Under the Radar Yankees Prospects: Abiatal Avelino

Yanks Go Yard is combing through the New York Yankees minor league system in search of hidden gems in this ongoing series. Today, shortstop Abiatal Avelino.

One of the most obvious strengths of the New York Yankees minor league system at the moment is their incredible depth at the shortstop position. They currently have six shortstops ranked in their top 30 prospects according to MLB Pipeline, including two guys who rank #17 and #18 in the site’s top 100 for all of baseball, Gleyber Torres and Jorge Mateo.

With all that talent, it’s easy to overlook the steady progress that 21-year-old Abiatal Avelino has made since signing out of the Dominican Republic all the way back in 2011. Avelino spent the majority of the year playing alongside the much more touted Mateo with the High-A Tampa Yankees, and you could argue that Abiatal had a much more successful season on the whole.

The pair split time pretty evenly between shortstop and second base, and Avelino stood out as a much more polished defender at both positions than the error prone Mateo, who is also 21 years old (which is possibly why the club has tried him out in center field during the Fall Instructional League).

In addition, Avelino put up a .266/.325/.375 (.700 OPS) slash line with 20 steals in 394 plate appearances with Tampa, while Mateo hit .254/.306/.379 (.685 OPS) with 33 steals in 507 PAs. Avelino made more consistent contact and showed a more advanced approach during their time together as a double play combo, which is why he was the one rewarded with the promotion to Double-A Trenton when Torres was acquired from the Cubs at the August 1st trade deadline.

While Avelino has never put together a huge breakout campaign, he’s never also never really had a down year during his five seasons in the Yankees organization. His production has been very consistent year to year, compiling a .269/.335/.358 batting line as a professional.

At 5’11 186lbs, he’s never going to hit for much power, but his speed, contact skills, and plate discipline could be enough to provide value out of the bottom of the order for an MLB club down the line.

Avelino is a plus defender at three infield positions, so at the very least he seems like a solid bet to develop into a quality utility option in the mold of a Ronald Torreyes. If he is going to land an everyday job, it would probably be on the strength of his defense at short. On the other hand, he is not a truly elite glove man, so he’ll need to hit at least a little to justify a full-time gig.

Next: Three Under-the-Radar Free Agent Upgrades for the Yankees

Because he played just 33 games with Double-A Trenton this year, Avelino will probably start 2017 back in the Eastern League. Interestingly, that also seems like the most likely destination for fellow shortstops Gleyber Torres and Jorge Mateo as well.

Will the Yankees move Mateo to center field full time? Could all three rotate around the infield? None of them seems particularly ready to handle Triple-A, so how playing time is divvied up in Trenton will be worth watching.