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Yankee Farm System On The Way Up

Posted by Moshe Mandel at 11:00 am 1 Response »
Aug 092010

Prior to this season, Baseball America ranked the Yankee farm system 22nd in baseball, as a handful of graduations and struggles from former top prospects left the team a bit thin everywhere but catcher. However, as Eric’s list shows, the system has been rejuvenated over recent months, and is now one of the better farm systems in the sport. When asked on Twitter about the Yankees’ ascension up the ranks and whether they had entered the top 10, BA editor Jim Callis said the following:

Might be. Takes a lot of time to break down all the orgs in detail, don’t do that until offseason.

This obviously is not the strongest endorsement, and it may be the case that a closer examination leaves the Yankees out of the top 10. But the fact that the question was not simply dismissed displays the growth of the Yankees system over the last four months. Players such as Jesus Montero, Austin Romine, and Manny Banuelos retained the status they achieved last year, while Andrew Brackman and Dellin Betances had recovery years. Meanwhile, some players considered lesser prospects stepped up this year, as Hector Noesi, Brandon Laird, Ivan Nova, and Eduardo Nunez all bolstered their prospects status. Finally, some recent draftees and signings had big seasons or at least showed some promise, with Gary Sanchez, Slade Heathcott, David Phelps, Adam Warren, Corban Joseph, Jose Ramirez and Graham Stoneburner all popping up on the prospect radar.

The Yankee system is far from elite, and remains somewhat thin on the position player side. However, it took a major step forward this year, and should be a source of cheap talent and trade fodder for the Yankees over the next 3 to 5 years or so.

Note: Our very own Rebecca, who writes for her own site This Purist Bleeds Pinstripes as well, interviewed Jose Pena of the DSL Yankees this week. Check it out, it is a great read and worth your time.

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Ivan Nova Called To The Show

Posted by Moshe Mandel at 2:59 pm 3 Responses »
May 102010

From Donnie Collins:

Ivan Nova, whose regular turn in the rotation would have been yesterday, has been called to New York, where he’ll undoubtedly serve as the long reliever for a few days. A move was expected after Romulo Sanchez went several innings last night. Tonight’s starter, Sergio Mitre, is on a 65-75 pitch count. Tomorrow’s, Javier Vazquez, has been ineffective all season. Sanchez would have been unavailable tonight, and probably tomorrow, too.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Nova, EJ rated him 10th among Yankee prospects this past winter, which is exactly where he landed in a composite list made by Sean at Pending Pinstripes that averaged rankings from various sources. For a brief scouting report, here is what our own Eric Schultz said about Nova in a recent post:

Nova is coming off a solid season in 2009 in which he dominated at AA Trenton (2.36 ERA, and a 2.47 GO/AO ratio), but struggled somewhat upon being promoted to AAA Scranton (5.10 ERA). Nova has always been a player whose stuff and scouting reports have been more impressive than his actual results. He has been able to many groundball outs with his low-90’s fastball, but his above-average changeup and curveball have not developed into bona fide strikeout pitches yet, although they have potential. In 2010, Nova is pitching to prove that he has a future in a major league rotation, and he could be one of the first callups should a member of the Yankees’ rotation succumb to injury. He could also wind up as trade bait, though given his inability to strike out hitters at a high rate, he is likely more of a throw-in than a centerpiece at this juncture.

Thus far in 2010, Nova is 2-0 with a 2.43 ERA (3.29 FIP), 1.27 WHIP, and a 2.67 K/BB ratio for AAA Scranton. He is striking out batters at a higher rate than ever before (7.8 SO/9) while cutting his walk rate by about 1 full walk per 9 innings when compared to 2009 (3.8 to 2.9), an improvement in the area of weakness that made some skeptical about his long term prospects. These numbers come in an admittedly small sample, and what is likely to be a short MLB stint will not give us an opportunity to judge his major league readiness. That said, it is good to see the organization giving him a taste of the big league experience, and hopefully he can build some confidence and be ready to contribute in a larger role in 2011.

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Great Look At Jose Ramirez

Posted by Moshe Mandel at 3:00 pm 5 Responses »
May 042010

I just noticed this link as a comment on an old post, placed there by Dylan Sharek, who writes Blogging about Baseball. He apparently is a frequent attendee of Charleston River Dogs games, and did a fantastic write-up of Yankees phenom Jose Ramirez, complete with pictures and video. Here is what Dylan had to say about Jose:

In six very, very strong innings, the 6’1″ righthander gave up just two hits. One of those hits, a first inning double by Hickory’s Cody Podraza, was all the Crawdad’s needed to secure the 1-0 victory. Still, we all know wins and losses don’t mean everything.

Sitting at 80-83 miles per hour, Ramirez’s changeup is as advanced as any pitcher’s I’ve ever seen, at any minor league level. With his motion, you can’t tell the difference between his fastball, which ranges from from 89-93 and routinely touches 94, and his changeup. At this level, the batters are completely overpowered, overmatched, and overwhelmed.

He shows the ability to adeptly work both halves of the plate, popping fastballs in on hitter’s hands and stretching them out with changes on the lower half of the zone.

Ramirez’s curveball, which ranges from 79-84 and is an 1-to-7 offering, leaves a lot to be desired, but it has shown flashes of development. He threw it much more tonight than during Monday’s game against the Rome Braves, but he routinely left it up in the zone or down in the dirt. Still, it’s clear that it’s the pitch he’s working on. He never seemed to get a good feel for it tonight, but if he ever does, well…

What makes Ramirez so intriguing isn’t his great natural stuff, but the projection left in that stuff. He’s so tall (6’1″) and so thin (just 155 pounds), that it’s not improbable to believe he can add another 2-3 miles per hour to his heater as he ages.

Did I mention he’s not even 21 yet?

Ramirez’s free and easy motion makes me like him even more. There aren’t too many moving parts and it appears as though he’s made an unnatural movement as natural as possible.

He goes on to compare Ramirez favorably to Arodys Vazcaino, who the Yankees traded for Javy Vazquez and who Ramirez outdueled in their matchup last month. Jose is a player who will likely move quickly up the prospect lists as scouts begin to determine that his stuff will play at higher levels. I think it is fairly likely that he will be in the top 5 among Yankee prospects according to most publications when this offseason rolls around. He should be fun to follow.

I highly recommend that you visit Dylan’s site to read the rest of the report and see the fantastic photos and video he has of Ramirez.

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Is Eduardo Nunez The Future At SS?

Posted by Moshe Mandel at 3:30 pm 6 Responses »
Apr 292010

A few days ago, I noted that the Derek Jeter contract situation might get contentious, but that ultimately an agreement made too much sense for both sides. One portion of that belief was the conviction that the Yankees have no one in the system close to ready to take over for Derek, and that he would likely be the best option going forward. I continue to believe that unless the price reaches Ryan Howard levels, Jeter is the best choice, but a number of people asked me about Eduardo Nunez as a possible replacement. Luckily for me, Greg Fertel of Pending Pinstripes recently profiled Nunez:

If you were to start touting Nunez now, based on what he’s done in 2010, I couldn’t argue with you. The sample is small, but what Nunez has done is extremely impressive. On the season, he is hitting .377/.438/.507 with a .413 wOBA. That is a very impressive line, but it is not without the help of an inflated BABIP.

On the year, Nunez holds a career high .391 BABIP. However, he also has a career high 21 percent line drive rate. The BABIP will drop, there’s no doubt about that, but there is still a lot to like.

Nunez has shown great contact ability this season. He has only struck out in five percent of his at bats. Before 2010, his career low strikeout rate was 11.9 percent. He also has a career high walk rate of 10 percent. His previous high was 6.9 percent.

Much like Greg, I have never considered Nunez a real prospect, likely because he was clearly being overhyped by a segment of the fanbase. Furthermore, his defense is not great, his power is minimal, and his batting eye was (until now) atrocious, suggesting that he was simply the beneficiary of some empty minor league numbers that were unlikely to translate into anything more than a utility role with the Yankees. However, as Greg notes, he is giving Yankees fans something to get excited about thus far, albeit in a small sample. If he can maintain the improvements in his plate discipline, that will go a long way towards making him a starting caliber Major League shortstop. I would not count on it, but this is something that is worth tracking for the remainder of the 2010 minor league season.

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Goldstein: Montero #2 Prospect In Minors

Posted by Moshe Mandel at 3:00 pm 7 Responses »
Apr 202010

Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus released a new prospect list over at ESPN.com, and Jesus Montero checked in at 2nd:

Jesus Montero, C, New York Yankees (Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre)
Monday’s stats: 2-for-4, HR (1), 2 R, RBI
New York City got awfully excited about Ike Davis, a good-but-not-great prospect, coming to town on Monday. What will it be like later in the season when the Yankees call up one of the best prospects in the game? Surely, the surrounding factors won’t be the same. Mets fans are desperate for a light of hope in a miserable lineup and want Davis to be the answer, while Montero won’t arrive with the same expectations. At 20 years old, he’s one of the youngest everyday players at the upper levels, but he’s also the top hitting prospect in the minors. Montero is batting .300 and showed off power for the first time Monday afternoon against former big leaguer R.A. Dickey. Get the hype train revved up again.

With Jayson Heyward seemingly in Atlanta for good, Montero has a case for being the best hitter currently in the minor leagues. While some other prospects may have more value due to their abilities defensively compared to Montero’s meager backstopping skills, his bat is unquestionably elite. He homered for the first time this season in yesterday’s game, and has started to heat up a bit. He is now hitting .300/.364/.450 (courtesy of RAB‘s Montero watch), and has had a hit in all but one of his 12 games. Montero’s bat is close to ready, and the only thing holding him back is his defense. He should be a ton of fun to track over the next few months.

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Burkhart: Hard For Good Teams To Develop Pitchers

Posted by Moshe Mandel at 2:53 pm 8 Responses »
Mar 142010


Brian Burkhart chimed in yesterday with a fantastic post about the difficulties that a team like the Yankees faces when trying to develop young pitching:

Now, let me first state that this is a great problem to have. But the reality is, because the Yankees are expected to compete for the World Series every single year, it is difficult for them to give young starters the experience they need. In a perfect world, at least for Joba and Hughes, both pitchers would be allowed to make however many starts they needed to reach their innings cap. The Yankees can’t just run both pitchers out there though; they tried that in 2008 with Ian Kennedy and Hughes, to disastrous results. So instead, in comes Javier Vazquez……

The big market teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, and Mets have been accused in the past of using other teams like a farm system, but sometimes when it comes to starters, this is simply the most effective method. Look at how hard it is to juggle the development of 2 young starters.

Brian is right on the money here, as developing pitchers in a winning environment is difficult in terms of both perception and execution. Fans and media expect clubs like the Yankees and Red Sox to do what is best for the club at the present moment, and frequently suggest moves that might improve the team in the short -term but are not in the long-term best interests of the club. Teams shut down pitchers due to workload concerns all the time, but it gains negative attention when the club doing it is in the midst of a pennant race. Even though that sort of perception should not have an impact on decision-making, it is difficult for a club to act as if they were in a vacuum when every member of the media and many of their paying customers disagree with a move.

In terms of execution, even if the club ignores external pressures to send a young starter down or put him in the bullpen, the vagaries of a long season and the typical struggles of a young starter often force the organization’s hand. The team needs to find a balance between short-term and long-term goals, and it is often difficult to gauge what kind of impact a move made for “the now” will have down the line. When the club is in the midst of a pennant race and a young pitcher is struggling in the rotation, the priorities of the team may be altered and decisions that would not be made in Kansas City are undertaken to satisfy the needs of the current roster, often at the expense of the pitcher’s development. These factors combine to make for a inhospitable environment for young pitchers.

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