Hitters and Pitchers

So the blog has taken a backseat to life right now. I just finished buying a house so I’m in the process of packing for the move which will take place in mid April. Also with the wife being prego I’ve had to do a bunch of stuff also. I’ve kicked ideas around for multiple blog posts and I’ve started research into a bunch of things I want to write about. The problem is finding time while doing all these other things and working. So I’m sorry for the lack of updates. I will be posting more now thou because it is an escape from all the hassle of everything else. So here we go.
In this blog post what I want to cover is a hitter and pitcher at each Yankee affiliate that people should be looking into.

AAA

Hitter: Jesus Montero. The guy is the best prospect in the Yankee system and I would say he has the biggest gap from his ceiling and the next guy. I have no doubts about Jesus’ hitting ability. I believe he will crush pitching. The biggest concern is now he is at a level where Yankee pitchers are going to be paying attention to runners so they won’t be getting great jumps off the pitchers. It is now where we see if Jesus will be able to throw out runners. If he can just be a slightly below average defender then his bat will play up hugely.

Pitcher: Zach McAllister. Zach is the best pitching prospect which is in the upper minors. In the last two seasons he has pitched extremely well. It would be nice to see that continue. I want to see him continue refining his secondary stuff. BA keeps changing it’s scouting report on him. Last year they said he had a plus fastball when you consider his movement and velocity with his secondary pitching lagging behind. Now they say he throw s an average fastball but has a plus slider. I would like to have Zach keep his k/9 over 7.

AA

Hitter: David Adams. Austin is the 2nd best prospect in the Yankees system so I’m not worried about him. David Adams had a breakout season last year. I want to see if the changes he made to his swing are legit or not. If David Adams keeps up this performance in AA he will push himself into the top 10 easily of the Yankee prospects. I want to see the same hitting and keep his solid defense up there.

Pitcher: DJ Mitchell. DJ did a very good job pitching this last year at Charleston and Tampa. The only problem for DJ is splits against left handed hitters. He needs to develop a change up to keep them off his sinker and curveball. If he can develop that pitch and keep lefties from not killing him his prospect status can go up from a Justin Masterson to a #4 starter.

A+

Hitter: Abe Almonte. Abe has some great tools and was a top 30 prospect until he had a terrible year in 08. He rebounded somewhat to put up some respectable numbers. With the Yankees lacking a lot of outfield prospects with big ceilings especially getting into the upper minors Abe could really help his case with a big season. I could see the Yankees being aggressive with Abe this year if he starts off Tampa with a big first half.

Pitcher: Jairo Heredia. Jairo really had a down year mostly because of injuries. He came to camp last year out of shape and it showed. He dominated in 08 the Sally league. Before Jairo had the down 08 Mike at RAB called him the Dominican Phil Hughes because Jairo struck out a ton of hitters and got a ton of groundballs. If Jairo comes to camp in good shape with his fastball being more consistent in it’s velocity he could really jump up into top 15 category for the Yankees.

A-

Hitter: Slade Heathcott. He has one of the highest ceilings in the system. Also when you invest a 1st round pick and give him $2.2 million bonus you expect much. Staying healthy is one major thing for Slade since he has fought some injuries the last year. I would love to see a healthy Slade put up some big numbers. If he puts up the numbers he is capable of he will be a top 100 prospect in baseball.

Pitcher: Nik Turley. The guy to me has a good upside from the left side. Also big projectable guys are a flaw to most prospect watchers. Turley was in short season last year and pitched pretty well. I want to see what he can do in full season and while he is raw I think he will do well. If he does I could see him spend all year in Low A this year and split next year between High A and AA. The Yankees didn’t just give a six figure bonus to a 50th rounder unless they thought he had talent.


So there you go people. Those are guys that I will be watching closely this year in the full season leagues. I will be doing one of these for SS and GCL closer to the start of those seasons. Also it will be interesting to see which 09 draft picks made the jump from full season to short season. Baseball is almost here. I know I can’t wait.