New York Yankees Minor League Player of Week: 6/29 – 7/5

Mandatory Credit: Butch Dill-USA TODAY Sports

Greetings Yankee fans! We here at Yanks Go Yard are hoping everyone had a great fourth of July Weekend and enjoyed all the bbq and cold beer!

To kick off the work week, here’s this week’s coverage of our latest Minor League Player of the Week Series!

Dominican Summer League Yankees 1

After going 2-4 this week, the DSL Yankees slid into second place of the BC South Division with a 21-10 record. One of their wins this week was a whopping 17-5 victory over the DSL Rojos.

Player of the Week:  Diego Castillo, SS

Diego Castillo certainly had himself a week, reaching base safely in four of his five games played this week. He improved his average to .341 on the year thanks to three consecutive 2-hit games this week. Interestingly enough, Castillo is just 17-years old, and still has plenty to develop.

Pitcher of the Week: Alexander Figueredo, LHP

Speaking of that 17-5 victory, the pitcher on the mound for the Yankees that day was 19-year old left-hander Alexander Figueredo, who has been absolutely lights out since the start of the DSL Yankees season. He pitched five scoreless innings, scattering three hits and one walk while fanning five Rojos batters. He improved his record to 4-0 and now has 29 strikeouts in 29.1 innings pitched so far. Keep an eye out for this kid.

Dominican Summer League Yankees 2

The DSL Yankees 2 are on a roll, winning five out of six games this week including a two-game sweep of the DSL Braves. They now stand 17-14 and in a tie for third place with the DSL Tigers.

Player of the Week: Welfrin Mateo, 2B

Welfrin Mateo hit safely in five of his six games played this week, including three multi-hit performances. His highlight game of the week, and perhaps the season, was a four-hit performance on July 3rd. He also scored two runs and recorded an RBI and a stolen base and helped the Yankees to an 11-9 win over the Braves. Mateo is now slashing .340/.441/.440 with a .881 OPS on the year.

Pitcher of the Week: Willy Cruz, SP

Willy Cruz, a 20-year old southpaw out of Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic earned back-to-back wins this week from the hill. His first win was on June 29th against the DSL Red Sox 2 in which he hurled 3.0 innings and gave up one run on fours hits. He also managed to record three strikeouts. His second win was on the fourth of July against the DSL Tigers. Again he tossed 3.0 innings, but this time he allowed four runs on six hits. It wasn’t a pretty performance, but thanks to his offense, he was able to come away with the win. Cruz is now 3-2 with a 4.74 ERA out of the DSL Yankees 2 bullpen this year.