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Post by jiminy on Mar 13, 2024 12:10:43 GMT -5
Keep an eye out for these three Yankees Spring Breakout prospects Underneath the big names lie some intriguing stories. www.pinstripealley.com/2024/3/13/24098527/yankees-spring-breakout-prospects-caleb-durbin-roc-riggio-kyle-carr-all-star-power-speed-new-facesThis winter, MLB announced a brand new event for spring training, designed to help connect fans with the rising stars of the game, the Spring Breakout. Across four days, all 30 teams will assemble an all-prospect roster and compete against one another. The event kicks off on March 14th with a juicy matchup between the Pirates and Orioles. The Yankees follow suit a few days later, hosting the Blue Jays on March 16th. While the roster features big names such as Spencer Jones, George Lombard Jr., Chase Hampton, and more, there are some under-the-radar names you will want to be familiar with as well. Let’s take a look at three players from the 2024 Spring Breakout roster you will want to keep an eye on. Roc Riggio Drafted in the fourth round in the 2023 draft, Riggio does not fit the typical Yankees mold. He is a loud, flashy player who brings a ton of swagger wherever he plays. College baseball fans might remember his name from a legendary performance for Oklahoma State back in the 2022 Regionals, where he batted .556 with four homers, five doubles and an astonishing 17 RBI in just five games. Riggio does a lot of things the team values. He has a vicious, left-handed swing designed to maximize launch angles, and he has improved his patience and strike-zone recognition, leading to lots of loud contact when he does swing. He has above-average bat speed, which he uses to squeeze every last ounce of power into his swings. Riggio is not a speed threat by any means, but he is aggressive on the basepaths and has good instincts, leading to more stolen bases than you might think. At face value, there are a few concerns with Riggio’s profile. Riggio doesn’t have the standard power hitter’s build, standing in at just 5-foot-9, and doesn’t play the best defense in the infield either. He almost exclusively played second base in college but the Yankees like him as a shortstop, and will continue to play him there for the time being. His aptitude for going all out on every play he’s involved in helps make up for his subpar defense and reminds scouts of Dustin Pedroia. While he doesn’t have Pedroia’s bat-to-ball skills, he does pack more power than Pedroia did at this stage of his career. There is some three true outcome risk in his profile as well. He controls the strike zone well enough to draw a considerable amount of walks, but he can get strikeout-happy when he hunts for homers. However, Riggio did improve on his contact rates enough in his last season with the Cowboys to ease some of those concerns. Power will always be the name of his game though, and he has enough thump in his bat to carry him far as he adjusts to professional-level pitching. Caleb Durbin When the Yankees brought back Tommy Kahnle before the 2023 campaign, they surprisingly designated late-stage breakout reliever Lucas Luetge for assignment, but quickly found a trade partner in the Atlanta Braves. The Yankees traded Luetge for pitcher Indigo Diaz and Durbin. Diaz was the better get at the time, then ranking 15th on the Braves’ Top 30 Prospects list, with Durbin looking like a throw in. While Diaz produced mixed results in his first season, Durbin exploded. The Yankees clearly saw something they liked with his profile, and Durbin delivered, slashing .304/.395/.427 in 69 games with 18 extra-base hits, 36 stolen bases in 44 tries, and just 18 strikeouts compared to 26 walks across two levels, making it to Double-A. Following that, the Yankees sent Durbin to the Arizona Fall League where he continued to rake, batting .353/.456/.588 (good for an enormous 1.045 OPS) in 23 games. He picked up another 21 stolen bases in 23 tries and finished four steals short of breaking Rick Holifield’s record of 24 steals. Durbin is almost the exact opposite of Riggio despite playing the same position; speed is the clear name of his game and he uses it well. He had shown a keen eye at the plate dating back to his college days but had struggled to make a serious impact with the bat before joining the Yankees. The team was quick to identify adjustments to his swing that led to his offensive breakout. Durbin will never be a home run hitter, but brings a lot of comparisons to Brett Gardner as a small, scrappy speedster with good contact and defensive skills who can muscle a few balls out of the park. He’s a second baseman by trade but he has experience all over the field, and the Yankees tried him at both third base and shortstop across the season before exclusively playing second in the AFL. He has good reactions on the dirt and can hold his own at all three positions, even if second base seems like a permanent home. Durbin is not featured on current top prospects lists now, but after earning a non-roster invitation to spring training and making the Spring Breakout roster, it’s clear the Yankees value him highly. Look for Durbin to shoot up rankings by midseason. Kyle Carr Junior College products are tough to evaluate in the draft on their own, even before ones who have bounced around like Carr did. He had Tommy John surgery as a high school senior in 2020, enrolled at the University of San Diego and redshirted in 2021, played briefly in 2022 before transferring to Palomar Junior College for 2023 and was prepared to transfer to Texas Christian University had he not signed after the draft. Carr’s season with Palomar made him an enticing draft selection however, as he went 12-1 with a 2.31 ERA and a whopping 111-to-19 strikeout-to-walk ratio. The Yankees couldn’t pass up that type of production and signed him after spending a third-round pick on him in this past year’s draft. Carr is a bit of an old-school pitcher with his mechanics. He has a fluid delivery and repeats his motions easily, leading to a lot of strikes. He doesn’t carry overpowering heat on his fastball, sitting in the mid-90s range and topping out around 97 mph. He has a changeup in his arsenal that has potential but will require a lot of work. But where he really grabbed the Yankees’ attention is with his slider. New York has prioritized pitchers with above-average spin rates on breaking pitches in recent drafts, and Carr’s slider is no exception. He had trouble commanding it at times in college but when he does have the feel for it, it transforms into a lethal sweeper. The team has already begun working with him on refining his command and feel for the pitch. The biggest thing with Carr is that we simply haven’t seen him in pro ball. The team gave him the rest of the year off after signing, so if he pitches in the Spring Breakout game, that will be his first taste of professional ball. Scouts are bullish on his future, as there’s a lot to like about what he brings to the table now. He was viewed more as a high-floor type of pitcher with middle of the rotation starter type upside. The Yankees have excelled in recent years in helping high-floor college pitchers push past those limits, and Carr’s slider is the key in getting him there. He is still just 21, so there is plenty of time to develop, but he will be fun to watch and a bit of an anomaly should he get into the Spring Breakout game. The introduction of the Spring Breakout series has been praised across the game as a fun and unique initiative to introduce more fans to rising stars. There are intriguing games all over the four-day event, and this Yankees-Blue Jays game is no exception. Keep an eye for these names and more you might not know now, as they could very well be future stars for the Yankees.
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Post by jiminy on Mar 13, 2024 15:15:42 GMT -5
2024 Breakout Prospects pitcherlist.com/martin-sekulskis-2024-breakout-prospects/Henry Lalane (LHP, NYY) One of the most exciting pitching prospects in the game is 19-year-old Dominican left-hander Henry Lalane from the NY Yankees organization. Lalane is no stranger to the Bronx, having been born there and sharing dual citizenship in the US and the Dominican Republic. Entering 2024, the 6’7″, 210 lb southpaw is on the verge of a massive breakout, going from a relative unknown at the start of 2023 to a top-50 prospect by the end of this season. The Yankees gave Lalane a $350k bonus as a 17-year-old in 2021, an atypical payday for a pitcher. In his first season, he battled control issues in the DSL before settling in the middle of 2022. Lalane underwent Tommy John surgery late in 2022 and missed most of the 2023 season recovering. So, what makes Lalane so good? Let’s start with his improved command and strike-throwing ability. What was once a concern has become a significant strength, and Lalane projects to have above-average control. With a significant physical frame comes extra extension. Although Lalane has not reached his maximum extension, he is releasing the ball much closer than an average pitcher. That extension, coupled with the length in the upper half of Lalane’s body, adds deception for hitters, leaving them guessing on pitches that are exploding toward them. Next is his arsenal, which features a three-pitch mix, including a four-seam fastball, a slider, and a changeup. His four-seam fastball sits in the low-to-mid 90s and has reached 97mph. The heater has good arm side run and carries well up in the zone, but also, paints the inside corner against right-handed hitters. His slider has a sharp bite but does not always get as deep as I’d prefer. The pitch has plus potential but still needs refining. His third offering is a changeup with good depth and fading action. It sits in the mid-80s and has plenty of velocity separation from his heater. 2024 will be a big challenge for Lalane as he continues to work back from Tommy John. His improved command while maintaining velocity has me excited about his upside. This Spring will be his first venture into full-season ball, and if Lalane continues to dominate as he did in the Complex, he will burst into the top 50 and assert himself among the game’s best pitching prospects.
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Post by jiminy on Mar 16, 2024 11:39:47 GMT -5
Ben Rice and Chase Hampton named winners of Yankees 2023 Kevin Lawn Awards www.yesnetwork.com/yankees/news/ben-rice-and-chase-hampton-named-winners-of-yankees-2023-kevin-lawn-awardsThe New York Yankees today announced that catcher Ben Rice and right-handed pitcher Chase Hampton were named winners of the 2023 Kevin Lawn Awards as the Yankees’ minor league “Position Player of the Year” and “Pitcher of the Year,” respectively. Both players will be presented their awards today in an on-field pregame ceremony prior to the Yankees-Blue Jays 1:05 p.m. game at George M. Steinbrenner Field. The annual awards are dedicated to Kevin O’Brien Lawn—the son of longtime Yankees Vice President and Chief of Operations Jack Lawn—who passed away in 1999. Rice, 25, batted .324/.434/.615 (89-for-275) with 62R, 18 doubles, 1 triple, 20HR, 68RBI, 44BB and 11SB in 73 combined games with Single-A Tampa, High-A Hudson Valley and Double-A Somerset in 2023. He was named by MLB Pipeline as the Yankees’ “Hitting Prospect of the Year” after ranking among qualified Yankees farmhands in home runs (seventh) and RBI (tied for eighth). Rice also was named the Eastern League “Player of the Month” for August after batting .345/.397/.700 (38for-110) with 24R, 7 doubles, 1 triple, 10HR, 29RBI, 8BB and 6SB in 26 games with Somerset. The left-handed batter was tabbed by Baseball America as the “Best Hitter for Average” among Yankees farmhands following last season. Heading into 2024, he is ranked by Baseball America as the Yankees’ No. 12 prospect, as well as being named the No. 13 in the Yankees’ system by MLB Pipeline. Additionally, he was named an MiLB.com Organization All-Star in 2023. The Cohasset, Mass., native was selected by the Yankees in the 12th round of the 2021 First-Year Player Draft out of Dartmouth College. Hampton, 22, combined to go 4-3 with a 3.63 ERA (106.2IP, 85H, 51R/43ER, 37BB, 145K, 13HR) in 20 combined starts with High-A Hudson Valley and Double-A Somerset in 2023, his first professional season. He allowed 2ER-or-fewer in 15 starts, including three scoreless outings. Among Yankees qualified farmhands, Hampton ranked sixth in strikeouts and ninth in innings pitched. The right-handed pitcher enters the 2024 season as the Yankees’ No. 6 prospect and the No. 72 prospect in all of baseball according to Baseball America, as well as labeled as having the “Best Fastball” and “Best Curveball” among Yankees farmhands. Additionally, Hampton is ranked as the No. 4 prospect in the Yankees’ system and the No. 92 prospect overall by MLB Pipeline. The Kilgore, Tex., native was selected by the Yankees in the sixth round of the 2022 First-Year Player Draft out of Texas Tech University. Each player will be presented with a trophy created by Brown’s Trophies of Tampa, as well as an engraved designer watch, courtesy of Betteridge Jewelers. If Drew Thorpe hadn't been traded by the Yankees to the Padres, he would have won the award over Chase Hampton in my opinion. Also, it is generally believed Hampton has a higher ceiling than Thorpe.
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Post by Max on Mar 16, 2024 12:59:09 GMT -5
If Drew Thorpe hadn't been traded by the Yankees to the Padres, he would have won the award over Chase Hampton in my opinion. Also, it is generally believed Hampton has a higher ceiling than Thorpe. Yep, Thorpe pitched well for the Padres, in my opinion he increased his trade value.
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Post by jiminy on Mar 16, 2024 13:38:09 GMT -5
If Drew Thorpe hadn't been traded by the Yankees to the Padres, he would have won the award over Chase Hampton in my opinion. Also, it is generally believed Hampton has a higher ceiling than Thorpe. Yep, Thorpe pitched well for the Padres, in my opinion he increased his trade value. Fifth-ranked #Yankees prospect Drew Thorpe wins Minor League Pitching Prospect of the Year! (This award was for all minor leagues, not just the Yankees.) The 23-year-old is the No. 5 prospect in the organization. He started 18 games at High-A and five games at Double-A I was looking forward to seeing Drew Thrope pitching for the Yankees, especially since he attended and pitched for the Mustangs at Cal Poly SLO, the university my daughter was a graduate.
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Post by Max on Mar 16, 2024 16:44:57 GMT -5
Yep, Thorpe pitched well for the Padres, in my opinion he increased his trade value. I was looking forward to seeing Drew Thrope pitching for the Yankees, especially since he attended and pitched for the Mustangs at Cal Poly SLO, the university my daughter was a graduate. Jiminy, I was also looking forward to seeing Thorpe pitch for the Yankees. I wish they could have made that trade without including him. Who knows? Maybe one day the Yankees will trade for him or sign him as a free agent.
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Post by jiminy on Mar 17, 2024 13:42:12 GMT -5
ESPN | Jorge Castillo: The Spencer Jones hype train is full steam ahead, and for good reason. Jones; recently ranked as baseball’s 56th-best prospect by ESPN writer Kiley McDaniel, has had a great spring and his tools have resulted in rave reviews while the Yankees have steadfastly refused to include him in trades for Juan Soto, Corbin Burnes, and Dylan Cease. “I know this sounds hyperbolic, but Jones has louder tools than Judge,” an anonymous scout told Castillo. “Jones is just a freak of nature.”
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Post by qwik3457bb on Mar 17, 2024 16:20:24 GMT -5
ESPN | Jorge Castillo: The Spencer Jones hype train is full steam ahead, and for good reason. Jones; recently ranked as baseball’s 56th-best prospect by ESPN writer Kiley McDaniel, has had a great spring and his tools have resulted in rave reviews while the Yankees have steadfastly refused to include him in trades for Juan Soto, Corbin Burnes, and Dylan Cease. “I know this sounds hyperbolic, but Jones has louder tools than Judge,” an anonymous scout told Castillo. “Jones is just a freak of nature.” Although very unlikely, it is theoretically possible that Jones will be as good as Judge, if not a player whose talents take the same exact shape. Assuming Jones makes it to the majors sometime next year, he will be a year younger than Judge when Judge made it. If he makes it the 2nd half of this year, two years younger.
What makes it very unlikely is that Judge grew explosively at the big league level; the difference in his hitting from that first callup season in 2016 to his 2017 was extremely unusual, especially for a 25 year old in his first full season. He cut his K rate from almost 45% to just above 30% which meant 90-100 more times putting the ball in play over a full season. As hard as Judge frequently hits the ball, that's about another 30 hits per full season, enough to raise the BAVG 50 points, and another 10 HR per full season.
It's not fair to compare any prospect to Judge, really. Judge is an MVP-level player; an outstanding defender and runner, and just below elite level as a hitter because he's too K-prone against top pitching, as shown in his post-season record. Judge will become a solid Hall of Fame candidate with 3-4 more good-to-elite seasons in the majors.
Jones will have to pass the test at AA at least, then maybe a month at AAA. Then we'll see. If he's 80% as good as Judge, say as good as George Springer was for the Astros and still is, that'll be plenty good enough. Hopefully, he'll stay healthy more than Judge has.
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Post by jiminy on Mar 18, 2024 17:04:10 GMT -5
Yankees 2024 Season Preview: Clayton Beeter This live arm could soak up a lot of innings in the Bronx this season. www.pinstripealley.com/2024/3/18/24101740/yankees-2024-season-preview-clayton-beeter-gerrit-cole-prospect-starting-pitcher-strikeoutsClayton Beeter’s story has remained largely the same throughout his baseball career — a ton of talent handled with extreme caution. Drafted by the Dodgers in the second competitive balance round of the shortened 2020 draft, Beeter entered the organization with outstanding results at Texas Tech but a loaded injury history, including Tommy John surgery back in 2017 Los Angeles handled him with utmost care, rarely ever letting him pitch past the fourth inning in his starts, leading to a 2021 season of 27 starts but just 52.1 innings pitched. It was more of the same in 2022 before being sent to New York as the return for Joey Gallo. Beeter pitched well in seven starts for Double-A Somerset before the Yankees took the reigns off in 2023 and watched him explode for Somerset before a mid-season promotion. 2023 Stats (Double-A): 12 G (12 GS), 6-2, 60.2 IP, 2.08 ERA, 3.86 FIP, 11.27 K/9, 4.60 BB/9, 0.45 HR/9 2023 Stats (Triple-A): 15 G (14 GS), 3-5, 71 IP, 4.94 ERA, 5.76 FIP, 11.28 K/9, 5.58 BB/9, 1.90 HR/9 2024 ZiPS Projections: 25 G (24 GS), 6-6, 107 IP, 4.79 ERA, 4.86 FIP, 9.08 K/9, 4.46 BB/9, 1.35 HR/9 As you can see by the numbers, it was a tale of two halves for Beeter. He was cruising throughout Double-A in the first half en route to being named an Eastern League All-Star. Following a promotion to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, the numbers don’t look nearly as pretty, but not all is as it seems. Beeter’s first three starts were an adjustment period, as he got rocked for an 8.25 ERA in just 12 innings pitched. He pitched much better in five August starts, posting a 3.57 ERA in 22.2 innings pitched and rounding out with a 4.26 ERA across 25.1 innings pitched in five September starts. Despite the less than stellar Triple-A numbers, there were some positives to take away following Beeter’s promotion. His excellent strikeout numbers stayed the same and he was able to right the ship following a rude introduction to Triple-A. Furthermore, Beeter shattered his previous record for innings pitched in a season, finishing at 131.2 innings after topping out at just 77 in 2022. The new record for innings clearly led to some fatigue down the stretch, but Beeter still gutted out some late September starts to put him in good shape for 2024. Prior to the Juan Soto trade and Gerrit Cole injury, Beeter was pretty far down on the depth chart, looking to start the year with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and gain more experience. But following the departure of several arms and an impressive showing early in spring training, Beeter has rocketed up the depth chart. He has looked especially sharp in nine innings in the spring so far, but spring numbers should always be taken with a grain of salt. What shouldn’t be, however, is the impression he’s made with his teammates. Following Beeter’s three scoreless innings against the Marlins on February 29th, catcher Jose Trevino raved about his arsenal to MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch. “He’s got some good stuff,” Trevino said. “I like the fastball; I think his offspeed pitches are really good. I think he gets to good locations. Just having conversations with him, he’s a smart kid. He understands what his arsenal is and what he can do with it.” Beeter’s results haven’t gone unnoticed by management either. “I think he’s in here with something to prove,” said skipper Aaron Boone to Hoch. “He’s done a really good job ever since we got him in our organization. That’s a pretty strong showing — night game, he gets the start, and went out there and performed.” Beeter has an uphill battle to make the team out of spring training, but not a hopeless one. Cole’s injury has left a large hole to fill in the rotation, especially in this make-or-break year New York has created for themselves. The 25-year-old should not be considered a favorite for that fifth spot, but also shouldn’t be ruled out entirely. Beeter brings a live arm, nasty stuff, and a crafty arsenal with three plus pitches to the table. The one thing that has troubled Beeter in his professional career is consistent command. When he’s on, he’s near un-hittable. When he’s not, he can get himself into trouble, either with walks or bad location pitches that get hammered. The team has been working with him on improving command since his 2022 arrival, and have been pleased with his progress. Trevino especially has been working with him on trusting his repertoire more, and to pound the strike zone with his plus fastball and slider for more consistent strikes, progress that has shown early in spring. All things considered, barring any more injuries, Beeter most likely will not make the team out of spring training. Gaining more experience down in Triple-A is the best path for him, but an eventual call-up to New York seems more likely than not given his performance and the Yankees’ track record of injuries. When he does make it to the Bronx, Beeter deserves some patience as well, as he has an established track record of slow starts at new levels. How quickly he adjusts is up in the air, but he will bring electric stuff and will rack up a ton of strikeouts. While a relief role may be his future, the Yankees will exhaust every opportunity for him as a starter, both out of intrigue and necessity. While the Cole injury is awful for the team on every level, it might just be the opportunity Beeter needs to establish himself as a major league starter.
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Post by jiminy on Mar 19, 2024 11:10:15 GMT -5
Yankees 2024 Season Preview: Spencer Jones The org’s top prospect won’t begin the year with the Yankees, but he might end it www.pinstripealley.com/2024/3/19/24104864/yankees-mlb-season-preview-spring-training-prospects-jones-dominguez-judgeAfter a few years without standout prospects in the system, it seems we have a new shiny toy to think about every few months. Anthony Volpe had us all hyped in camp last year, and Jasson Domínguez became a midseason hope spot. This spring, Spencer Jones looked brilliant in his brief stint at big league camp, wowed in the Spring Breakout contest, and has us all wondering what the next step in his development is. 2023 statistics (A+ and Double-A): 117 games, 535 plate appearances, .267/.336/.444, 16 HR, 66 RBI, 112 wRC+, 9.2 BB%, 28.9 K% 2024 ZiPS projections: 116 games, 526 plate appearances, .215/.266/.350, 13 HR, 59 RBI, 69 wRC+, 6.1 BB%, 33.1 K%, 0.2 fWAR We all love Szymborski but ZiPS projections aren’t all that helpful for a guy with just 17 Double-A games under his belt. Jones was sent to minor league camp a couple of weeks ago and will start the season in Somerset, and while he’s risen quickly in the eyes of evaluators, the newfound outfield depth the Yankees built over the winter allows the organization to take their time with him. It’s tempting to just apply the Aaron Judge model to Jones — a power-hitting college outfielder with truly titanic home run potential and some swing and miss in the profile. Like Judge he’s also a tick behind some of the other top prospects in the game development-wise, thanks to a lost COVID season and injuries while at Vanderbilt. The differences change the mold a little bit, with Jones probably more likely to hang in center field and with a good deal more pure speed than Judge. The big talking point though is, and will continue to be, the tradeoff of contact for power. FanGraphs pegs him to be a 40-home run guy if he can pull all the pieces together at the MLB level, but striking out nearly 30 percent of the time at Double-A requires a major correction — the pitching doesn’t get easier from here. He’s still very much a project, and it’s very possible we don’t see Jones in the bigs until 2025. Still...Still, we can hope, and wonder, and be amazed. I think we sometimes get too caught up in a 55 or 60 tool, trying to fit a player into a roster, what his potential trade value is. Spencer Jones was one of the brightest, if briefest, stars in camp this year and it’s OK to get a little carried away with hoping for his potential. With Aaron Judge and Jasson Domínguez entrenched in the outfield for the future, and a massive Juan Soto decision looming, Jones can provide both a respite against losing Soto and a center field option to take the load off the first two guys who really should be more in the corners. The Yankees have already indicated they’re unwilling to trade the organization’s top prospect, giving him the running room he needs to reach that incredible potential.
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Post by jiminy on Mar 19, 2024 11:13:49 GMT -5
Assessing the three Yankees pitchers from the Spring Breakout game A staff with 13 strikeouts in 7 innings? Yeah, let’s take a deeper dive. www.pinstripealley.com/2024/3/19/24105139/yankees-prospects-spring-breakout-pitchers-brock-selvidge-henry-lalane-jack-neely-2024My colleagues and I at Baseball Prospectus recently ranked the Yankees as having the seventh-best farm system in baseball. In addition to boasting impact position players relatively close or already in the majors — three of whom we discussed yesterday — they also have a vast collection of pitchers who leverage very good or elite breaking pitches. Three Yankees pitching prospects who qualify as having very good breaking pitches were put on display for all to see Saturday when they nearly shut out the Blue Jays’ top prospects across seven innings. In this article, I will give my honest assessment of each pitcher and highlight what you can expect from each pitcher in 2024 and beyond. Brock Selvidge, LHP Most teams in the Spring Breakout series opted to use pitchers for one or two innings. The Yankees, meanwhile, to let Selvidge go four innings. There are several potential explanations for this, the best one being that the Yankees opted to use this game to ramp Selvidge up like any other minor-league spring training game on a backfield. While it would’ve been nice to see more pitchers used in this game, we can’t help but be encouraged by the effort Selvidge put forth. In his four innings, he allowed just one hit and one walk, while striking out eight. On the surface, it was an incredibly impressive performance. A deeper dive, however, suggests that not much has changed in his scouting report from years past. In my offseason ranking of Yankees prospects for BP, I ranked Selvidge as the organization’s 18th-best prospect because I was unsure if his repertoire supported a future rotation projection. His sliders are very good. Yes, sliders as a plural, because he can manipulate the pitch to create two different shapes, one being a sweeper that emphasizes horizontal break at the cost of velocity, and another that is of the gyro variety that has a similar movement profile to his sweeper but doesn’t break as much and is thrown harder. I wasn’t aware of a gyro pitch until this outing, which is a positive development. Think of Selvidge’s gyro slider as a changeup to a fastball. If a pitcher has a good fastball, ideally you’ll have a changeup that looks like a fastball out of the hand until it dives late and is thrown five to ten mph softer. In this case, Selvidge’s sweeper is so good that having a pitch that mimics it keeps hitters honest. If I had to nitpick one thing about his sweeper, it’s that his release point is ever so slightly lower compared to the rest of his pitches. MLB hitters will pick up on this far more than minor leaguers and is something that could be problematic down the line. For all the praise I just gave Selvidge’s sliders, the rest of his arsenal has a ways to go. The fastball, while topping out at 95 at one point, realistically sat 90-92 with okay life up in the zone. At its best, it might be an average heater thanks to its life, but there hasn’t been a velocity increase as one would’ve hoped upon his drafting. He also threw a changeup three times, none of which he threw in the zone or generated chases on. I said in my offseason write-up at BP that the lack of a pitch he can use against righties was going to be his Achilles heel because his fastball/slider combination isn’t good enough on its own. Very few pitchers in baseball can get away with dominating off a two-pitch arsenal (hello Spencer Strider), so there’s still a chance Selvidge ends up a reliever despite his above-average strike-throwing ability. Henry Lalane, LHP At BP, we were extremely aggressive in ranking Lalane this offseason (we ranked him fourth). The rationale was pretty simple: he sports awesome stuff for a 19-year-old, stuff that is supported by good command. I graded each of Lalane’s fastball, slurve, and change as a 60 on the 20-80 scouting scale, which is plus. Although there are public models that dimmed the light on Lalane’s performance a bit, it’s important to note that many stuff models still have a tough time giving credit to pitchers with anomalous traits. In the case of Lalane, he’s 6-foot-7, has an incredibly low release point, and generates crazy good extension — a measure of how far off the mound, in feet, a pitcher releases the pitch. When you pair those attributes with the whiff rates he generated — an outstanding 43 percent — it’s easy to see why we ranked him so high. Lalane’s fastball sat in the low-mid 90’s but topped out at nearly 97, confirming my previous sentiment of his heater being a plus offering. His changeup was his best pitch from a whiff standpoint, a whopping 60 percent! His slider, which I always thought was his second-best offering, might be his third-best. That’s not a slight on his slider by any means, but rather a compliment to his cambio. The only blemish I marked down was Lalane’s propensity for missing with each of his pitches up-and-arm-side. There was a point in time when he threw six consecutive balls, none of which sniffed the zone. Again, I’d like to remind you that he’s 19-years-old and has shown an ability to throw good strikes in the past, so I wouldn’t put too much weight into that sequence of missed locations. All in all, this was a highly successful performance for Lalane. I hope fans now see Lalane’s potential. He is the most exciting pitching prospect the Yankees have unearthed since Luis Severino. Fans can catch him in Tampa to begin the season, where he will lead a loaded Tarpons team that is poised to welcome many of the FCL stars from last season. Jack Neely, RHP Neely was the one relief-only prospect to make an appearance in this exhibition game. He got some run in major league camp earlier this month where he showed off a fastball/slider combo that’s hard for hitters to pick up given his exceptionally large frame (he’s 6-foot-8). What separated Neely from other relief-only prospects in the system last year was his ability to generate strikes at a far higher clip than his peers. While he surrendered the only (unearned) run the Yankees gave up in this game and also struggled with his command which led to some loud contact off him, there were some encouraging takeaways. The Ohio State product’s strikeout and walk totals from last season can be a little misleading because while Neely can throw strikes at an above-average clip, he gets a huge amount of chase and whiffs on both his pitches. The fastball can get up to 96 with good life up in the zone, and the slider tunnels exceptionally well off his heater until it breaks late (that’s a good thing). For those who aren’t familiar, per Pitcher List, tunneling minimizes the distance of two pitches at the commit point (or tunnel point, point of no return, etc.) while then maximizing the distance between the pitch’s final coordinates. There’s a nonzero chance Neely will be called up this season if he keeps it up, but the more realistic scenario is he makes his debut in 2025. He could be yet another tall player the Yankees employ on their major league roster in due time as a capable middle reliever. Overall, it was disappointing to see the Yankees roll out just three pitchers in a game meant to highlight many of the top prospects in their system. We didn’t get to see Chase Hampton, who I graded as the Yankees’ best pitching prospect over the offseason. We also didn’t witness Carlos Lagrange and his exciting arsenal, which was disappointing. And not to mention it again, but Major League Baseball has every incentive to expand the Spring Breakout series further in future years. While stretching pitchers out will likely be an unavoidable side effect, expanding the number of games to two, three, or four per team will give fans added exposure to most of their team’s best farmhands.
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Post by jiminy on Mar 19, 2024 11:15:11 GMT -5
MLB Pipeline | Jonathan Mayo: The Spring Breakout, MLB’s most recent initiative to showcase and highlight its best young talent, has come to an end. Three Yankees were elected to the All-Spring Breakout first team: first baseman T.J. Rumfield, outfielder Spencer Jones, and pitcher Brock Selvidge.
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Post by jiminy on Mar 19, 2024 11:24:17 GMT -5
Yankeesource: Luis Gil has always had big upside so I’d say that he’s closer to real than randomness. Still have some questions about control but his stuff looks elite and a few gains in control could make a big difference. Excited about his potential.
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Post by inger on Mar 19, 2024 12:53:04 GMT -5
Yankeesource: Luis Gil has always had big upside so I’d say that he’s closer to real than randomness. Still have some questions about control but his stuff looks elite and a few gains in control could make a big difference. Excited about his potential. I don’t mind a few extra walks if a pitcher is hard enough to hit.
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Post by jiminy on Mar 19, 2024 14:20:54 GMT -5
Yankeesource: Luis Gil has always had big upside so I’d say that he’s closer to real than randomness. Still have some questions about control but his stuff looks elite and a few gains in control could make a big difference. Excited about his potential. I don’t mind a few extra walks if a pitcher is hard enough to hit. That is mighty Blake Snell of you.
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