Yankees Promote Promote prospects Williams, Austin, Sancez and More!

Kim Klement-US PRESSWIRE - Presswire

 Well it was bound to happen soon and the Yankees decided to do their first round of prospect promotions. From the Low A affiliate Charleston RiverDogs the Yankees promoted catcher Gary Sanchez and outfielders Mason Williams and Tyler Austin to the High A Tampa Yankees. All of these guys were mashing and made the South Atlantic League All-Star team, the promotion were well deserved. Williams continued to sow why he shot up the top prospect list by hitting .304/.359/.489 on the season with eight home runs for Charleston to go along with excellent defense in Center field.
Catcher-turned-third-baseman-turned-right-fielder Tyler Austin burst onto the scene was 2nd in the Sally League with 14 homers and a .320/.405/.598 batting line for the year and deserved this promotion more than anybody. It will be interesting to see this Tampa outfield which will consist of Heathcott, Williams and Austin.
Sanchez wasn't even expected to have to stay in Charleston but he needed to work behind the plate more and his defense as improved. He still is a work in progress as a catcher but he has already destroyed Low A pitching so a promotion was necessary. One of the biggest reasons why Sanchez had remained in Charleston was that he was blocked by another top Yankee Catching prospect JR Murphy who despite some underwhelming numbers (.257/.322/.374 5 HR) was promoted to AA Trenton. Third Baseman Rob Segedin (.291/.358/.446 7 HR) was also promoted from Single A Tampa to AA Trenton.
Neil Medchill also moves back to Trenton from Tampa in hopes of after an earlier promotion saw him hit only .125.Also on the move are Jose Toussen, Tyson Blaser, and Eduardo Sosa, who will be joining the Charleston RiverDogs and Kyle Higashioka, who is moving back to Tampa from Trenton.

Yankees Catching dilemma

In Spring Training Russel Martin was going to be the starter and we were all wondering if Austin Romine would be able to get the backup job from Francisco Cervelli, but Romine injured his back almost immediately and it seemed certain that Cervelli would be the backup. Of course then the Yankees traded George Kontos for  Chris Stewart and Stewart became the backup Catcher because he was out of minor league options and Cervelli was sent to AAA. Stewart has had some timely hits but he was brought in for his defense and five passed balls is not the way to stick if Defense is your reason to be in the majors. Remember Montero was supposed to take over behind the plate but the Yankees did not trust him behind the plate last season and then traded him to Seattle because he did not fit in well unless he was a catcher. I think we would all prefer Cervelli to be with the big league club but until Austin Romine comes back then the Yankees are going to stick with Stewart and it looks like Romine will be out until July. If Romine had been able to have a full year in Triple A they could have potentially platooned Romine and Cervelli but now his injury means he is not guaranteed to start next year with the Yankees as they may want him to have a full year in Triple A. The Yankees are full of good catching prospects but right now with Romine injured the Yankees are lacking at high level catching depth. This is also an extremly odd time for us as Yankee fans as Jorge Posada has been a staple behind the plate for over a decade and replacing a player like Posada is nearly impossible. The other big downside with the loss of Romine for the first half of the season is that the Yankees are going to need to resign Russel Martin because they have nobody who could start next year behind the plate except for Martin. I also really do not want to risk letting Martin go either because Gary Sanchez is a long way away from the Majors and Romine has a grand total of 35 PA above Double A.

The Charleston RiverDogs are loaded for 2012

The Yankees had four players featured in MLB's top 100 prospects, those being Manny Banuelos, Dellin Betances, Gary Sanchez and Mason Williams and Keith Law ranks the Yankees farm system tenth overall even with the departure of Jesus Montero.

“I might be jumping the gun here, but I see a lot of star potential on their bottom few affiliates, including new acquisition Jose Campos from Seattle, to go with the two power arms from their Scranton club (Manny Banuelos and Dellin Betances),” said KLaw with his obvious anti-Yankees bias. “The flaw in the system is the lack of near-in talent, especially position players, who could either help the big club soon or provide more fodder for trades.”

Here is the Yankees top 20 prospects:

Prospects with projected starting level

 I do not give much credit to players in the lower levels because the farther away a player is the more likely he is to completely bust, but the quantity of high level talent in the Yankees lower levels is exciting.  What will make this year especially interesting is that normally you may see 2-4 high level prospects together, but this year the Yankees will have a lot of talent in the South Atlantic leagues Charleston RiverDogs. Next year the Yankees are projected to start Nine of their top twenty in Low A Charleston, in fact the only player in the top ten who isnt starting in Scranton or Charelston is Slade Heathcott. Every member of the infield and almost every position player is a top prospect, with two members of the rotation in the top twenty as well as several other interesting names. 

Infield:

Dante Bichette Jr. 3rd will more than likely man the hot corner in Charleston after tearing up the Gulf coast league and doing everything he can to prove wrong those of us who were stunned (meaning everyone) that the Yankees took him in the 1st round. The Yankees could decide to start him in Staten Island, but the general consesus is that he will start the year in Charleston.

Tyler Austin 3rd/1st will likely start on the other side of the infield at 1st base but he could easily start at third if Bichette doesn't start the year in Charelston. For all the hype that Bichettes bat got, Austins was even better and starting him anywhere but Charelston would be unfair to the New York-Penn league pitchers.

Angelo Gumbs 2nd may move to a new position but for right now he will look to be the starting second baseman with Charelston and is the youngest of the group having just turned 19 in October.

Cito Culver SS Like Bichette last year Culver was a surprise 1^st round draft pick. Culver spent all of last year with the Staten Island Yankees and will make the natural move to Low-A Charleston. Culver had a decent year with his bat last year but his defense and speed are what people are excited about. Hopefully Culver doesn’t sink in his first try at full season ball.

Gary Sanchez C I think Sanchez will start the year at Charleston, but there is a very good chance that he will share time with J.R Murphy in Tampa. The only thing holding Sanchez back from Tampa is that he got hurt, which is the same reason why Murphy isn’t starting in Trenton. Sanchez’s bat is the best in the system now that Montero is gone and his defense is considered to be better than Montero, but still not very good. If Sanchez does start the year in Charleston he will likely be the first of the group to move up to Tampa.

Outfield:

Mason Williams OF Williams broke out last year and is now considered to be the Yankees top outfield prospect. Williams had an amazing year and he will man Center Field in Charleston, if he continues to play to the high level he did last year and matures into some power then he quickly become the Yankees number one prospect. The Yankees hope is that Williams can become a Shane Victorino type; a gold glove centerfielder with a high average and decent power. No pressure

Ben Gamel OF His brother Matt Gamel is going to be the starting 1^st baseman for the Brewers this season and while he doesn’t have the power that his brother does he will be able to play the field well in a corner spot and continue to hit for average and get on base a lot. Right now Gamel looks like a Colin Curtis type with less fielding ability, which may not sound great but players like that are always good to have.


Pitchers:

Jose Campos SP If you haven’t heard Campos was the other pitcher the Yankees acquired in the Pineda for Montero deal and is now ranked as the Yankees 5^th best prospect and best non-killer B pitching prospect. He’s only 19 but runs his fastball up to 95 and a very good curveball, to go along with a developing changeup. Campos will jump into the Low-A Charleston rotation for his first time in full season ball. He is going to be very exciting to watch.

Bryan Mitchell SP Mitchell is a project and full season ball will be his chance to show if he could put his very good stuff to good use. He will be testing the defense of this prospect laden infield as he gets a ton of ground balls.

Other prospects:
Evan DeLuca SP Another Right hander in the Charelston rotation and Just like Bryan Mitchell he has great stuff but has struggled with his command. He did do a good job last year of the ball in the park last year in giving up no home runs. However he did walk 32 batters in just 46 innings. He may not be a top twenty prospect but he is a lefty and lefties with goods stuff are always great to have.

Phil Wetherell RP,Brandon Pinder RP,Caleb Cotham RP: All three of these guys are power arms with a ton of strikeouts. Calbe Cotham has struggled to stay healthy and injury would be the only reason he wouldn’t be in Charleston’s bullpen. Pinder and Wetherell could easily move up the ladder from Charleston very quickly just like Dave Robertson.
Isaias Tejada C Tejada could start in Charelston if Sanchez starts the year in Tampa. He is another
talented hitting catcher and just shows how deep the Yankees are in terms of  backstop prospects.

Reymond Nunez 1st Nunez should probbaly be starting in Charelston but I expect that Tyler Austin will be Charelstons regular 1st baseman. If the Yankees think they can get him enough playing time at 1st and Dh then he will probably play in Charelston.

There is a lot of breakout potential in this group and some more players like center fielder Raval Santana or Outfiielder Cody Grice could start the year in Charelston.

Who is the Yankees Future at Catcher?

Jesus Montero came into the year supposedly as the Starting Catcher and then the Yankees signed Russel Martin and that idea was scrapped. After Cervelli broke his leg in Spring Training it seemed that the backup catching job was Montero's to lose which he did. Montero's offense has never been the question as even with his slow start this year he is besting every and all AAA pitching. The biggest issue is and always has been his defense. If the Yankees had not signed Mark Teixeira then I almost guarantee that Montero would have been moved to 1st base, but since he is locked up until 2016 that's not an option for at least several years. The thing about Montero is that he is only 21 and even though he is probably too tall to be a catcher for the rest of his career the Yankees need an influx of young talent and Catcher is where they are stocked with the most talent.
The Yankees Top Catching prospects are:
Jesus Montero: As I said Montero is an offensive Catcher and is the most ready, the concern is whether or not he can be a competent starting catcher in the MLB in terms of game calling and defense. He has a great arm which is why many people feel he is best served as a Right Fielder. The Yankees apparently do think that he can catch in the MLB.


Austin Romine: Romine projects to be a goof overall catcher with good defense and a decent bat but not the raw power and potential for huge offense that Montero has. I saw catch Phil Hughes at Hughes rehab game in New Britain and I was really impressed with his defense especially his blocking of balls in the dirt. Romine is a good all around catching prospect and the only thing keeping him for AAA is Montero. He is also very young at 22 and he was great today at the Futures game.

Gary Sanchez: Sanchez has been called Montero with a better glove and many have said that he is the true future at catcher. His bat is impressive but probably not as good as Montero and he has had 24 Passed balls so far this year but has caught 35% of base stealers. That being said he has had some issues at low-A Charleston and was briefly demoted due to behavior issues. He is only 18 and is years away from MLB ready.

J.R Murphey: Most people assumed that the Yankees would move Murphey to a corner spot either this year or next as they liked his bat but his defense was considered to be suspect. Then Murphey decided to drastically improve behind the plate and offensively over last year. Muphey earned himself a promotion to the Tampa Yankees and they are still mixing him between Catcher and 3rd base. Murphey is the only one of the 4 who has no real chance of being the starting Catcher but the Yankees could keep mixing him between catcher and corners spots and try to make him into a sort of super utility role. If he sticks at catcher he will be a backup at best.

Going into this season it seemed obvious that Montero was the future at catcher but at this point I don't even know if he will be traded or make his Yankees debut in 2012. The Yankees are obviously unhappy about his defense and probably unhappy about his lack of power. Cashman has said that he wants Montero to play everyday but honestly I think that is just an excuse to keep him in AAA because they were willing to bring him up at the beginning of the year as the backup and if he was doing better he would probably be platooning with Martin at Catcher. At this point I don't know what to expect because I don't see any front end starter that the Yankees can trade for but every sign seems to suggest that they want to trade him. I just feel that if they thought that Montero was the catcher of the Future then he would be with the team right now. If he is not traded by the deadline then I expect that he will start the year splitting time with Martin, but he could traded over the winter. Ideally I think the Yankees would like Montero to be the starting catcher until Sanchez develops and then they can move Montero to Right Field or 1st Base but projecting something like that is impossible.