Yankees Triple-A Club Headed to IL Championship Series

The New York Yankees Triple-A squad aims to take home their first International League Governor’s Cup since 2008 this month.

With their 11-3 victory over the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs Friday night, the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Railriders completed a three-game sweep of the Governor’s Cup semifinal and secured themselves a spot in the International League Championship Series. The Yankees Triple-A affiliate outscored their opponent 21-3 over the three contests.

The Railriders’ offense remains stacked even after losing Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Tyler Austin, and Rob Refsnyder to the big league club. Their latest win was a team effort, with every member of the starting lineup scoring at least once.

An eight run fourth inning more or less clinched the win, with the Railriders sending 13 batters up in that frame. SWB starting pitcher Brady Lail went four innings and allowed one earned run, striking out four and walking one. He only threw 67 pitches, but Lail has gotten knocked around in Triple-A this year, so Al Pedrique took no chances with him giving back the lead. 

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Mason Williams was 2-for-3 out of the leadoff spot with a run scored Friday. Clint Frazier was hitless but did manage to score twice. Cito Culver saved his second home run of the season for the postseason, going 2-for-5 with three RBI. Kyle Higashioka continues to make a strong case for a 40-man roster spot by going 3-for-4 with a double and three RBI. Jake Cave, who is also on the 40-man bubble this winter, collected two hits and an RBI.

Scranton Wilkes-Barre has now won 10 straight games dating back to the regular season. They have looked dominant all season, but have recently kicked it up into an even higher gear. They will face either Columbus or Gwinnett in the championship series next week. As of this writing, Gwinett is up two games to one in the five best-of-five series.

All five of the Yankees top minor league affiliates have made the postseason this year, which reflects just how deep the farm system is at the moment. Most of these clubs are being led by legitimate prospects too, these are not older org players carrying them for the most part.

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The Railriders in particular have a number of real prospects stealing the show down the stretch. Guys like Frazier, Higashioka, Williams, Cave, Dietrich Enns, and Jordan Montgomery all look ready to make serious pushes for MLB jobs next summer. Combined with the young talent who has already broken into regular roles with New York, it is hard not to be excited about the next few years for the New York Yankees.