Yankees Minor League Report: May 30, 2012

It’s time to review what’s happened within the Yankees minor league system since last Wednesday. There has been some fluctuation in the standings for some teams, a few former major league players are making some noise and one Yankees’ prospect remains red-hot.

International League North (AAA) – Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees (28-22), 3^rd Place, 3.5 GB

• The Triple-A Yankees went 4-2 since last week’s report.
• 39-year-old Ramon Ortiz won the International League Pitcher of the Week Award for the week of May 21 – May 27, 2012. He was 2-0 with a 1.23 ERA, nine strikeouts and zero walks in 14.2 innings.
• Ryota Igarashi joined the team yesterday after being claimed off waivers from the Toronto Blue Jays.
• Jack Cust has hit a total of five home runs in his last five games (two games with two homers apiece) giving him nine for the season.

Eastern League Eastern (AA) – Trenton Thunder, (26-22), 3rd place, 2 GB

• The Thunder broke even since the last report (3-3), but picked up a game in the standings.
• Ryan Flannery is 1-1 with a 1.88 ERA and 7 saves on the season.

Florida State League (Advanced A) – Tampa Yankees (24-27), 4^th place, 10 GB

• The Yankees Single-A club, posted a 4-2 record since last Wednesday, but lost a game in standings.
• 36-year-old Russell Branyan made his debut with the club yesterday, going 1-for-3 with a double, two walks and two runs scored.

South Atlantic League Southern (A) – Charleston RiverDogs (31-19), 2^nd place

• The RiverDogs have hit a rough patch going 1-5 since last week, and lost control of 1^st place.
• They’ve lost four straight and allowed a total of 45 runs in those games (15 runs twice).
• Don’t blame Tyler Austin, his spectacular season continues as he went 8-for-17 with 5 RBI during the stretch.

2012 MLB Amateur Draft

The 2012 MLB Amateur Draft will be conducted June 4th through June 6th. It is difficult to tell who will be around for the Yankees’ first pick (30th overall), but many mock drafts have them selecting a college pitcher in the spot. The Yankees also have picks 89, 94, 124 and 157 in the first three rounds.

This draft is the first with the new rules for the amount of money teams are able to spend on bonuses for their selections. Each team now has a limited total bonus pool they are allowed to utilize for their first ten rounds of selections. There are penalties if a team goes beyond their limit. The penalties are stiff and intended to hinder future drafts, so it is unlikely teams will go above their threshold.

The Yankees have among the smaller pools to work with at just under $4.2 million according to Baseball America’s Jim Callis. Callis also provides details about the penalties should teams go over their pool total.

Next week’s report will provide some analysis of the selections made by the Yankees through the second day of the draft.

For more on Yankees’ prospects, check out a recent post on Seedlings to Stars which highlights farmhands for the AL East affiliates, including the Yankees’ Pat Venditte (AAA), Ravel Santana (unassigned) and Austin (A – mentioned above).