Who Is the Next Great Yankees’ 3B In the Minor Leagues?

With Chase Headley signing a four-year, $52 million contract, the Yankees locked up the third base position for the foreseeable future. Plus, with all the moves the team is making such as acquiring Garrett Jones in the Martin Prado + David Phelps trade, there doesn’t seem to be much room for Alex Rodriguez at third base. So, who would be the new third baseman once Headley’s contract is up?

When you look at the Yankees’ farm system, we always seem to talk about New York’s depth at the catcher position, but the amount of solid third base prospects can get overlooked. The first guy I want to talk about is Dante Bichette Jr.

I don’t value Bichette as high as Eric Jagielo or Miguel Andujar, but Bichette had a good Arizona Fall League, hitting .260 with 11 RBI’s. The second round pick for the Yankees in the 2011 draft was promoted to AA Trenton at the end of the season after hitting .271 for High-A Tampa with nine home runs and 64 RBI’s. At 22-years old, it seems Bichette Jr. has a bright future, but there are other prospects at the position that might pan out to be better.

One of my favorite prospects in the Yankees’ system is third baseman Eric Jagielo. Jagielo was taken with the 26^th pick in the 2013 draft, one of three Yankees’ first round picks (Ian Clarkin, Aaron Judge). After a good first season in Staten Island, the former Notre Dame third baseman spent most of last season in high-A Tampa.

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Jagielo brings the power to the position with 16 home runs (fifth in the Florida State League) in 85 games. Plus, he had the honor of being named as one of the Yankees’ Minor League Baseball Organization All-Stars. While he did struggle defensively last season (16 errors), the lefty power is something that can’t be ignored. He is also a boom-or-bust kind of hitter when you consider that he struck out 93 times last season, third on the team behind Angelo Gumbs and Cito Culver.

One of the bad breaks that the 22-year-old had toward the end of the last season was that he got hit in the face during an instructional league game, causing him to miss the Arizona Fall League (Bichette Jr. took his place). That being said, it looks like Jagielo will be ready for the 2015 season.

The other prospect I want to talk about is Miguel Andujar, the third baseman for the Low-A Charleston Riverdogs this past season. When I asked Jed Weisberger, one of the editors at Pinstriped Prospects which prospect was better between the two of them, he told me that the 19-year-old is the better prospect right now.

Some of the Yankees’ prospect rankings backup that claim with Andujar being ranked 10^th by Baseball America (Jagielo not on the list), but MLB Pipeline ranks Jagielo third on their Yankees’ top 20 with Andujar at 19^th. After hiting .323 in the Gulf Coast in 2013, Andujar hit .267 with ten homers (third on the team) and 70 RBI’s in 127 games.

One of the themes I like to stress when evaluating prospects is how they finished off their season, which usually brings some positive momentum heading into the following year. The third baseman from the Dominican Republic passes that criteria. He hit .319 in the second half, including .330 in the month of August (26 games).

The one strength that Andujar has over Jagielo slightly is his defense. Before, I mentioned the high amount of errors Jagielo had last season. Well, Andujar has that flaw in his game with the 26 errors he made this past season, yet still had a higher fielding percentage of the two, partially due to Andujar playing more games and his above-average arm.

With the high amount of talent at third base and we know Jose Pirela can also play 3B from his time at Trenton back in 2012, New York will have some interesting decisions to make as to which prospects they keep.

Lou Dipietro of the YES Network wrote an interesting article about which Yankees’ prospects could be traded in future years. In the article, he mentions how Bichette Jr. is Rule V eligible next year with Jagielo two years away.

If Andujar can continue to improve his fielding and stay consistent with the bat, you might see one of the first two guys traded to help the big club in the future years. Nevertheless, despite the Headley signing, New York’s third base depth in the minor leagues is looking like it can be a strength for this organization down the road.