A look back.

In one of my last posts before life got in the way I looked at a hitter and pitcher at each level. Let’s see if I knew anything.

AAA
- Hitter. Jesus Montero. Wow I went all out with this pick. In my defense thou there was no one else at the AAA level to really pick. Montero’s triple slash line was the following .289/.353/.517. Extremely impressive stuff for a guy who was 20 for the whole season. His walk rate in 09 was 7.38%, in 10 was 9.12 which is good for one of the youngest players at AAA. While Montero did strike out more than double his total from last year I am not too concerned. Overall a great year for Montero
- Pitcher – Zach McAllister. Wow terrible pick. McAllister dropped off the prospect map almost. In every aspect except one did Zach have a terrible year, he had more innings then he had before 149.2 actually. Whip in 09 was 1.083, in 2010 1.537, K/9 was 7.1 in 09 to 6.0 in 2010. ERA in 2009 was 2.23 which is a good, 5.29 in 2010. Overall a terrible season for Zach and oh ya they shipped him off to Cleveland.
AA
- Hitter – David Adams. I wanted to see if the 2nd half surge that Adams had wasn’t a fluke. It sure wasn’t. Adams was derailed by a very bad ankle sprain that turned out to be broken. Only bad part of Adams season was he got 173 at bats but his triple slash line was this, .309/.393/.507. Strike out rate for Adams was 15.4% in 2009, 2010 it was 17.9% but the way he was scolding the ball I don’t have a problem with his. His walk rate was 10.7% for 2009 while his walk rate in 2010 was 10.4% so roughly the same. Out of all the hitters in the Yankees farm system I think Adams has the defensive ability to be average which means he should be an average MLB player. Not too bad for a 3rd round pick.

- Pitcher – DJ Mitchell. Mitchell had a good season, not great just good which is fine. I don’t think he will be a starter going forward as lefties continued to hurt him. His K rate did jump up in AAA but it was only 17 innings. If he can limit lefties and keep his K rate over 7 I think he might be a starter, the problem is his change up isn’t developing. Mitchell should compete to be the #8 starter of the Yankees.

A+
- Hitter – Abe Almonte. An injury season for Almonte. When he was out there it wasn’t great thou. Good luck next year Abe, you’ve been a favorite of mine for a few years. Please put all that talent together next year. Be the Melky Mesa of 2011.

- Pitcher – Jairo Heredia. He has now fallen off the Yankees radar and the prospect map. 2 years in a row he has shown up to camp out of shape. He is now a reliever in the Yankees mind and I’ve lost all faith in him going forward. Bad pick Jake.


A-
- Hitter – Slade Heathcott. For being a teenager in Low A Slade did a good job. I would have liked a little more power but he had a bump left shoulder that he had operated on after the season. Slade had a triple slash line of .258/.359/.352. The power wasn’t there but a .359 OBP as a teen is impressive. I would like to see Slade cut down on his K rate while hitting for some power. Hopefully the Yankees aren’t too bullish with Slade. Send him back down to Low A to start the year then go to High A after a month or 2.

- Pitcher – Nik Turley. A personal favorite of mine didn’t make to Low A still. He pitched in Staten Island for the first time and was ok. Not great just ok. I want to see them turn the big guy lose but I think the Yankees know something that I don’t. He is a large guy so maybe they are still working on his mechanics.

Looking at the guys I picked I will pat myself on the back for picking Adams. If he had stayed healthy for the whole season he would have gotten to AAA. He also probably would have been the best AA player for the Yankees based on everything. I will not give myself credit for picking Jesus, it was a pretty easy pick. Slade also was a pretty easy pick but I should get a little credit for that one. Almonte is a pass because of the injury. On the pitching side to say I sucked it up is being kind. Mitchell had a decent year but not great. Every other guy sucked or didn’t pitch for the level I thought. Hopefully next March I can do a little better with my picks.