Yankees Fans: Get to Know the 2016 Scottsdale Scorpions

The 2016 Scottsdale Scorpions kicked off the Arizona Fall League season Wednesday with several New York Yankees top prospects on the roster.

Several Yankees played key roles in the Scottsdale Scorpions 9-6 Opening Day win over the Glendale Desert Dogs. Probably the most exciting development of Tuesday’s victory was first baseman Greg Bird’s first hit against advanced competition in more than a year.

The Bird Man went 1-for-4 with an RBI double and a walk. He still has a long way to go, but fans can now relax a little bit as he pretty much looks like his old self.

Bird wasn’t the only Yankees youngster to make a big impression. Third baseman Miguel Andujar batted cleanup for the Scorpions, going 1-for-2 with a triple, a walk, and two runs scored.

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Two Yankees pitchers also saw their first game action. 22-year-old righthander Dillon Tate, the centerpiece of New York’s return in the Carlos Beltran trade, struck out three Desert Dogs in two innings of work, allowing one earned run on one hit and no walks.

Josh Norris of Baseball America reported that Tate was working 94-96 with his fastball and even hit 97, a tremendous improvement over the high-80’s/low 90’s heater he showed before the trade with the Rangers.

Finally, 23-year-old righty J.P. Feyereisen closed out the night for Scottsdale, throwing seven of his 12 pitches for strikes and putting up two Ks.

Gleyber Torres, Tyler Wade, Brody Koerner, and James Kaprielian are the Baby Bombers who have yet to make their AFL debut. Kaprielian is expected to start Wednesday night’s game for the Scorpions against the Salt River Rafters at 6:35 pm.

Here’s a look at some of the notable prospects from other clubs who will be playing alongside Yankees players over the next month. The number in parentheses is their ranking in their team’s top 30 prospects according to MLB Pipeline.

New York Mets

– Gavin Cecchini- SS (#3)

– Marcos Molina- RHP (#11)

– Tomas Nido- C (#19)

– Tim Tebow- OF (N/A)

Los Angeles Angels

– Taylor Ward- C (#3)

– Victor Alcantara- RHP (#8)

– Grayson Long- RHP (#10)

Philadelphia Phillies

– Scott Kingery- 2B (#13)

– Victor Arano- RHP (N/A)

Next: New York Yankees 2016 Season Awards

San Francisco Giants

– Rodolfo Matinez- RHP (#12)

– Hunter Cole- OF (#21)