Austin Jackson:
A-Jax came into the season ranked first on most Yankees prospect lists. Nobody has him there anymore but that's more due to the emergence of Jesus Montero than his own performance. His overall numbers are excellent. He's hitting .324/.389/.452 for Scranton and will lead off for the International League in the AAA All Star game tonight (10 PM on ESPN2). Jackson have even shown some outstanding speed, getting caught only once in 16 stolen base attempts. He does have some people worried though with his lack of power and high strikeout totals. He's never going to be a power hitter but you'd like to have had him hit more than four by now. His constant strikeouts and sky high BABIP idicate he's not going to be able to keep up this kind of production as well. Luckily, he's only 22 and Gardner/Melky are holding down the fort in centerfield pretty well for now. He's not a star and can't really be considered untouchable if the right deal comes around but he should hopefully develop into a solidly above average player. Having Melky and Gardner playing the way they are right now gives the Yanks much more flexibility with him and they may keep him in Scranton for another year.
Jesus Montero:
Writing about Jesus Montero's hitting is liable to exhaust your vocabulary of superlatives. Suffice to say, he's really really good. After last year, his first in full season ball, he was promoted from A to A+ ball. That's what happens to catchers that hit .326/.376/.491. He spent even less time in Tampa (A+) though. He topped his performance in 2008 by starting out the season with a line of .356/.406/.583 in 48 games. When he jumped up another level he really got people's attention. In the past couple weeks he's be named as the starters for the Futures Game and the AA All Star Game. He's fallen into a slump recently which dilutes his numbers a bit but .287/.353/.472 is still nothing to be ashamed of. Considering he's 19 its pretty incredible what he's doing. I don't mean to hype him to much but Baseball America recently ranked him the #3 prospect in all of baseball and the top catcher. His defense is questionable (and kept him from being named #1) but his bat is so good it might not even matter. Montero will finish the year in AA, however, if he keeps this up then he could start 2010 in Scranton and see the majors late that year. That's best case scenario of course and so much could go wrong but this guy could do it.
Austin Romine:
The other catching prospect in the Yankees system. Overshadowed of late by Jesus and even Fransisco Cervelli's ML time he is quietly putting up a decent season for Tampa this year. He's not nearly the prospect that his former catching partner, Montero, is but he's much more likely to stick at catcher and has a solid bat. He's known for having an excellent glove and a solid bat. He's hitting .293/.322/.488 right now but those are decent enough numbers for a catcher in the pitcher friendly Florida State League.. He's even swiped a few bases (8/10). The defense lovers will be glad to know that Romine has a good game calling reputation and has thrown out 36% of attempted base stealers this year and nailed 20% last year. Although, that should decrease as he rises through the system, and baserunners get smarter, he's always going to be a good defender. The other thing Romine is known for is his power. Again, not quite Montero levels but he's hit 11 balls out so far this year which puts him in a tie for second most in the FSL. Want more advanced stats? He's #1 in SLG% in the league and third in ISO. Romine is a pretty nice catching prospect in his own right and he may be the one to ultimately replace Posada.
Zach McAllister:
Zach isn't known for having a tremendous ceiling but has been incredibly impressive the past two years. He broke out last year, dominating across two different levels and started 2009 in AA. Their he's been as good as anybody could hope for him to be and should really be getting a promotion to Scranton any day now, especially if the ML Yanks choose to go to AAA to solve their pitching woes. His numbers are great across the board. His ERA is 2.25, his K/BB is 2.78, his FIP is 3.07, the list goes on. The Yankees ML pitching situation is a confused and jumbled mess right now so its difficult to say when we'll see him. However, if their are injuries next year we could see him in the majors in 2010. I wouldn't be surprised if they traded him away though. With so many pitchers ahead of him Cash can afford to give him up if it means they can get someone they really need for the playoff push this year.
Kelvin De Leon:
I was going to cut it off with McAllister but this guy is exciting a lot of people, myself included. The Yankees have long been known for getting top prospects during the International Free Agent signing period. The big catch of 2007 was a 16 year old corner outfielder named Kelvin De Leon. Like most of the guys that come out the Dominican Republic at an age that young, he's incredibly raw but full of potential. Scouts love his power and see him as a five tool player. Last year, instead of bringing him straight to the states, he played in the Dominican Summer Leauge. Unfortunately, all I can find on his stats there are an OPS of .888. Currently, he's tearing up Rookie ball with a line of .333/.367/.526. The biggest problem so far with him is that he's not taking walks and strikes out a ton. However, he's still 18 and theirs time to fix that. Also, those stats come in a really small sample size of 16 games. Still young and raw but he could turn out to be something really special.
Honorable Mentions:
- Jeremy Bleich
- Ivan Nova
- Mike Dunn
- Pat Venditte
- Manny Banuelos
If I forgot anybody you think I should have written about let me know in the comments section, thanks.
13 Comments:
what's the deal with brackman?
Brackman has been pretty bad this season. So far he's 1-9, with a 5.97 ERA and in 78.1 innings has allowed 52 ER on 77 hits, walked 56, which is ridiculously high, and struck out 76.
Solely based on the numbers it looks like his velocity and stuff is there he just has no command of it. Back on June 1st he threw 3.2 innings of no-hit ball but also allowed 5 ER on 8 walks.
He throws way too many wild pitches too. He has zero command.
I believe his last start he didn't walk anybody though. So that's a start..
we need to wrap up that cuban pitcher. i don't care how many millions. remember boston blew 51.1million just to negotiate with dicey-K
Brackman will be part of the Bad, along with Dellin Bettances, Carmen Angelini, and a few others.
Too bad considering Brackman was turning it around earlier and Betances was dominating before.
You should of had a write-up for Banuelos. His supremem control, poise on the mound, and his easy windup make him an extremely desirable prospect.
and we can't forget about our 20+ million dollar AAA ace, the former japanese strikeout king and ultimate helicopter pilot Kei Igawa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7KzVSA7eBY
I still have hope for Brackman, he's very young and if he has the stuff the command could come around. As for A-Jax remember out of spring training when people were calling for him to be the CF starter....oh how things change.
Banuelos has been great, so has some others. Jose Pirela is one name that sticks out, he's done a fine job in Charleston.
Neil Medchill is hitting .320 for the SI Yanks. Kelvin De Leon is hitting .350 for the GCL Yanks. Neither of those two have played more than 25 games so I wouldn't have included them on this list either.
Scotty, I agree, Brackman is too young and has far too much upside to give up on him.
Not giving up on Brackman but you can't deny that he's been awful so far this year.
I don't think anybody was realistically calling for Jackson to be a ML starter this year.
Kei Igawa's not a prospect.
Dave Phelps in Charleston is having a great season.
Woops, didn't realize De Leon was in the honorable mention. Either way, he's having a fine year so far.
Joseph, that's true, he has been very good.
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