Sunday, August 17, 2008

When the Yankees let you down

As I have mentioned before following some of the baby bombers down on the farm is one of my hobbies. So I figured if there are any Yankee fans out there who need a baseball distraction beyond the big league team I would mention some of the Baby Bombers who are worth watching.

The minor league team that has arguably the most talent in the Yankee farm system is the Charleston RiverDogs of the low A South Atlantic League. The headliners of the team are right-handed pitcher Dellin Betances and catcher Jesus Montero. Both of these players are not only beasts in physical stature but in terms of talent as well.

Betances is listed at 6'8" 245 and he can easily touch 100 on the radar gun. Like all tall pitchers he initially had trouble getting his mechanics together but it seems that in the second half of the season improving his K/BB ratio from 1.6 to 3.4. That decrease in walks has lead to 4-1 record and an ERA of 2.74. He is definitely going to be high on prospect lists this off-season and at 20 he could still move up the minor league latter fast, though the Yankees will probably take it slow with him.

The same can go for Montero as well. At 6'4" 225 his physical stature has many scouts saying he is not long for catching. But whether or not he stays there wont effect his skills with the bat. Montero started the season on a hot streak before cooling down in May and June. But he found his stride again in July when he put up a .341 batting average and nine extra base hits. He has continued this upward trend in August where he is batting .393 and slugging at a ridiculous .672.

The other half of the catching duo at Charleston and the other hope for the Yankees as to their internal heirs to the Posada catching throne is Austin Romine. Romine doesn't have the bat that Montero does but he has more skills behind the plate. Even though his bat isn't his strength
it is still solid, putting up a line of .292/.332/.416.

The prospect everybody knows about is Austin Jackson who is probably the Yankees new number one in the system. Cashman's hope has to be that Jackson is going to be the Yankee's center fielder of the future and with the way he has played since his promotion to High A ball in Tampa last season, it doesn't look like it will be long before he takes the job. Aside from a high strike out rate, Ajax has all five tools.

So if the Big Boy Bombers are getting you down you can always check out the kids and look to the future. Not to mention that if October baseball isn't in the cards for the Yanks, they have three minor league teams that are in position to make runs at titles in September: the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, the AA Trenton Thunder and the low A short-season Staten Island Yankees. Not to mention you can always follow various rehabbing Yanks like Matsui and Hughes. So like always minor league baseball is a cheap entertaining alternative to the MLB cash sucking machine that can sometimes leave you feeling letdown.

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