Yankees News: Minor League Report – August 17, 2012

The New York Yankees’ top three affiliates are all in first place as the season begins to wind down. Let’s see how the squads on the farm fared over the last two weeks.

International League North (AAA) – Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees (71-56, 1st place)

• SWB was 10-6 since the last report and hold a two-game lead in their division.
• Manny Banuelos, the Yankees top pitching prospect, was permanently shut down after making only six starts this season. He was 0-2 with a 4.50 ERA in those starts.
• Ramon Ortiz moved to 11-5 with a complete game victory on Wednesday night. Ortiz, 39-years-old, has been a big surprise for the Triple-A Yanks.
• Corban Joseph blasted two home runs in Sunday’s twin-bill against the Syracuse Chiefs (Nationals).
• Austin Romine is back with SWB. He is hitting just .211 in 19 at-bats.

Eastern League Eastern (AA) – Trenton Thunder, (72-52, 1st place)

• The Thunder have slumped a bit going 5-8 since the last report, but maintain a five-game lead in their division.
• 1B Luke Murton and OF Zoilo Almonte (below right) now have 22 and 20 home runs respectively.
• Brett Marshall leads the team with 13 wins.
• Dellin Betances is still with the team and is still having an awful season. Opposing batters are hitting .316 against him at the Double-A level after he was demoted from SWB.

Florida State League (Advanced A) – Tampa Yankees (First Half: 30-36, 12 GB; Second Half: 30-23, 1st place)

• The team went 5-7 since the last report and hold a slim one-game lead over first-half winner Dunedin.
• The Single-A Yanks snapped a five-game losing streak last night. They were held scoreless in the last two games of the streak.
• Kyle Roller was named FSL Player of the Week for August 6 – 12. He collected six hits (three homers and two triples among them) in sixteen plate appearances.

South Atlantic League Southern (A) – Charleston RiverDogs (First Half: 39-28, 3rd place 6.5 GB; Second Half: 23-29, last place 10 GB)

• The RiverDogs went 5-6 since the last report.
• Ben Gamel leads the team in hitting (.297). He has not shown much power this season (2 HR), but has driven in 58 runs, also tops on the team.

New York/Penn League (Class A Short Season) – Staten Island Yankees (16-39, last place, 13.5 GB)

• The SI Yanks went a lousy 1-11 over the past two weeks and are now a whopping 20.5 games out of first place.
• The team’s lone bright spot on the season, Saxon Butler, was promoted to Charleston just after the last report was published.

Gulf Coast League (Rookie) – Gulf Coast Yankees (31-22, 3rd place, 2 GB)

• The Baby Bombers won 6 of 13 since the last report.
• RF Yeicok Calderon is hitting .421 over his last ten games including a two-homer game on August 6. He also holds a 1.137 OPS over that time.

For a daily recap of the top performances around minor league baseball check out The Prospect Pulse on Seedlings to Stars.