Yankees Prospects: Week 11 minor league review

Dominant starting pitching performances and fireworks from T.J. Rumfield and Christopher Familia were highlights of last week.

In a week that saw all of the Yankees’ affiliates bring their run differentials for the season onto the positive side, there were more outstanding starts from the names you are beginning to expect, and the explosive bats of T.J. Rumfield and Christopher Familia drew some attention.

Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders

Record: 29-33 and 14 games back in the International League East after losing three out of five games to the Norfolk Tides (Orioles). One game in the series was not played due to extremely poor air quality.

Run Differential: +26

Coming up: On the road for six games against the Rochester Red Wings (Nationals) starting on Tuesday, June 13th

With former RailRiders Jake Bauers, Willie Calhoun, and Billy McKinney now all up with the big club, some new faces are beginning to establish themselves with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. One of them belongs to Brandon Lockridge, who arguably could have broken camp in Triple-A but was not promoted until last week. Lockridge was having a terrific season with Somerset, and the center fielder brings defense, speed, and hopefully some offensive disruption to the lineup. The outfield group of Estevan Florial, Franchy Cordero, Elijah Dunham, and now Lockridge figures to be a productive one, or at least it was last week as the quarter combined for 4 homers, 3 doubles, 12 runs scored, and 13 RBI.

The pitching staff also got a little help from Somerset as reliever Tanner Myatt was brought to Triple-A. With Matt Krook and Nick Ramirez in the Bronx and Ryan Weber likely out for the year, the bullpen was in need of a little help. Myatt had struck out 25 in 22.2 innings with the Patriots, and he has the stuff to be competitive at the higher level, but he also walked 20 in those innings and showed that control issue while laboring through 1.1 innings of a scoreless Triple-A debut.

Players of note (stats are season totals):

3B Andrés Chaparro: .769 OPS, 11 HR, 36 RBI, 10 2B, 38 R, 24 BB

OF Estevan Florial: 1.028 OPS, 14 HR, 34 RBI, 40 R, 34 BB, 12 SB, 67 K

SS Oswald Peraza: .980 OPS, 10 HR, 21 RBI, 21 R, 4 2B, 7 SB (missed Saturday & Sunday with illness)

C Rodolfo Durán: .837 OPS, 7 HR, 27 RBI, 11 2B, 18 R

SP Will Warren: 7.08 ERA, 20.1 IP, 23 H, 10 BB, 21 K

SP Mitch Spence: 4.21 ERA, 62 IP, 59 H, 23 BB, 53 K

RP Aaron McGarity: 4.91 ERA, 29.1 IP, 17 H, 12 BB, 40 K

RP Greg Weissert: 2.89 ERA, 18.2 IP, 13 H, 10 BB, 26 K

Double-A Somerset Patriots

Record: 34-22 and a half-game back in the Eastern League Northeast after taking five out of six from the Hartford Yard Goats (Rockies)

Run Differential: +59

Coming up: Home for six games against the Altoona Curve (Pirates) starting Tuesday, June 13th

WIth Clayton Beeter ablaze this week (more below) and named Eastern League Pitcher of the Week, it would be easy to overlook the work of Richard Fitts. It’s easy to take a backseat to someone who puts up the numbers Beeter did against the Yard Goats, but Fitts can put a gold star next to his start last week as well. In eight innings, he gave up three hits, two walks, and a run while striking out 10. He’s been stringing together good outings, and in an update of their Top 30 Yankees prospects last week, Baseball America had Fitts at number 15. The arrow is pointing up for the 23-year-old, and it would not be a surprise if he is generating attention outside the Yankees organization as we enter the summer.

There’s some cautious optimism for Yoendrys Gómez is appropriate after his third successful appearance. He’s yet to give up a run in almost a complete game’s worth of work as he builds back up after missing nearly all of the first two months of the season. Gómez seems to be throwing his fastball in the low-90s, and perhaps he’ll pick up a tick or two in the coming weeks.

Fitts is not the only Somerset prospect climbing the prospect rankings at Baseball America. T.J. Rumfield entered their updated list at No. 17, in a week that saw him blast four home runs against Hartford and not a cheap one in the bunch. It would appear Rumfield is tapping into the power potential the Yankees have seen in him since they acquired him from the Phillies last year, and considering the 23-year-old barely has above 500 at-bats in his career, he’s likely just getting started.

High-A Hudson Valley Renegades

Record: 33-24 and leading the South Atlantic League North by one game after winning four out of six with the Jersey Shore BlueClaws (Phillies)

Run Differential: +61

Coming up: Home for six games against the Rome Braves beginning Tuesday, June 13th

While the Hudson Valley bats have cooled off from their early-season thunder, the pitching rotation continues to roll. The names of Chase Hampton, Drew Thorpe, Zach Messinger, and Juan Carela should be familiar right now, and the numbers they are putting up are eye-popping. The “worst” start of the four last week came from Carela, and that was in a game where he struck out 10 in 5.2 innings pitched. He did allow three earned runs, which isn’t bad, but the other three guys combined only let up a single run in 17.1. That’s good competition to have in your own clubhouse. Thorpe* followed his best outing of the season by perhaps topping it, punching out 12 in 7 innings without walking a batter.

*My colleague Andrés will have more on Thorpe later today.

We should also not ignore the Renegades’ bullpen. Not a single earned run allowed in the series against Jersey Shore is some terrific work. Things should be looking even better for that bullpen as they welcome the arrival of Luis Velasquez from Low-A Tampa. The right-hander got a much-deserved promotion after striking out 33 in 25.2 innings and allowing only seven hits all season.

On offense, as the slides of Spencer Jones and Alexander Vargas continue, players like Benjamin Cowles and Grant Richardson are stepping up. The duo combined to go 14-for-30 against the BlueClaws, scoring eight times and driving in five.

Low-A Tampa Tarpons

Record: 26-31 and 14.5 games back in the Florida State League West after winning five of six games with the Lakeland Flying Tigers

Run Differential: +5

Coming up: Over the Courtney Campbell Causeway for 6 games with the Clearwater Threshers (Phillies) beginning Tuesday, June 13th

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