Checking In On Prospects: The Bad

Over the next few days I'm going to be making a few posts on the status of some of the Yankees most interesting and well regarded prospects. Here's some of the biggest dissapointments from this half year.

Andrew Brackman:

Where else could we start but here? Brackman fell to the Yankees in the draft two years ago and they jumped on the top ten talent. Their were only two problems. First of all, he got a huge ML deal. The more worrying problem was the fact that he needed Tommy John surgery immediately after signing. He missed all of last season, so this year is his first in the pros. Its has been anything but good. His control is nonexistent and his overall numbers are horrible he has the highest BB total in the South Atlantic League, second highest ERA, second highest BB/9, and the third highest FIP. Its not to late for Brackman to still be a good pitcher. After all, as his supporters often argue, he's recovering from Tommy John surgery and tall pitchers usually need more time to develop. However, theirs no arguing that he has been terrible this year and is older than most of the hitters he's facing. His last start, he gave up no BB's but it wasn't really all that great of a start. It'll take a major second half surge for this season to look like anything other than a lost year for Brackman.

Dellin Bettances:

For some reason, him and Brackman are linked together in my mind. Maybe its because they're both tall righties with a world of potential but no current results. Bettances caught fire at the end of last year. Thus earning himself a promotion and exciting Yankees fans into thinking that maybe he'd figured things out. What he's done this first half has pretty much erased that hope though. His biggest problem is that he can't throw strikes. His BB/9 isn't quite in Brackman territory but he's close at 5.48, 4th highest in the league among guys with 40 IP. He strikes guys out but only enough for a K/BB of 1.63. In addition, his ERA is well over five. I know a few Yankees fans who've given up on him completely already. Even with his struggles though its way to early for that. Like Brackman, he's a tall guy who will need more time to develop and he's only 21. Besides that, his FIP is encouraging at 3.76. It wouldn't surprise me if Bettances turned things around in the second half and brough his numbers back to a respectable level and, regardless, its way to early to give up on him.

Carmen Angelini:

Angelini was drafted a couple years ago with a ton of hype behind him. He was supposedly a steal in the late rounds that fell due to signability and the next great Yankees SS. Right now it doesn't look like people could have been any more wrong. First of all, we have the disaster that was 2008 for him. They started him out in A ball and he just was overwhelmed. He hit .236/.302/.295. Yes, that's an OPS of .597. Still people hoped he could bounce back this year and eventually make the majors one day. He's been even more awful this year though. He's continued his non production with the bat, even getting worse (try an OPS of .513), but has new found troubles out in the field. He's stacking up error totals that would rival the minor league days of Derek Jeter and at one point had a seemingly never ending streak of games with an error. I wasn't sure whether he belong here or not as his stock had really fallen precipitously after last year. However, most people still held out hope for him. After he got demoted to extended spring training earlier this year I think most people gave up on this guy.

Honorable Mentions:

• Ian Kennedy
• Humberto Sanchez
• J.B. Cox

I'm planning to make one more post on the guys that have been promoted this year. As with before, let me know what you think and if I missed anybody in the comments section.