Friday, August 17, 2007
Tabata and Garcia Injury Updates
-Baseball America has the scoop on Jose Tabata having surgery to remove his hamate bone. The Yankees expect him to begin rehab six weeks after the surgery and he might still have a shot at playing winter ball. This is, probably, the reason he’s struggled so much to hit for power. Don’t expect him to come back ripping the ball into the gaps and over the fences, it sometimes takes guys a while to get adjusted following this procedure.
-Christian Garcia pulled a Phil Hughes and injured his knee doing some running during his rehab from surgery. Nothing major, but it forces him out of participation in instructs, it seems.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Tyler Clippard Day
Injuries/News:
Since my last post, Marcos Vechionacci has returned from his lengthy stay on the disabled list. This leaves Tim Norton and George Kontos as the remaining DL casualties of unknown injury timetable.
The big news for today is that Tyler Clippard will be making his major league debut. I’ve been a huge fan of Clippard since he was drafted in the 9th round of the 2003 First Year Player Draft and as a result I am incredibly excited to see him reach the big stage. It’s not an exaggeration to say that Clippard’s start tonight will be the biggest start in the history of Major League Baseball, ever. The first reason why is that the Yankees are currently playing terrible baseball and have dug themselves an almost insurmountable hole in the division. If they want any chance at making the playoffs, the charge needs to begin now. The second reason is that Tyler Clippard has been one of the most controversial prospects in recent memory. He’s always put up eye catching stats, but scouts have been slow to warm to him. Despite scouts’ concerns about Clippard, he has, in my uneducated opinion, a good repertoire. He throws a fastball regularly clocked at 89-91 MPH, touching 92, a change-up at about 80 and a curveball around 75. Clippard’s change-up is his best pitch, his curve his second best, and his fastball a third offering. In the past Tyler has struggled with keeping the ball down, but has done a pretty good job of that this year. I’m cautiously optimistic about his chances.
AAA:
Due to injuries, both at the major league and minor league level, the AAA pitching rotation has become very uninteresting outside of Steve Jackson and Chase Wright. Even focusing on those two, the rotation isn’t that interesting. Jackson was knocked around in his last outing, with a line of 5.2-10-6-6-2-3-0 (IP-H-R-ER-BB-K-HR). Jackson’s ERA is now up to 5.53 and he has just had an extremely uninspiring year. Jackson is looking more and more like Ramiro Mendoza Red Sox edition and less like Ramiro Mendoza Yankee edition. This is not a good thing.
Chase Wright’s start today was uninspiring in the sense that he is just continuing to get lucky rather than actually pitch well. With a final line of 7.2-6-3-2-3-2-0, Wright now has a AAA ERA of 2.93 despite an 8:13 K:BB ratio in 27.2 innings. Given Rasner’s injury, if Clippard does poorly today, Wright may be back in the bigs.
Alberto Gonzalez is 4 for his last 15 with a double, 3 walks, and a strikeout. The 3 walks in the stretch are half of his total for the year, which really hurts when you have a .235 AVG. Eric Duncan was 4 for 16 with a double, 3 walks, and a strikeout. One strange thing about Duncan’s performance this year, other than the extremely low BABIP, is that he has really struggled against LHP. Despite being a LHB, Eric has actually hit LHP better than he’s hit RHP over the last two years. Hopefully this means he’s going to begin hitting lefties again and get his AVG out of the low .200s.
AA:
With the AAA rotation starting to feel the crunch of constant roster movement, the AA guys continued to shine and wait for their chance. Brett Smith, Jeff Marquez, and Alan Horne put up a combined line of 20-11-6-6-6-16-1 during the past week. Based on his peripherals, Marquez isn’t quite where he needs to be yet, but the reports from those who’ve seen him have been glowing, so I’m not going to worry much, if at all, but I will acknowledge that his ERA is due for some correction. Smith has been a beast with run prevention and Alan Horne has put up phenomenal peripherals. Overall, the pitching at the major league level has been righting itself as of late, and the minor league prospects are serving notice that the club should not have to worry about pitching in the future.
A+:
Ian Kennedy, Daniel McCutchen, and Joba Chamberlain continued to perform as the FSL version of the Smith, Marquez, and Horne. The combined line of the advanced A trio was 18.2-14-5-5-4-23. Kennedy has done a terrific job overall, but I am a bit worried by his walk total, 18 in 44 innings. When these guys are promoted may depend on some of the people behind them. I would like to see the Trenton Three go to AAA, and the Tampa Three to AA as soon as possible. The only problem is that other than Michael Dunn, there are really no easy choices to step into the Tampa rotation.
Reegie Corona is 4 for his last 19 with 1 double, 1 homer, 4 walks, 3 strikeouts, and 3 steals. I wasn’t a big believer in Corona prior to this season, but the way he’s been playing this year as well as the way he looked in the Clemens game has me reconsidering my evaluation. Corona seems to have a live body with room for growth, a solid sense of the strike zone, good range, and a solid arm. He might not be a star, but looks to be a good player nonetheless. He just has to get more under control in the field and not rush the game too much. With Robinson Cano’s nightmare season, middle infield prospects in the Yankee organization are becoming important once again.
Jose Tabata is 6 for his last 22 with 1 walk and 3 strikeouts in that stretch. There was a point this off-season when I was considering placing Tabata ahead of Hughes on my prospect ranking. It was partially to be controversial and partially because I didn’t feel there was much difference between the two as prospects. However, I decided against it because doing it just to be controversial would have been stupid and because I couldn’t get over my fears about his history of hand injuries and his weight. Spring training came and it seemed all was well. Tabata looked to be in better shape than he was last year and he was driving the ball, but a month and a half into the season and Tabata is having trouble driving the ball, expected in the FSL, and is very much out of shape, not as expected. I scoffed at the initial Baseball America reports of Tabata being 220 pounds, but now I’m not sure. Making matters worse, Tabata seems to be loafing, both at the plate and in the field. While I hope Tabata can work his way back into shape, he has established himself as a guy who struggles to keep his weight under control and that is going to be a huge mark against his prospect status.
Juan Miranda is 3 for his last 16 with a home run, a walk, and 4 strikeouts. Miranda’s performance has been highly uninspiring, but he stood out in the Clemens game as an impressive physical specimen. He has monstrous forearms and despite being at least 24 years old, looks like he has room on his frame to get even bigger. I’m not sure he’s going to hit much, but he could probably sell a few jeans.
Colin Curtis was 2 for 10 with a walk and 2 strikeouts. Curtis is really struggling at the moment, which is something a guy with questionable tools can’t afford to do, as he will be buried quickly. Colin didn’t leave much of a lasting impression in the Clemens game as he seemed to be your run of the mill scrappy player.
Francisco Cervelli was 3 for 11 with a double, a homer, 2 walks, and 2 strikeouts. My concern when I saw Cervelli play last year was his discipline or lack thereof. This season his statistics have shown him to be a much more disciplined hitter and he looked the part as well. I’ve been straddling the fence a bit on him, but right now I’m a big Cervelli backer. He is probably a Top 3 position prospect in the system at the moment. Hopefully he finishes the year as strong as he started it and Posada does the same, so that we can then begin planning the Posada to Cervelli transfer.
After a month off with injury, Marcos Vechionacci returned to the lineup to go 0 for 7 with a walk. Vechionacci’s eye didn’t suffer any from the layoff, but his timing did as he is not squaring up with the ball when he swings. This is a critical year in Marcos’ development as I, and many others, have been waiting on him for some time now. He needs to get things going, which he seemed to be doing prior to his DL stint. Luckily for him, he’s only had 42 at bats, so even if things don’t go smooth immediately, he will have ample time to make his numbers look nice.
A-:
Michael Dunn and Ivan Nova both had good outings this past week. Dunn posted a 6.2-4-0-0-1-3-0 night and Nova had a 7-5-1-1-0-4-0 night. Both guys had rough outings last time out, so it was nice to see them bounce back. If Reyes can get his issues with the strike zone in control, the Yankees may have another pitching trio on their hands.
Mitch Hilligoss is now the proud owner of a 26 game hit streak. Over the last 5, Hilly was 7 for 20 with 2 walks, 6 strikeouts, and a steal. Hilly’s season line now stands at .323/.367/.406 (AVG/OBP/SLG). That isn’t too impressive and is a concern about his overall future effectiveness, but his flashy AVG and extended hit streak is also evidence of why scouts think he’s such a great pure hitter. Hopefully he’s one of the great pure hitters who is able to eventually develop some power; otherwise, that tool/skill won’t do him much good.
Austin Jackson is 6 for his last 19 with 3 doubles, a walk, 5 strikeouts, and 2 steals. The production has been solid, but the strikeout total is beginning to creep up again and more than anything else, that is what he needs to keep under control. Eduardo Nunez went 5 for his last 15 with 4 walks, 2 strikeouts, and 2 steals in 3 attempts. Despite only having 3 extra base hits through 39 games, I’ve been impressed with the way Eduardo has played. If he can continue to raise his average and pick up his walks, I’m comfortable, for now, with the lack of power.
Spotlight On:
Tyler Clippard going in the majors and Jeff Marquez going for Trenton. It should be an exciting day/night.
Housekeeping:
I just finished Finals this past week, I have LSATs on June 11th, and I begin work for the Yankees on Monday. If my posting slows, you know why.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Abel Reyes
Injuries/News:
Nothing new to report.
AAA:
Steven Jackson started for Scranton, but had no idea where the ball was going. Jackson’s final line was 5-3-3-1-5-3-0 (IP-H-R-ER-BB-K-HR) as he continues to struggle tremendously. While Randy Johnson hasn’t been setting the world on fire, the guys acquired for him have been playing poorly to varying degrees so it hasn’t been great from either end.
Eric Duncan and Alberto Gonzalez were a combined 0 for 7 with a walk. Shockingly, the walk was for Alberto and not Eric, but the point remains that both of these guys are struggling big time.
AA:
Nothing to see here.
A+:
No game scheduled.
A-:
So, I was checking out some splits yesterday morning and couldn’t help but think that Jose Gil was unlucky. He responded to my observation by going 2 for 5 with a double, a homer, and a strikeout. I hope the Yankees stick with Gil for a bit longer before giving up on him because he deserves a sizable amount of at bats, if for no reason than the lack of any other legitimate C prospect to take his place. Mitch Hilligoss was 2 for 5 with a single, a double, and a strikeout in extending his hit streak to 20 games. Austin Jackson continued to have a productive cooling off period by going 1 for 4 with a single, a walk, and a strikeout. Wilmer Pino was 1 for 5 with a single to get his hit streak to 9 games. Seth Fortenberry was 2 for 4 with a single, a double, and a walk. The streaky OF is hot again as shown by a 5 game hit streak in which he has gone 8 for 19 with 2 doubles, 3 walks, and 3 strikeouts.
On the mound, Angel Reyes continued his process of turning into Abel Gomez by going 4-4-4-4-6-0-2. Reyes has been very unimpressive overall thus far and I again have to wonder how he is at Charleston and McAllister or Dellin are not. I don’t fault Angel for giving up runs in Asheville, that’s expected, but to give them up by walking everyone is the problem.
Spotlight On:
Ian Kennedy taking the mound for Tampa. I think.
From The Comments:
This is going to be the section for when people post Game Reports or interesting analysis in the Comments of a previous entry. Here’s what Kyle had to say yesterday (and for the record, I agree with pretty much everything he says…unless it proves to be wrong):
I took a closer look at Tabata’s and Cervelli’s stats for this season. None of these are park adjusted, but thought they might be interesting anyway. For each stat it will go Tabata, Cervelli, League Average.
BA: .300, .352, (.255)
OBA: .380, .452, (.323)
SLG: .392, .443, (.363)
OPS+: 125, 162, (100)
BABIP: .385, .431, (.311)
BB rate (BB/AB+BB+SF): 9.7%, 13.7%, (8.4%)
XBH rate (XBH/(AB-SO): 7.6%, 11.1%, (9%)
Contact: 76.9%, 81.8%, (78.8%)
SO/BB: 2.15, 1.14, (2.29)
GB%: 60%, 42.6%, (51.4%)
LD%: 11.1%, 17.6%, (13.3%)
FB%: 28.9%, 30.9%, (28.7%)
POPUP%: 0.0%, 22.2%, (18.6%)Tabata so far really likes to hit the ball on the air, and even with the low linedrive rate, you’d expect a high BABIP with all the GB and obviously no popups. The only thing missing so far is power, and while I’m wondering where it is, he’s still very young for this league and I’m confident he has the tools to develop into a 20-25 HR, 40+ 2B hitter in his prime. I just hope the reports from BA are false, and/or he really works his ass off to get back in shape. As much talent as he has, he’s one I really worry about since we’ve heard about weight issues for two years in a row, and I’m always worried about guys that have had hand/wrist injuries.
I really like what I’m seeing from Cervelli. It looks he lifts the ball a lot, and while his BABIP is certainly flukey, I’m happy to see a lot of linedrives thus far. I can’t believe how well he’s controlled the strike zone as well, not only walking frequently, but also walking nearly as often as he’s struck out. Even with a below average IsoP, he’s hitting XBH a bit more than most players, they’re just not going for HR. I’m confident that even when his BABIP regresses he’ll still be a very good hitter.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Just One of Those Days
4.11.07 Review:
When you look at the box score for last night’s Scranton game, you’re probably going to think Tyler Clippard pitched poorly. When you give up 8 hits and 7 runs in 4 innings those thoughts are expected. However, much of what went wrong with Tyler was just bad luck. His 4:1 K:BB ratio does a better job of demonstrating the quality of his performance. Clippard was getting swings and misses with his curve, change, and fastball. His fastball was particularly impressive tonight as he was able to nail the outside corner on a consistent basis. Really, he had one pitch that was terrible. The pitch in question was a hanging curveball to T.J. Bohn that was deposited over the LF wall for a 3-run homer in the 3rd inning. Other than that, pretty much every hit Clippard gave up was of the just past a diving X or over the outstretched glove of X variety. So, despite the ugly box score that might lead one to doubt Clippard’s ability to succeed at the AAA level, I’m still in his corner.
One night after looking horrendous at the plate, Eric Duncan was a different batter. While he would finish the game 0 for 3, 2 of those outs were hard liners, one on the ground and one to deep RF. In addition, Duncan drew 2 walks. On Tuesday, when he was in position to draw a walk he started thinking homer and gave away ABs, but Wednesday he remained patient and took what the pitcher gave him. The results were positive.
Alberto Gonzalez had another solid go of it at the plate as he was 2 for 5 with a single and a triple. I’m not going to lie, I don’t remember much from his ABs. I do have a comment on his defense though. Gonzalez has a terrific arm and glides from side to side. I’m beginning to think me not noticing him on defense is a testament to how good he is.
Around The Minors:
Chase Wright continued his hot pitching for AA Trenton. Obviously feeling that his terrific Opening Day performance wasn’t good enough, Wright would strike out 10 in 7 innings of 1 hit, 1 walk ball. Wright had a little bit of hype surrounding him when he first entered full-season baseball, but the hot start isn’t enough for me to think of him as more than perhaps a potential solid swingman. Where his performance does provide immediate help is in giving the Yankees another option in case the rest of the staff feels like getting injured.
Cody Ehlers was 1 for 4 with a double as he ran his streak of not striking out to 2 games in a row. Brett Gardner, obviously responding to his watch on the sidebar, was 1 for 3 with a double and a walk. The thought of Brett Gardner hitting for extra bases just brings a smile to my face.
Tampa had a doubleheader today with mixed results for the offense. Jose Tabata was 1 for 6 with a walk and 2 strikeouts, Marcos Vechionacci was 1 for 4 with a double and a strikeout, and Reegie Corona was 2 for 7 with a double and 2 strikeouts. The older guys on the team, Juan Miranda and Colin Curtis, had good games. Miranda was 2 for 5 with a homer, a walk, and 2 strikeouts and Curtis was 2 for 4 with a double.
In the second game of the doubleheader, Ian Kennedy took a complete game loss. He went 6 innings and struck out 4 while walking 2 and giving up 3 hits. Unfortunately, 1 of the 3 hits was a solo homer that would leave Kennedy with the loss.
The Charleston offense put 6 runs and 10 hits on the board en route to a victory. Mitch Hilligoss was the star as he went 3 for 5 with a double and a strikeout. Wilmer Pino also had a good game as he went 2 for 4 with a strikeout and 2 steals. Finally, Austin Jackson continued to show newfound power, a double in 5 at bats, with old school deficiencies, 4 outs collected at the plate, 3 of which were strikeouts.
Spotlight On:
8 games into the season the Yankees have gotten 2 good starts out of their rotation. To make matters worse, Mike Mussina looks DL-bound. So, of course the spotlight is going to continue to shine on Scranton. It doesn’t hurt that Phil Hughes is starting either.
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Ohlie Cow
4.7.07 Review:
Ross Ohlendorf made his first start of the year for AAA Scranton and wasn’t that great. Typically allergic to walks, Ohlendorf had no such luck on this day. It wasn’t so much that he was wild with his pitches and couldn’t find the zone as it was that he was just missing off the edges. In addition, the opposition was able to place their hits in the right place and the result was a less than pleasant final line. While watching Ohlendorf, I couldn’t help, but think that he just does not impress me that much. His fastball velocity is good, getting up to 94 MPH, he keeps the ball down, and he typically has excellent control. That might seem like enough, but I’m concerned with the movement or lack thereof on his pitches. Even his sinker did not seem to have great sinking motion as it was that he was simply keeping the ball down. I might be wrong, but I’ll try to keep an eye on this. Finally, for what it’s worth, he does seem to have quite the physical presence on the mound.
Eric Duncan had a third straight positive game. Once again, he did a good job on defense and at the plate. The key moment for him, offensively, was during the 6th inning when he blasted a home run to right center field to give Scranton their winning margin. He also drew a walk on the day as he consistently had patient, quality at bats. One thing that has stuck out about Duncan is that he seems to love the ball low and middle of the plate to low and out.
Alberto Gonzalez…to be honest, I didn’t even realize he played, so I don’t have much to say regarding his performance.
Around The Minors:
Alan Horne began his season in solid fashion. Judging by the box score, he might have tired down the stretch, but it was a fine start for Horne and the guys such as Mike from River Ave Blues and Bryan Smith, who believe that Horne could be headed for big things.
Brett Gardner was 2 for 5 with his first extra base hit, a triple, first stolen base, and first strikeout of the season. I’m hoping he does lots of two of those things. For a guy with all the speed Gardner has, you’d like to see him exceed his 2006 total of 24 combined doubles and triples.
George Kontos made his full season debut for Tampa yesterday and went 6 solid innings. He would give up 2 runs on 1 homer, 6 overall hits, while striking out 5 and walking 1. I expect a lot out of serious pitching prospects in the Florida State League, so this start was just ok to me.
Jose Tabata managed to have another terrific day. The 18-year-old phenom was 2 for 3 with an opposite field home run as well as a walk and a strikeout. Oh yeah, he also picked up his second steal of the season. Given his age and his environment, I was expecting something along the lines of .300/.365/.425 from Tabata. It’s early, but I might have to raise my expectations and I’m not upset about that.
The guy most likely to be affected by when/if Tabata is promoted to Trenton, Austin Jackson, had a good day at the plate as well. Jackson was 2 for 3 with a walk and his first stolen base of the season. Jackson seems to think that a lot of his struggles last year were due to the fatigue of playing baseball full-time for the first time. I believe him and hopefully his performance validates that belief.
Finally, Wilmer Pino was 1 for 3 with a double and a steal. I saw Pino last season at Staten Island, and was impressed by him. He’s a hacker, but seems to have a solid set of tools and I’m rooting for him.
Spotlight On:
Eric Duncan’s bat and Matt DeSalvo’s comeback. Scranton it is.
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Hughes’ AAA Debut
4.6.07 Review:
Phil Hughes made his AAA debut last night and did so in impressive fashion. He worked in the low 90s with his fastball and spotted it to the corners and was able to go to his curveball for swings and misses as well. While Nardi Contreras was recently quoted as saying he’s impressed with how much Hughes’ changeup has advanced this past spring, I wasn’t able to confirm or deny that because Hughes didn’t go to the pitch that much. He might have just been trying to keep it simple for his AAA debut. Another thing I picked up on Hughes was that he seemed focus to get the out at 2nd whenever the ball was tapped back to him and there was a runner on first. For the most part, this strategy worked out last night, but I’m not sure how great of a tendency this is. After all, the last thing we need is to endanger The Hitting Machine™.
Also impressing in the Scranton game was Eric Duncan. Duncan was only 1 for 4 in the box score, but the 1 was an impressive home run to right-center field. In addition, in the at bat prior to the homer, Duncan hit a long fly ball to left-center field. Every at bat was a quality one and Duncan is looking good thus far in 2007. I was once again pleased with his defensive play.
Alberto Gonzalez had another nondescript afternoon with the most noteworthy moment being the 4 pitch walk he drew in his first plate appearance. The odds of this happening again are probably not great. His two hits were also of the right place at the right time variety as he hit one off of the 2B, which was a play that could have been made, and the other was a tapper.
Around The Minors:
Elsewhere in the minors, Jeff Marquez started his season off with 5 no-hit innings before finally giving in in the 6th. I was very encouraged by the start for Marquez as I have him rated higher than everyone else and as long as he keeps his walks in check, I feel confident he’ll make me look good.
Ian Kennedy made short work of the competition in Tampa, striking out 8 in 5 innings and really, he should not be long for Tampa. I expect him to consistently put up big strikeout totals in the FSL until the Yankees promote him. Most noteworthy, for me at least, will be his GB:FB ratio. He’s supposedly been working on a 2-seamer.
Jose Tabata continues to dominate in the early going as he was 3 for 4 with a triple and a strikeout. It’s early, but Tabata looks like he wants to make good on his goal of reaching Trenton and proving, by the end of the year, that he can hit big league pitching.
Austin Jackson showed off his newfound power in Charleston last night going 2 for 4 with a double and a home run. The double was to center and the home run was to left-center.
Spotlight On:
You could go with Scranton, where Ross Ohlendorf is making his system debut. At the same time, you could go with Tampa where Joba should be making his full-season debut. The choice is yours. I’m more interested in Joba, I think.
Friday, April 6, 2007
Clippard’s AAA Debut
Opening Night Review:
Tyler Clippard was solid in his AAA debut last night. He had a little trouble locating the fastball, but could go to the curve and the change for outs whenever he got into a jam. While his fastball isn’t particularly fast, he does seem to get a good deal of movement on it. Some of that is unintended as it sails on him from time to time. His command of his secondary pitches appears to be superior to his fastball command, which could explain some of the “Clippard pitches backwards” stuff that’s heard from time to time.
Eric Duncan looked ok at the plate. He had a couple of poor appearances against a good pitcher, Hayden Penn, but also knocked a looooong opposite field double off the wall. Defensively, he looked much improved from when I saw him last year. His actions around the bag appeared smoother and more confident, which was my primary point of concern with his defensive game.
Alberto Gonzalez was up hacking and did not last long enough in any of his Abs to take note of anything other than the fact that he likes to swing. In the field he didn’t do anything noteworthy.
Around The Minors:
-Chase Wright pitched a phenomenal game for Trenton. He went 7 and struck out 9 while giving up 3 hits and 0 walks. Wright was pretty impressive in spring training, despite some control problems. He’s fairly old to be considered a big time prospect, but he might be Ron Villone, we’ll see.
-Jose Tabata started his season off right by singling and immediately stealing a base.
-Tim Norton also got started correctly by tossing 5 innings of 1 hit shutout baseball. He also took the time to strike out 5 while just walking 1. Despite concerns about his secondary pitches, I doubt Norton will be long for Charleston.
Spotlight On:
-Scranton is once again the affiliate to watch as Phil Hughes makes his 2007 debut.
Monday, March 5, 2007
Spring Training Notes (3/5/07)
-Phil Hughes struggled in his first appearance of the Spring, but that’s not much of a worry. When a guy has the physical ability as well as performance track record of a Hughes, you don’t get worried because he does poorly his first time out in the Spring. He was obviously a bit nervous and that hurt him, as he wasn’t finishing on most of his pitches, leading to spotty control and poor break on his curveball.
-Jose Tabata seems to be in good shape. The difference between when I saw him last year and seeing him this year seems to be that last season he was built like a big kid and now he looks like an NFL running back. He solidified this opinion my going 1st to 3rd very quickly on A-Rod’s botched double in the first game of the Spring. This has eased some of my worry about his weight/development as I feel he might just be one of those stocky fast guys with a broad base of skills, a la Bobby Abreu. I was afraid he might have to be downgraded to a one-dimensional slugger, one of the primary reasons I didn’t grade him as a straight A on my Top 25. -Marcos Vechionacci looks like he’s beginning to grow into his body. He’s already gotten pretty big and he has plenty of room to get bigger. I was impressed by the way he pulled the ball on his first hit as that was something that he has struggled with in the past and I don’t think the less meaty Vechionacci that we saw last year would have been able to do the same thing. I think strength and leveraging that stretch as he gets bat to ball will be the most critical aspect of Marcos’ development this year. He has the plate discipline to succeed in Tampa; it is just a matter of improving the quality of his contact. -Ross Ohlendorf was very impressive in his first outing of the Spring. The Princeton product looked a lot like Wang and you have to assume that’s the projection the Yankees were making in acquiring him. He worked off of his 92-94 MPH sinker and had a very nice outing. Reports in the offseason made it seem as though his velocity on the pitch would be a tick lower than that, but I think this is about what should be expected. I think he’s going to have to refine his secondary pitches some more though because I’m not sure his sinker is of the quality of Wang’s, which is what allows Wang to get by with such a limited repertoire. -Steven Jackson got some work in today, but didn’t look very good at all. He was mainly 89-90 and it looked incredibly straight for a guy who is supposed to be a sinkerballer. He didn’t show much in the way of other pitches and got knocked around a bit as well. I’ve speculated on Jackson as a poor man’s Ohlendorf and Ohlendorf as a poor man’s Wang. The problem with this is that Wang, despite great performance thus far, does not have the greatest room for error. The more you downgrade the quality of Wang…the less enticing the pitching prospect. Hopefully that makes as much sense to you as it did in my head. -I love Tyler Clippard. I’m not going to pretend I’m without bias because the fact of the matter is that I’ve had a huge man crush on him since 2003 and every time Baseball America or someone else has questioned his ability, it has made my man crush larger. That said, I don’t think I’m out of line in saying that Clippard was terrific today. His much-maligned fastball was 89-92 and looked like it had solid movement on it. His changeup gave him the most trouble as there were a couple of times he didn’t finish on the pitch and it flew on him, most noticeably on the HBP. His curveball wasn’t thrown much, but he got his lone strikeout on it and would have had another strikeout in an earlier AB had the umpire not blown the call, so that pitch was working well. He also displayed what seemed to be a quick move to 1st. Overall, I would say Clippard did a good job of showing what he’s all about and why his future may not be as dull as some seem to anticipate. -As a result of injuries, Humberto Sanchez has not pitched any Spring innings. Is anyone surprised? I didn’t want to rate Sanchez ahead of Clippard during the offseason, but gave into everyone’s raving about his stuff. I’m beginning to regret that decision, but you know, small sample size and all. -The Run Fairy™ is alive and well. -Bronson Sardinha is Melky Cabrera with less discipline and, as a result, less ability to hit for average, but more power. He might be John Vander Wal.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
2: Jose Tabata
Jose Tabata, 18, RFPreviously Ranked: 4th prior to 2006
What Others Say: Pinstripes Plus 2nd, Baseball
Physical Ability: Jose Tabata is an extremely young, extremely gifted teenager in the Yankee farm system. He possesses solid or better tools across the board and it is this broad base of tools that make him an exciting prospect. While his American debut gave the impression that he was/is a speedster, Tabata has lost some of that ability due to weight gain. How well he is able to keep his weight under control may be the determining factor in how far he goes as a big leaguer. At present, Tabata still possesses solid speed and is surprisingly adept at picking his spots on the bases. Unlike many young hitters, Tabata does not struggle to get on base as he both hits for average and controls the strike zone. Tabata is a good hitter for average due to level stroke and consistently getting good wood on the ball. While he projects to hit for power in the 30 home run range, Tabata has only tapped into a bit of that raw ability. Defensively, Tabata has played all three OF positions to this point of his career. He projects as a solid or better defender in either OF corner.
What Happened in ’06: Tabata began the year playing for the Charleston Riverdogs of the South Atlantic League. Through the July 4th weekend his performance was excellent as he had posted an OPS of .824 while making consistent adjustments and improvements at the plate. It was around this time where he began to suffer through a series of hand injuries that would derail his season. The Yankees tried a DL stay as well as some good old fashioned time off, but neither was effective in curing what ailed their top offensive prospect. Tabata would cap his year by playing in the Venezuelan Winter League. While he was initially a bench player, Tabata’s offensive performance forced his coaching staff’s hand and he took hold of a starting spot. Unfortunately, it was then that his was derailed by a wrist injury.
What Lies Ahead: Normally, I’m afraid of what going to the Florida State League will do to an offensive prospect’s numbers, but in the case of Tabata, I’m fairly confident he will have a representative season. He does not put the ball in the air that much and did a good job dealing with an adverse offensive environment in
Grade: At the moment, there are two flaws in Tabata’s prospect profile. The first is his weight, the second is injury history. In regards to the former, Tabata came into the year overweight and while he worked his way into shape as the season progressed he was still wider than you’d like a top hitting prospect to be at his age. So, that’s going to be a concern until it can be established that last offseason’s weight gain was a fluke. His build is also going to be a contributor to this problem as well as inflating the issue. The second concern is injuries. Over the past few months, Tabata has battled some hand and wrist issues, which are particularly troublesome. They have a tendency to sap power and it appears that that may have occurred in Tabata’s case. The Yankees are once again claiming Tabata is fully recovered, so hopefully that is a thing of the past. If you’re looking for or find any other legitimate flaws, you’re probably looking too hard. If things work out, Jose has a chance to be a Kevin Mitchell/Bobby Abreu type and if everything goes right, he may just be Manny Ramirez. A-
Wednesday, November 8, 2006
Baseball America: Top 10 Yankees Prospects
1. Phil Hughes, RHP2. Jose Tabata, OF
3. Dellin Betances, RHP
4. Joba Chamberlain, RHP
5. Ian Kennedy, RHP
6. Chris Garcia, RHP
7. Tyler Clippard, RHP
8. J. Brent Cox, RHP
9. Mark Melancon, RHP
10. Brett Gardner,
Not a big fan of Brett Gardner, but otherwise the list seems to be as expected.
Friday, September 22, 2006
The 2006 RLYW Minor League Awards
SG reflected on the ’06 major league regular season, so please be sure to check that out below. Now, onto the ’06 RLYW minor league award winners (the numbers for hitters are BA/OBP/SLG and for pitchers they are ERA/K9/BB9/H9/HR9):
2006 Yankee Prospect All Star Team:
C: Jose Gil, 19, A-/SS .229/.310/.291
1B: Cody Ehlers, 24, A .298/.375/.487
2B: Wilmer Pino, 20, SS .326/.363/.410
3B: Marcos Vechionacci, 19, A?A- .235/.327/.346
SS: Reegie Corona, 19, A-/A .293/.347/.369
OF: Brett Gardner, 22, A?AA .298/.395/.370
OF: Jose Tabata, 17, A- .298/.377/.420
OF: Colin Curtis, 21, GCL/SS .311/.374/.437
LHP: Angel Reyes, 19, GCL/SS 1.40/8.5/2.8/5.2/0.1
RHP: Phil Hughes, 20, A?AA 2.16/10.4/2.1/5.7/0.3
Breakout Prospect: Cody Ehlers
Comeback Prospect: Chase Wright
Hitting Prospect: Jose Tabata
Pitching Prospect: Phil Hughes
As previously stated, the minimum qualifications include 60 IP for a pitcher or 180 PA for a hitter; otherwise Francisco Cervelli would have probably taken the catcher slot, though I like Jose Gil more from what I’ve seen. Overall, I would say the hitting aspect of this looks better than last year’s list, but the Yankee farm system is still lopsided as there are innumerable RHP worth prospect consideration with 1 legit LHP, who somehow got left off the GCL Top 20, and 1 stud hitter. Given that the Yankees picked up a lot of position players during the international FA period, it seems they are trying to rectify this issue. So, who did I miss the boat on? For comparison’s sake, check out Mike’s year end minor league awards.
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