles) in the first game of a doubleheader today and is in the lineup for game 2 also, about to start.
 

jon abbey

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Kind of doubt Tyler Wade will survive this month in the organization, but he is raising his stock again recently in Scranton, reportedly his typical spectacular D everywhere (mostly SS and 2B but also 3B, CF and LF) and a slash line of 310/.361/.465 in 200 AB, his 3rd HR of the season tonight. He is still 24, 25 in November.
 

jon abbey

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From Eric Longenhagen's Fangraphs chat today:

Chris: The Yankee fans sure think Clint Frazier is worth any player… What’s a realistic one for one trade comp for their fans

Eric A Longenhagen: I have Frazier 50’d, so I think he’s a real piece. Would he, alone, net someone like Matt Boyd or Whit Merrifield who has 3ish years of control left? Probably not, but he’s a great start.

j: What is the state of the Yankees’ farm system this year? Trending up or down?

Eric A Longenhagen: amazing depth at lowest levels, if it were a stock I’d buy all i could of NYY system right now

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/eric-longenhagen-chat-7-12-19/
 

jon abbey

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Jim Callis got asked about Jasson Dominguez in today's Q and A:

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

"Where will Jasson Dominguez debut on the top 30 for the Yankees? Any chance he makes mlb top 100?"

Callis: Some scouts have told me that Jasson Dominguez may be the best 16-year-old international prospect they've ever seen. Signed by the Yankees for $5.1 million on July 2, he's a switch-hitter with well above-average raw power from both sides of the plate, well above-average speed and a plus arm who could become a plus hitter and a plus defender in center field.

There is some risk to go with all that ceiling, because Dominguez is so young and has yet to face anything close to big league-quality pitching. I put together our Yankees Top 30 and I'll give you a sneak preview by telling you that he'll rank No. 3 when we unveil the new list. As for the Top 100, all I will say is that I believe he'll have the highest ranking we've ever given an international amateur immediately after he signed in July.

https://www.mlb.com/news/where-jasson-dominguez-lands-on-prospect-lists
===========================

Their new lists are coming out next week, right now they have Florial at #47 and Loaisiga at #96. I'm guessing Deivi Garcia jumps ahead of both of them, Loaisiga drops out and then Dominguez puts NY back to three top 100 guys for now.
 

jon abbey

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20 year old Dominican 2B Ezequiel Duran got some buzz last year (?) for his 110+ MPH exit velocity in intrasquad games and BP. That kind of exit velo is unusual even in MLB, so he popped up on people's radar but then he had 219 ABs in rookie ball last year and was pretty bad, so people forgot about him a bit, and he got off to a slow start this year again in Staten Island, but holy cow is he hot now. He has 14 hits in his last 5 games (14-25) including 3 HRs and 4 2Bs, taking his OPS from .677 to .903.

http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=milb&player_id=677649#/gamelogs/R/hitting/2019/MINORS
 

jon abbey

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Kyle Holder was NY's 1st round pick in 2015, a spectacular defensive SS (the comparisons then were Ozzie Smith and Ozzie Guillen, he has been ranked the best defensive SS in the entire minors at times) and hopefully he would learn to hit. This hasn't happened as fast as hoped, and he was left off the 40 man roster this winter and not selected in the rule 5 draft (I actually thought this was a mistake and had him protected, but as usual Cashman knew better). He tends to start years in deep slumps and pick it up as the season progresses, and this year is no different. He has spent this whole season in AA, OPS splits by month:

April: .453
May: .764
June: .951
July: .839 (including tonight)

Tonight he went 4 for 4 with a walk, the first time he's reached five times in a game, and he ended the 8th with this insane (barehand? not sure) play from the hole:

https://twitter.com/TrentonThunder/status/1152753456798666753
I don't know if he is going to be a trade chip the next ten days or if we'll see him in pinstripes at some point, but he is not a bust and he is going to play in the bigs IMO.
 

jon abbey

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Uh oh, Albert Abreu, who had finally been living up to his promise the past few weeks, just left the AA game after 20 pitches with a trainer.
 

jon abbey

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Meredith M said it might be his shoulder
Yeah, but she doesn't know any more than anyone else. Trenton is playing a doubleheader and there won't be any real info until after game 2, but one less trade chip for this deadline in the best case scenario.
 

jon abbey

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Seems like relatively good news on Abreu, but he's still presumably off the table this deadline now.

"Albert Abreu will see the doctor tomorrow and likely undergo an MRI on his right bicep, Trenton manager Patrick Osborn said. Abreu felt soreness/tightness in the first inning. They don't believe the injury is elbow or shoulder related."
 

jon abbey

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Garrett Whitlock, a SP at AA who is generally ranked around NY's 15th prospect, hurt himself a couple weeks ago and they just announced he will have elbow surgery, so he's out maybe through next year. He was a Jordan Montgomery type, not a high ceiling but a back end rotation guy if he stayed on track.
 

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What is the status of Montgomery? It's not sounding like he's going to help the team this year considering there has been no news on him and we're entering August.
 

jon abbey

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What is the status of Montgomery? It's not sounding like he's going to help the team this year considering there has been no news on him and we're entering August.
He had a setback once but is throwing again in Tampa as of a week or so ago, I believe. But yeah, not counting on him...
 

Marciano490

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Here’s some porno for @jonabbey. I pulled this off my Espn fantasy baseball app, so sorry for the formatting and lack of link.

MOOSIC, Pa. -- At the mere mention of his Baseball Hall of Fame hero's name, the 20-year-old melted.

Why do you like Pedro Martinez so much?

A wide, gleeful smile -- often a familiar sight on Deivi Garcia's clean-shaven baby face -- had formed as the starting pitcher, deemed by most baseball insiders to currently be the New York Yankees' most-prized prospect, answered his favorite question of a recent one-on-one interview session.

"When I was a kid, like 13, 14 years old, a lot of people back home called me, 'Hey, Little Pedro, Little Pedro,'" the Dominican Republic-born Garcia said to ESPN via a translator last week inside his new home ballpark. "It's because [like Martinez] I'm not that tall like every other pitcher. I also used to throw a lot of curve balls too, like Pedro did."

The comparisons don't stop there. The 5-foot-9, nearly 170-pound Garcia is credited with having a mound presence and pitching bullishness that belies his slight-in-stature frame and is reminiscent of what his countryman Martinez displayed even in the earliest days of his illustrious, eight-time All-Star, three-time Cy Young Award-winning career.

And to be clear, these are still very early days for Garcia. After a recent promotion, the right-hander -- signed by the Yankees barely a month after his 16th birthday and three weeks before Martinez's induction into Cooperstown four years ago -- is now two starts into his tenure with New York's Triple-A affiliate, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.

It might not be the only promotion he receives this season. The deeper into the second half we get and the more the injury-ravaged Yankees pull further away in the American League East standings, Garcia could be part of their late-season plans.

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"I know the next level is the major leagues, but I'm still trying to work hard and don't get [over] confident, and still work and stick to my routines," Garcia said. "If I reach that level this year, I will still have a lot of the same stuff going on: I have to stick to my plan every time I go out and just do what I can to help the team win."

Although he didn't factor in the decision, Garcia allowed just one run in a four-walk, three-inning, 75-pitch outing on Saturday. The RailRiders ultimately got the win, just as they did in his Triple-A debut the week before. Garcia is slated to pitch again at the Louisville Bats on Friday.

"He'll miss some pitches every once in a while, he hasn't totally figured out command yet but his stuff is excellent," RailRiders manager Jay Bell said. "Whenever you see stuff in a guy, you think, 'Yeah, this guy's got a chance.'

"You watch him on the mound, and his mound presence is extraordinary for a 20-year-old. He handles himself extremely well. He doesn't let things affect him very much. He gave up a homer [in his RailRiders debut], and it did not faze him. He got the ball, went back on the mound and held himself very erect, and you knew he had command of that bump out there."

As Bell, who also briefly managed Garcia last year with the Double-A Trenton Thunder, added, "When you have a guy that has that ability, along with the stuff, now you put that together and it's pretty special. He's got a bright future ahead of him."

Although he has been with them for only two weeks, a few of Garcia's teammates at Triple-A are already calling him "the real deal."


AP Photo/Darron Cummings
With a whopping 124 strikeouts through a combined 76⅔ innings at High-A, Double-A and Triple-A, Garcia this season has made himself into the kind of strikeout machine that other teams are coveting as next week's trade deadline approaches.

Per a report by ESPN's Jeff Passan, it remains possible for the Yankees to deal Garcia away in a trade for a controllable starting pitcher to shore up their rotation. That is to say, the only way New York would part with Garcia in the next eight days is if they received in return a veteran pitcher who was not scheduled to hit free agency next offseason.

But trade chatter aside, Garcia remains a highly regarded part of the Yankees' farm system. His rapid ascent this year alone portends a promising future in pinstripes.

"He's one of those guys that's been on the radar the last couple of years," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. "Last year, having a really good year, and then obviously this year, taking it to another level and getting the attention of not only us, but all of the baseball world knowing about him now."

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Following a 2018 season in which he compiled a 2.55 ERA with 105 strikeouts in 74 innings at varying levels of Class A ball and with Double-A Trenton, Garcia rolled through the first half this season, continuing to keep his ERA low and strikeouts high. Earlier this month, while still pitching for the Thunder, he started the Futures Game during MLB's All-Star Week in Cleveland.

Channeling his idol, Garcia had a clean inning of work in MLB's premium prospect showcase, striking out the side. Martinez famously struck out the side 1-2-3 in the opening frame of the 1999 All-Star Game at Fenway Park during his second season with the Boston Red Sox.

"I kind of had an idea that something big was coming after that," Garcia said of his brief, K-filled outing.

By the fifth inning, it came.

Contacted in the middle of the inning by his Double-A manager, Pat Osborn, Garcia ended up getting asked his most memorable question of the year.

"You know you're going to Triple-A after this game?" Osborn said during the phone call.

He did then.

While Garcia has been pleased with the strides he has made this year, he still doesn't seem surprised by what has led to his rise thus far: an ability to get a lot of strikeouts. He has had it since becoming a professional player.

"In '15, I figured out that I can strike out people -- and that I love to really make the hitter confused," Garcia said. "I know that's a big part of my pitching game. So, I just try to compete against everybody and strike out everybody I can."

Strikeouts were a key part of Martinez's game too. He had 3,154 across his 18-year career. He twice put up 300-strikeout seasons, and he led the American League in K's three times.

"Pedro was a guy with three elite pitches and with 80 command with each of them," said Boone, referring to the highest number a player can receive on the scouting grade scale. "You're talking about rare, nasty stuff. He can throw them all and dot them all. That's the ultimate weapon, when you've got command plus pitches. That's what he was so good at."

Boone definitely would know. He faced Martinez seven times in his big league career. Boone collected two hits, including a double, while squaring off with Martinez. He also struck out once.

"I kind of enjoyed facing him, just in the sense that, it's kind of fun facing the best," Boone said. "You kind of know you got to be on it, and he could command it, although you know he also wasn't afraid to let it rip inside too. So it was a challenge, but it was a fun one."

At-bats like those Boone toughed through show up all over a YouTube video that Garcia credits with energizing him before he makes any start.

So here's how deep Garcia's admiration for Martinez goes: Minutes before he leaves to loosen up for a game he is pitching in, the righty plops down at his locker, grabs his phone, pops on a pair of headphones and pulls up YouTube, scrolling to a video that is four years old.

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Titled "Video musical 'Hall of Fame': Homenaje a Pedro Martinez," it is a 3-minute, 14-second montage of Martinez clips set to the song "Hall of Fame," performed by the group The Script. Created to help celebrate Martinez's 2015 Hall of Fame induction, the video has more than 87,000 views. Garcia, who still has yet to meet his hero, has a large chunk of them.

"It's like a ritual," Garcia said. "It gets me pumped up."

There are moments in the video when fans wave the Dominican Republic's flag as Martinez pitches. Combine them with the song's varying crescendos and beat changes and there's plenty in the highlights to engender pride in Garcia.

Of course, parts of the video wouldn't excite most Yankees fans: There are two scenes in which Martinez strikes out Derek Jeter; another in which he gets Alex Rodriguez looking; one more when he threw up near Karim Garcia's head in the 2003 American League Championship Series; and yet another in which the lyrics "You can walk straight through hell with a smile" are sung as an aerial shot of a packed Yankee Stadium is shown before transitioning to a grinning Martinez.

"He could do so many things on the mound," Boone said of Martinez. "He could pitch up with the fastball. He could really make the fastball move and sink and do different things. As good a breaking ball as there was in the league, and then the changeup is the famous pitch. Pedro's as good a right-handed pitcher as there's been, certainly in my lifetime."

While no one within the Yankees organization is willing to make a comparison between Garcia and Martinez, there is still a belief that the young hurler with a mid-90s fastball and sharp breaking pitches could fully blossom in the coming seasons.

Part of getting Garcia to that point includes expanding his repertoire. During spring training, he started tinkering with a slider, adding it to his arsenal of fastball-curveball-changeup. For the past two months, he has used the slider in games. He even used it as the out pitch on two of his six strikeouts in his first game at Triple-A.

"I love that pitch. I love to throw it," Garcia said. "The slider has been great, because now people got more pitches to think about. I've used it a couple of times, and the hitters don't know if it's the curve ball or the fastball, and then it could be a slider coming. So that really helps."

It appears the organization already is seeing favorable depth and break to Garcia's slider, as well.

"Not only is it an extra pitch, it's a quality extra pitch," Bell said. "It gives that nice little separation, short lead break; it's not just that overhand curve ball that's just going to go down, it's going to away from hitters, also."

For now, Garcia's goal is to be patient with his overall development. As quickly as he has progressed this year, he is well aware that his next promotion could take some time. Then again, it might not.

"When it happens, I'm just going to be like, 'Wow,'" Garcia said. "If I'm smiling all the time here now, just imagine when I get called up. I'll be all smiles."
 

jon abbey

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Read that a few days when it came out, @Marciano490, but I appreciate you thinking of me!!

Trevor Stephan was a pretty solid pitching prospect coming into the season but has gotten battered in both AA and then high A. He is trying to make up for it some currently, as he's through six no-hit, no-walk (one error unfortunately) innings in Tampa at 74 pitches and they're playing a doubleheader so it's a seven inning game and he needs three more outs.

https://www.milb.com/gameday/hammerheads-vs-tarpons/2019/07/26/573175#game_state=live,game_tab=,game=573175
 

jon abbey

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Stephan finishes the no-hitter, 7 no-hit, no-walk innings, 22 batters (one reached on an error), 89 pitches, 2-0 win.

MLB.com has Stephan as NY's #8 prospect but there's no way he is still that high after struggling in high A at 23, but this game sure helps.
 

jon abbey

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Heh, and there you go, MLB.com posted an updated midseason list and Stephan is down to 16. MLB.com is usually a few months behind the other sites with updating prospect lists, but today's new NY list looks very up to date to me from what I know.

http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2019?list=nyy
As far as top 100 guys, Florial is still in there at #67 overall, he will have to translate it to consistent results soon although he is still 21. Deivi Garcia just entered their list in the last week or so (so far behind on him) and they have him up to #66, which seems fair until he impresses with the MLB balls in AAA. And 16 year old Jasson Dominguez is #72 as I mentioned in his thread.

So behind Florial, the position player prospects are all even farther away, three years at least. It's actually a bit dumb in terms of talent assessment as guys like Clint Frazier or Tyler Wade (both still 24) who have exhausted their prospects limitations, but are stuck down the depth chart in AAA are essentially ignored as assets, in between the MLB team and their farm system. But for the purposes of looking at that list, it means you can pretty much ignore the position players and focus on the pitchers. Here are the top 10, all RH starting pitchers:

1. Deivi Garcia (20, AAA)
4. Luis Gil (21, high A)
5. Clarke Schmidt (23, high A)
6. Jonathan Loaisiga
7. Albert Abreu (23, AA)
8. Yoendrys Gomez (19, low A)
13. Roansy Contreras (19, low A)
14. Alexander Vizcaino (22, high A)
15. Nick Nelson (23, AA)
16. Trevor Stephan (23, low A)

They have Michael King at 20 which seems insulting to a guy who jumped two levels in 2018 and ended with a dominant 39 innings in AAA, 1.15 ERA and a .147 BAA. King got hurt in spring training (no surgery, I don't think) and is just working his way back now, stretching out in the lower levels, and could jump up very quickly again if he is back to last year's form.

Interestingly a lot of these guys have been promoted in the last week or so and a bunch pitched today. Deivi's second AAA start was today, Gil debuted in Tampa today, Gomez who has come out of nowhere to maybe jump the similarly aged Contreras debuted in Charleston tonight. Trevor Stephan threw a seven inning no-hitter for Tampa as discussed earlier, Nick Nelson won his matchup with the top pitching prospect in the minors (#2 overall behind Franco) Casey Mize 2-1 in AA.

So in a week when the MLB team has had historically dreadful pitching, looking at tonight's affiliate boxes and all those prospects going might make NY fans feel a bit better. You can click on any of these for better box scores:

https://www.mlb.com/yankees/prospects/stats/affiliates
Gomez's Charleston debut was more impressive than it looks, 6 7 4 4 1 4 but all of the damage in one inning (the 4th) and I think only one single and one walk in the other five innings combined.
 

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That was Deivi’s third start in AAA last night. In 14 innings, opponents are hitting .294 with 3 homers. 14 K, 6 walks. Pretty respectable at age 20 but it’s clear he is not sailing right into the big leagues. Maybe next summer.
 
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Deivi got roughed up tonight by Rochester. 4 runs in the first, 6 overall in 5 innings. Gave up two homers.
 

jon abbey

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Deivi got roughed up tonight by Rochester. 4 runs in the first, 6 overall in 5 innings. Gave up two homers.
FWIW, Anthony Kay is having similar problems adjusting to AAA and the different baseball there after dominating AA a la Deivi. Kay was shelled again tonight in his first start since being traded, and he is 4 years older than Deivi.
 

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Kay (24 years old)

AA: 1.49 ERA in 66.1 innings
AAA: 7.25 ERA in 36 innings

Garcia (20 years old)

AA: 3.86 ERA in 53.2 innings
AAA: 6.63 ERA in 19 innings
 

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FWIW, Anthony Kay is having similar problems adjusting to AAA and the different baseball there after dominating AA a la Deivi. Kay was shelled again tonight in his first start since being traded, and he is 4 years older than Deivi.
Higashioka made the same point a few days ago about Deivi and the new baseball.
 

jon abbey

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Brian Keller isn't a big prospect, he turned 25 in June and has been out most of the season hurt. But since coming back, he has been quite good in 7 starts in AA, a 2.32 ERA in 42.2 innings capped by a 7 inning, 70 pitch, no-hitter just now.

FWIW, guys not on the 40 man roster can still be traded this month, so maybe Cashman will get some international money that way. He has until next June to get what he needs, so he does have time.
 

jon abbey

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Albert Abreu is off the IL and starting tonight in AA, and Nick Nelson is promoted to AAA for the first time. Nelson gets overlooked but should be on people's radar, he was NY's 4th round pick in 2016 and is their #15 prospect on mlb.com currently. He was fantastic in AA this year, 7-2 with a 2.35 ERA and 83 Ks in 65 IP. He walks too many guys, but it will be interesting to see how he adapts to the different balls in AAA.

Abreu is on the 40 man so we could see him in the bigs at any point now that he's healthy again. He's not really ready but he is very talented.
 

jon abbey

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What's the latest on the Deivi Garcia kid?
He just turned 20 a few months ago and is getting his feet wet in AAA, adapting to the different ball and the higher level of competition. His last game he pitched four scoreless innings to start against ATL's tough AAA affiliate, then he hit his pitch count in the 5th (91, left with two runners on, and the next batter homered so those went on his record. I still think it's pretty unlikely NY will bring him up this season, but depending on who is healthy/hurt, it could happen (as a reliever).

http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?player_id=665620#/gamelogs/R/pitching/2019/MINORS
 

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If you asked a bunch of scouts which minor league NY pitcher has the highest ceiling, I think the #1 answer, ahead of even Deivi, would be Luis Medina. He is Dominican and signed at 16 in July 2015, so he has just turned 20 but already has to be protected this winter or he is open to rule 5 selection. BA said going into 2018 that he had both the best FB and the best curve in the entire system (!!!), but he has not been able to throw strikes in games until recently. He is in low A Charleston and struggled until about a month ago, but now his last six starts combined have been 35 22 9 8 12 51, at least 7 Ks in each game. He is down to #21 on mlb.com's NY prospects list but he will fly up those again if he keeps pitching like this. From the mlb.com writeup:

"Medina has electric arm speed that generates 95-100 mph fastballs with little effort, peaking at 102 with some cutting action. His high-spin curveball gives him a second plus-plus pitch at its best, combining power in the low 80s with sharp break. His low-90s changeup has splitter action and gives him a third weapon that can make hitters look silly.

Medina is athletic and has no glaring flaws in his delivery, helping his chances of developing at least the decent command he'll need to succeed. Some observers believe his strike-throwing issues are more mental than physical. He has the upside of a frontline starter with a more realistic expectation of becoming a difference-making reliever, and the Yankees will give him plenty of time to figure things out."

http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?player_id=665622#/gamelogs/R/pitching/2019/MINORS
 

jon abbey

Shanghai Warrior
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Jul 15, 2005
70,713
More top prospect pitcher promotions, Mike King back to AAA where he dominated last year and Clarke Schmidt up to AA.
 

jon abbey

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Jul 15, 2005
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I keep bringing up Kyle Holder even though he seems to be forgotten by most, but he is still world-class defensively and his OPS (.770) is 10th in the pitcher-centric Eastern League. Admittedly he turned 25 in May and is a bit too old for AA, but he homered off a rehabbing Corey Kluber the other day and is still as good defensively as it gets.

"Defensive wunderkind Kyle Holder is hitting .307 over the last three months, with an OPS+ of 120 and a K rate south of 15%. He has 24 2Bs on the season and 8 HRs. "

Yesterday's defensive highlight:

View: https://twitter.com/TrentonThunder/status/1162178667725934592


http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=l113&player_id=664060#/career/R/hitting/2019/ALL
He's got to go on the 40 man this winter, although I thought that last winter too and he was left off and not chosen, so we'll see.
 

jon abbey

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Jul 15, 2005
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Talked about Luis Medina a few posts up, today he got promoted to high A Tampa. If he really has it together now, he is going to fly up the prospect rankings.
 

Marciano490

Urological Expert
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Nov 4, 2007
62,312
Talked about Luis Medina a few posts up, today he got promoted to high A Tampa. If he really has it together now, he is going to fly up the prospect rankings.
So, he’s back in the saddle looking for some affection?

You really think he has higher upside than Deivi? That’d put him at ace level stuff, right?
 

jon abbey

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Jul 15, 2005
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So, he’s back in the saddle looking for some affection?

You really think he has higher upside than Deivi? That’d put him at ace level stuff, right?
Yes, read the mlb.com profile I linked above in post #141. I remember I couldn't believe it when I picked up the BA annual before 2018 and they said Medina (who I had never heard of then) had both the best fastball and the best curve in the system. The prospects365.com guy (not a Yankee guy, a general MLB guy) just tweeted that he wrote 1000 words about Medina which will be posted Monday.
 

Marciano490

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SoSH Member
Nov 4, 2007
62,312
Yes, read the mlb.com profile I linked above in post #141. I remember I couldn't believe it when I picked up the BA annual before 2018 and they said Medina (who I had never heard of then) had both the best fastball and the best curve in the system. The prospects365.com guy (not a Yankee guy, a general MLB guy) just tweeted that he wrote 1000 words about Medina which will be posted Monday.
I’m going to have to start tithing you my dynasty league winnings. I’m also starting to root for an uncomfortable amount of Yankees.
 

jon abbey

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Jul 15, 2005
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Deivi with his best AAA game so far, an odd 5 0 1 0 5 7 line, 85 pitches.

Florial is starting to hit in Tampa, 4 HRs in his last 10 games. It would be nice if he forced his way up to AA for at least a few weeks before this season ends.
 

jon abbey

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Jul 15, 2005
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I’m going to have to start tithing you my dynasty league winnings. I’m also starting to root for an uncomfortable amount of Yankees.
Heh, I am a poor experimental music producer, I am happy to be put on retainer whenever.

Here is the promised writeup on Medina posted this AM, and yowza. This is how he concludes:

"But for the optimists, I’ll leave you with this: for the vast majority of starting pitcher prospects, a 90th-percentile outcome means said prospect finds a way to stick in the SP4-range with moderate fantasy viability throughout the bulk of their big league career. This is not the case for Medina. A 90th-percentile outcome for Medina likely means he’s become the best pitcher for the New York Yankees, one of the best pitchers in the AL East and one of the first names you think of when debating the very best pitchers in all of baseball. I hope that helps you understand the genuine upside here."

https://prospects365.com/2019/08/19/rays-ramblings-july-19th/