Yankees Fare Well on Baseball America’s MiLB Top 20 Lists

By Evan Halpine-Berger | Oct 14, 2016

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /

New York Yankees farmhands had a strong showing on Baseball America’s recent lists of top 20 prospects by league for the 2016 season.

Now that Baseball America has finished their series of top 20 lists for all of the MiLB leagues in 2016, it’s worth taking a look at where the various top talent in the New York Yankees system was ranked.

Gulf Coast League: Even with two GCL clubs, the Yankees only land one prospect right on the fringe of this list. Shortstop Diego Castillo was one of the lesser-known names from New York’s 2014 international spending spree, but his strong defense, advanced feel for the game, and contact skills give him the chance to be a decent starter down the line.

Appalachian League: The absolutely stacked Pulaski Yankees had two prospects in the top three for the league, 2016 first rounder Blake Rutherford at number two and outfielder Estevan Florial in the three spot.

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The 19-year-old Rutherford absolutely destroyed the advanced competition in the Appy League, hitting .382/.440/.618 with 13 extra base hits in 100 plate appearances. Florial didn’t perform as well, but scouts love his raw tools. Few in the system can match his ability.

New York-Penn League: No Baby Bombers made this list. Staten Island second baseman Nick Solak was the best prospect on the team and put up awesome numbers (.321/.412/.421 in 279 PA), but probably doesn’t have the ceiling to match some of the other top draft picks that populated the NYPL.

South Atlantic League: Another swing and a miss for the Yankees system. There were some interesting names playing for the Charleston Riverdogs- Dillon Tate, Hoy Jun Park, and Kyle Holder stick out- but none had particularly strong seasons. This was probably the organization’s weakest minor league club in 2016.

Florida State League: New York had two of the premier young shortstops in the minor leagues playing on the same club in the second half. 19-year-old Gleyber Torres came in at number two on the FSL list, while Jorge Mateo managed to take the number five spot despite his disappointing performance.

Torres also came in at number four on the list of Carolina League prospects for his work with the Cubs’ affiliate before the trade. Breakout starter Chance Adams also landed a spot on the list, coming in at number 18.

In a chat about the list, BA’s John Manuel said 2015 first rounder James Kaprielian would likely have been the top pitcher ranked in the league if he hadn’t gotten injured. He also mentioned Ian Clarkin and Mark Payton, although those guys obviously fell short.

Eastern League: Yankees top prospect Clint Frazier took the eight spot on the crazy-deep EL list, coming in behind elite talents like Yoan Moncada, Andrew Benintendi, Austin Meadows, David Dahl, and Lucas Giolito.

It is crazy to think that Chance Adams only came in at number 18 on this list after putting up one of the most dominant minor league pitching seasons in recent memory, but that shows just how much talent this league featured in 2016. Dustin Fowler just squeaked onto the list at number 20 after his solid, but not eye-popping campaign.

Next: New York Yankees 2016 Season Awards

International League– I definitely expected more love for the Railriders on this list, but ultimately Scraton Wilkes-Barre only had two representatives- Gary Sanchez at number three and Aaron Judge all the way down at 19. Superlative seasons by Chad Green, Tyler Austin, and Luis Cessa weren’t enough to warrant consideration in another league that was chock full of big names this year.

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