NY minor league prospect news (2020 edition)

jon abbey

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New year, new thread...

BA's overall MLB top 100 came out today, three Yankees included:

38. Jasson Dominguez
62: Clarke Schmidt
65: Deivi Garcia
 

jon abbey

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Presumably, but I don't have a BA subscription (and I don't think they're very good anymore to be honest, I think a bunch of people have passed them in recent years for prospect evaluation).
 

jon abbey

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I'm not sure why Florial isn't included in their top 100. Anything we should know?
He’s gotten hurt two years in a row and has been pretty underwhelming when healthy, he has been stuck in Tampa since late 2017. He is still just 22 and NY clearly still believes in him enough to put him on the 40 man even though he almost certainly can’t help this season, but he really needs to have a big season.
 

jon abbey

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MLB.com new top 100 prospect rankings today, same 3 guys listed by them but all lower than BA:

Jasson Dominguez - 54
Clarke Schmidt - 88
Deivi Garcia - 92
 

jon abbey

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A few things today of note for NY fans:

mlb.com says that Deivi has the best curve in the minors, runners up: Matthew Liberatore, LHP, Cardinals; Matt Manning, RHP, Tigers; Forrest Whitley, RHP, Astros. Impressive company!! Someone said Deivi reminds them of Flash Gordon, which seems like a pretty good comparison from what I know.

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

Best curveball: Deivi Garcia, RHP, Yankees (65) -- ETA: 2020

Garcia achieves so much spin and depth on his curveball that it's not only difficult for hitters to square up, but also for him to locate in the strike zone at times. He spent most of 2019 in Double-A and Triple-A at age 20, and his strikeout rate (13.3 per nine innings) would have ranked second in the Minors had he not fallen just shy of officially qualifying.

https://www.mlb.com/news/top-tools-among-2020-prospects?t=mlb-pipeline-coverage
==================

The prospects1500 site did their top 50 NY prospects list. It's incredible to see the number of teenagers here, mostly international signings, hopefully some of them blossom as hoped for. Also it's worth noting that after the top 50, he listed 11 more and said on Twitter he wanted to do another 20 because of NY's impressive system depth.

https://www.prospects1500.com/al-east/yankees/new-york-yankees-2020-top-50-prospects/
==================

Lastly, a glowing writeup for SP Alexander Vizcaino (#20 on the above list, needs to go on the 40 man next winter) in BA:

"Scouts from rival organizations arrived at low Class A Charleston games last summer focused on righthanders Luis Gil and Luis Medina, but they left asking about another young Dominican power pitcher.

"Who is this guy?’’ was a common response from the talent evaluators after seeing righthander Alexander Vizcaino and his high-octane fastball and tantalizing changeup that has drawn comparisons with a young Felix Hernandez and Fernando Rodney.

"Power fastball with a really good changeup—a changeup like King Felix’s early in his career," vice president of baseball operations Tim Naehring said.

Vizcaino, who turns 23 early this season, tops out at 98 mph and sits in the mid-90s. His velocity is the perfect complement to his deceptive changeup that ranges from 87-90 mph.

"It’s one of the best changeups in baseball," Naehring said. "Not the minor leagues. Not in the Yankees’ system. In all of baseball.""

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/alexander-vizcaino-owns-an-elite-pitch/
 

BigMike

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Interesting, that is a lot of hype for a guy who has been pretty mediocre (being kind) in his career so far. Last year 4.28 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, good news of 128K in 115 innings
 

jon abbey

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Interesting, that is a lot of hype for a guy who has been pretty mediocre (being kind) in his career so far. Last year 4.28 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, good news of 128K in 115 innings
He seems to be a bit of a late bloomer, but they say in the piece that his "swinging strike percentage of 16.2 percent ranked inside the top 10 for minor league pitchers with at least 100 innings", so that seems impressive.
 

TheDivision

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A few things today of note for NY fans:

mlb.com says that Deivi has the best curve in the minors, runners up: Matthew Liberatore, LHP, Cardinals; Matt Manning, RHP, Tigers; Forrest Whitley, RHP, Astros. Impressive company!! Someone said Deivi reminds them of Flash Gordon, which seems like a pretty good comparison from what I know.

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

Best curveball: Deivi Garcia, RHP, Yankees (65) -- ETA: 2020

Garcia achieves so much spin and depth on his curveball that it's not only difficult for hitters to square up, but also for him to locate in the strike zone at times. He spent most of 2019 in Double-A and Triple-A at age 20, and his strikeout rate (13.3 per nine innings) would have ranked second in the Minors had he not fallen just shy of officially qualifying.

https://www.mlb.com/news/top-tools-among-2020-prospects?t=mlb-pipeline-coverage
==================

The prospects1500 site did their top 50 NY prospects list. It's incredible to see the number of teenagers here, mostly international signings, hopefully some of them blossom as hoped for. Also it's worth noting that after the top 50, he listed 11 more and said on Twitter he wanted to do another 20 because of NY's impressive system depth.

https://www.prospects1500.com/al-east/yankees/new-york-yankees-2020-top-50-prospects/
==================

Lastly, a glowing writeup for SP Alexander Vizcaino (#20 on the above list, needs to go on the 40 man next winter) in BA:

"Scouts from rival organizations arrived at low Class A Charleston games last summer focused on righthanders Luis Gil and Luis Medina, but they left asking about another young Dominican power pitcher.

"Who is this guy?’’ was a common response from the talent evaluators after seeing righthander Alexander Vizcaino and his high-octane fastball and tantalizing changeup that has drawn comparisons with a young Felix Hernandez and Fernando Rodney.

"Power fastball with a really good changeup—a changeup like King Felix’s early in his career," vice president of baseball operations Tim Naehring said.

Vizcaino, who turns 23 early this season, tops out at 98 mph and sits in the mid-90s. His velocity is the perfect complement to his deceptive changeup that ranges from 87-90 mph.

"It’s one of the best changeups in baseball," Naehring said. "Not the minor leagues. Not in the Yankees’ system. In all of baseball.""

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/alexander-vizcaino-owns-an-elite-pitch/
Great info on the status of prospects. The only question mark with the Deivi hype is the reliever talk, but I guess we’ll find out sooner rather than later as his ETA is mid-2020. Kevin Alcantara is another prospect that I’m excited about after reading the info on him on prospect1500. But like Dominguez, he’s also so young and a few years from possibly contributing.
 

jon abbey

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Some exciting info from a poster at nyyfans:

"For the upcoming international free agency period 2020-21 the Yankees are connected to: SS Hans Montero and C Jesus Galiz. These are the two big international guys that they are connected to.
Hans Montero is a shade behind the top 2 SS in the class Carlos Colmenarez (rays) and Christian Hernandez (cubs). While Galiz is the top catching prospect in the class.

For the 2021-22 international free agency period the Yankees have a big one lined up with potentially getting SS Rodrick Arias the top prospect in the class and SS Diego Benitez.
Arias is said to be the clear leader of the class and best SS prospect since Wander Franco. While Benitez is a top prospect in his own he ranks a little behind Montero in tools. Benitez is best friends with Galiz."
 

jon abbey

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Cross-referencing Fangraphs, where they don't like to talk too much about these kids early because they are so young, but they have all four of those guys as top 10 prospects in the next two years.

"For the 2020 class, there is little consensus on the top prospect, but the top tier appears to include Dominican center fielder Pedro Pineda, and Dominican shortstops Armando Cruz, Cristian Hernandez, and Hans Montero, as well as Venezuelan catcher Jesus Galiz, and Venezuelan shortstops Carlos Colmenarez and Willman Diaz. For 2021, clubs are obviously still sorting through the top talent, but Dominican shortstop Rodrick Arias is the consensus top prospect at this point, with differing opinions about the ten or so names in the mix behind him, which include Dominican right fielder Tony Blancoand outfielders Raimer Mateo and Ricardo Diaz, along with Venezuelan catcher Luis Meza, and Venezuelan shortstops William Bergolla, Diego Benitez, Ricardo Cabrera, and Javier Osoria."

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/updated-july-2-prospect-rankings/
 

jon abbey

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NY's strength continues to be depth, as evidenced by today's new top 100 MLB list on Fangraphs, in which NY has 5 players included, Clarke Schmidt and Luis Gil not among them.

42: Deivi Garcia
49: Jasson Dominguez
81: Kevin Alcantara
85: Ezequiel Duran
90: Alexander Vargas (this is the kid NY signed with the extra international money they got in the Gio Gallegos/Chasen Shreve for Luke Voit deal with STL in Jul 2018)

All super young and years away, but four position players is great to see.
 

jon abbey

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Keith Law's top 100 out this AM at The Athletic:

51: Clarke Schmidt
67: Deivi Garcia
99: Jasson Dominguez

Schmidt and Deivi are his 20th and 29th pitching prospects, FWIW (same list, just counting pitchers).
 

DanoooME

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Just in case you missed it, FG also released the top prospects from a ZIPS perspective, which has a different methodology, so pure projection numbers and not any scouting input, basically.

59 - Ezequiel Duran
64 - Deivi Garcia
 

jon abbey

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The guy on nyyfans.com who seems to have the inside scoop on international signings just posted:

"BREAKING NEWS
The Yankees are projected to sign the top prospect in the 2021 class. SS Rodrick Arias. He's a switch hitting shortstop with soft hands and good range. Many scouts compare him to Wander Franco."

So that's not this July, it is July 2021, meaning this kid is probably 14 right now, making this both creepy and awesome. I will start a thread if it becomes more official at some point.
 

TheDivision

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The guy on nyyfans.com who seems to have the inside scoop on international signings just posted:

"BREAKING NEWS
The Yankees are projected to sign the top prospect in the 2021 class. SS Rodrick Arias. He's a switch hitting shortstop with soft hands and good range. Many scouts compare him to Wander Franco."

So that's not this July, it is July 2021, meaning this kid is probably 14 right now, making this both creepy and awesome. I will start a thread if it becomes more official at some point.
How does the international signing process work? It seems like the Yankees are often signing top prospects.
 

jon abbey

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How does the international signing process work? It seems like the Yankees are often signing top prospects.
They have made it a huge focus the last 3-5 years, trading for maximum slot money most years. The whole process is shrouded in mystery, and who knows how many more years it will last before they institute an international draft, but one thing that helps NY is their team history, tons of families/kids who are Yankee fans in the Dominican Republic/Venezuela etc. Jasson Dominguez was actually named after Jason Giambi (NY version).

A wooing process for 13 and 14 year olds is pretty gross, but that's what you have to do to get guys like Wander Franco and Jasson Dominguez. TB also is great at international signings, so it's not just a resource thing.
 

TheDivision

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They have made it a huge focus the last 3-5 years, trading for maximum slot money most years. The whole process is shrouded in mystery, and who knows how many more years it will last before they institute an international draft, but one thing that helps NY is their team history, tons of families/kids who are Yankee fans in the Dominican Republic/Venezuela etc. Jasson Dominguez was actually named after Jason Giambi (NY version).

A wooing process for 13 and 14 year olds is pretty gross, but that's what you have to do to get guys like Wander Franco and Jasson Dominguez. TB also is great at international signings, so it's not just a resource thing.
Thanks for explaining that, and yeah Arias being only 14 is weird, but it'll be nice to see how he progresses.
 

jon abbey

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It's been a few years since NY has gotten much respect for their overall system in anyone's farm system rankings, but today Keith Law ranked them 6th in MLB, 2nd in the AL, behind only TB.

6. New York Yankees
The Yankees have clearly figured out some things on the development side, especially finding ways to help pitchers throw harder or throw higher-quality pitches (like boosting spin rates), and have also stayed active on the international side. Their Latin American contingent helmed one of the most lauded groups of short-season prospects I found during the process of assembling these rankings, with teams already asking for some of their GCL kids in trade talks. They’ve also got pitching coming, headlined by a risky first-round pick who’s worked out extremely well so far in Clarke Schmidt.

Also the prospects365 rankings finished today, with an impressive 16th overall for the Martian and 10 NY players in their top 186 (they ranked 200 total):

16: Jasson Dominguez
78: Deivi Garcia
80: Clarke Schmidt
105: Luis Medina
134: Estevan Florial
139: Luis Gil
167: Ezequiel Duran
174: Canaan Smith
176: Roansy Contreras
186: Kevin Alcantara

https://prospects365.com/2020/03/02/ray-butlers-2020-top-200-prospects-1-20/
 

Murderer's Crow

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It's been a few years since NY has gotten much respect for their overall system in anyone's farm system rankings, but today Keith Law ranked them 6th in MLB, 2nd in the AL, behind only TB.

6. New York Yankees
The Yankees have clearly figured out some things on the development side, especially finding ways to help pitchers throw harder or throw higher-quality pitches (like boosting spin rates), and have also stayed active on the international side. Their Latin American contingent helmed one of the most lauded groups of short-season prospects I found during the process of assembling these rankings, with teams already asking for some of their GCL kids in trade talks. They’ve also got pitching coming, headlined by a risky first-round pick who’s worked out extremely well so far in Clarke Schmidt.

Also the prospects365 rankings finished today, with an impressive 16th overall for the Martian and 10 NY players in their top 186 (they ranked 200 total):

16: Jasson Dominguez
78: Deivi Garcia
80: Clarke Schmidt
105: Luis Medina
134: Estevan Florial
139: Luis Gil
167: Ezequiel Duran
174: Canaan Smith
176: Roansy Contreras
186: Kevin Alcantara

https://prospects365.com/2020/03/02/ray-butlers-2020-top-200-prospects-1-20/
The same piece has the Astros as potentially the worst system in the majors. Surprising.
 

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jon abbey

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They look like they will both be on the opening day roster, but agreed that it is an odd quirk that guys still in the minors who have had some major league time slip between the cracks even if they are younger and more promising than others rated as 'prospects'. One of the Fangraphs guys said this winter that he'd have Clint Frazier as a 50 still if he was eligible, so that would put him in the top few on this list.
 

jon abbey

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That Fangraphs piece says this about Chris Gittens:

"Based on the data I have, he led all minor leaguers in 2019 average exit velo at a whopping 96 mph."

Judge led MLB in average exit velo last year at 95.9 mph, Sano was second at 94.4. Interesting!!
 

jon abbey

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jon abbey

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There is a lot to dream on/follow closely for Yankee fans in that above linked Fangraphs list. I was not really aware of July 2018 international signing Antonio Gomez, but the arm and pop time here is exciting:

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

22. Antonio Gomez, C

Gomez stood out as a 15-year-old because of his one, truly freakish ability: he has a stone-cold 80 arm (clocked in the mid-80’s with a radar gun) and a quick release that allow him to regularly post pop times below 1.80 in games, which is generally a 70-grade time. Gomez is a mature-bodied prospect and a 30 runner presently, someone who appears “unathletic” on the surface. We often talk about football and baseball athleticism as being two different things, and Gomez is not football athletic, but he definitely is baseball athletic. Instead of timed speed or visible strength, he displays quick-twitch movement, first step quickness, and overall explosion through strength in the forearms, wrists, and hands. Gomez is an ideal case study in the differences, as he’s got soft hands and is mobile behind the plate, and has solid average raw power with similarly graded bat control. The Yankees may have a 5 defensive catcher with a 5 bat, 5 raw power, and an 8 arm here. That would be quite a find for $600,000, especially given the current wasteland that is big league catching.
 

jon abbey

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NY signed all three of their draft picks, Austin Wells (1), Trevor Hauver (3) and Beck Way (4).