Add Marshall to List of Top Pitching Prospects

Probably one of the hottest pitchers in the Yankee farm system at the end of the season has been 20 year old Brett Marshall. He recently had a great outing against the Mets’ affiliate the Savannah Sand Gnats of the South Atlantic League taking a perfect game into the sixth inning of a rain shortened game. He ended up facing only one batter over the minimum in the 6 innings he worked.

Marshall has been dominating the SAL since coming back from having season ending Tommy John surgery in 2009. In August he was 3-0 with a 0.58 ERA in 5 starts. His last three outings (19 IP, 1 ER, no walks and 15 K) helped earn him a promotion and a start last night at Tampa. In his first outing in High-A ball he pitched 4 innings, allowing 2 earned runs on 5 hits, walking none and striking out 6. In 16 games this season mainly as a starter, he is 4-2 with a 2.57 ERA. So far this year, over 84 innings he has struck out 70 batters. His repertoire includes: a two and four-seam fastball, sinker, slider, and change-up. Since returning from surgery he has not been a hard thrower. According toMike Newman in Scouting the Sally he has topped out at 92-93 MPH and sits around 88-91 MPH most of the time. Before his injury he was throwing in the high 90’s so with time those numbers could go up. His out pitch is a very deceiving slider.

Drafted as the 200th overall pick in 2008, the 6’0”, 190 lb right hander from Baytown, Texas saw his draft status go up after being named the All-Houston Area Player of the Year as a senior in high school. He signed with the Yankees for an $850,000 bonus and made a brief appearance with the GCL Yanks in 2008 (3 starts, 6 IP, 0 ER & 8K) . He pitched with Charleston in Low-A ball in 2009 not showing much before getting injured (17 games, 3-6 record, 5.56 ERA with 60K).

When he came back this year not much was expected of him as he tried to regain his command. At 20 years old this kid looks like he has considerable upside. Next year he could be making some noise and may be another arm to add to the list of prospects in a pitching rich Yankee farm system.