YGY Winter League Players To Watch

2 of 6

Mandatory Credit: chicagotribune.com

Every two weeks here at Yanks Go Yard; we like to take a look at what’s going on in the Winter Leagues outside of Arizona. The Arizona Fall League is going to end for the Yankees’ prospects on Thursday, but there are many other names playing in Venezuela, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic that deserve to get some recognition for their play in winter ball.

More from Yankees Minor Leagues

Before we take a look at some of those players, there is one Yankee that is on a roster, but not playing on his Winter League team at the moment. Yankees’ outfielder Carlos Beltran is on the reserve list as an outfielder for the Cangrejeros de Santurce team in the Puerto Rican League. Former Major Leaguer Eduardo Perez currently manages the team that Beltran plays for.

The list that we have is not a top five list like we have done in the past with some of the minor league countdowns. It is rather a list of five players that have stood out when you check out some of their statistics in winter ball. Without further adieu, here are my five Yankees’ players that have stood out so far:

Mandatory Credit: flickr.com

OF Jose Augusto Figueroa (.333, 1 HR, 5 RBI)

Jose Figueroa is an outfielder that we did not address on our last list, but he has done a good job so far playing for Yaquis De Obregon down in the Mexican League. In 15 games, Figueroa has five hits, but two of them have gone for extra bases (a double and a home run). Those numbers are a small sample size, primarily because the 21-year-old did not play in any games between October 31 and November 5.

Figueroa has been in the Yankees’ system since 2011, when he signed as a minor-league free agent. So far, he has only played in the Domincan Summer League and the Gulf Coast League. He hit .382 down in the DSL in 2012. Last season, for the GCL affiliate, he hit .290 in his second season with three homers (tied with 2012 total) and 18 RBI’s in 53 games. He is a left-handed bat that hit .341 against right-handed pitching in 129 at-bats. As far as fielding goes, he played all three positions in the outfield and did not make a single error. With this player only 21-years-old, it will be interesting to see whether Figueroa plays a third season in the GCL, goes to the rookie league Pulaski squad, or makes the jump to short-season Staten Island next season.

Mandatory Credit: milb.com

OF Ramon Flores (.373, 0 HR, 4 RBI)

Flores was one of those players that was in Spring Training last season for the New York Yankees. In 15 games down in Tampa, he hit .259 with one home run and five RBI’s. For the bulk of last season, the 22-year-old was in AAA Scranton-Wilkes Barre. In 63 games, he hit .247 with seven home runs and 23 RBI’s. He’s not the base stealer that he was in single-A in Tampa back in 2012 when he stole 24 bases, but still a player that the Yankees have tried in the outfield (mainly in right field) as well as a handful of games at first base during his minor league career.

In the Venezuela League, playing for Tigres De Aragua, Flores has 16 hits in his last ten games. This includes a performance on November 5 when he went 6-for-6 at the plate. He’s not an extra-base hit guy with four of his 26 hits going past first base. Flores did struggle down the stretch in Scranton last year, hitting .152 in nine August games. However, the Yankees seem to like him enough to invite him to camp last season, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if we see Flores in some Spring Training games in a few months.

Mandatory Credit: milb.com

LHP Giovanny Gallegos (1-0, 0.90 ERA)

This is the second time that Gallegos has been on our Winter League lists and there are some reasons for it. One of the reasons is that the Yankees do not have many pitchers playing Winter Ball. Outside of the three pitchers (Caleb Cotham, Kyle Haynes, and Alex Smith), only four other pitchers are playing baseball right now. While Luis Niebla (0-1, 4.34) had a five-inning, one-hit outing on Halloween, he has given up four earned runs in two of his last three starts.

As for Gallegos, the appearances have gone up (ten) for Obregon, but the production has still been very good. He has not been a high strikeout guy with just eight K’s in ten innings, but he has given up only one run, back on November 1 and hasn’t given up more than two hits in any relief appearance. His WHIP of 1.20 is seventh on the team that is currently 16-10 and in first place in the Mexican League. Gallegos’ last outing came last night, when he recorded his first win of the winter in relief. . As of right now, with opponents hitting .229 against him, he has been one of the better relievers on his respective team and continuing to build off the momentum from the end of his South Atlantic League season.

Mandatory Credit: oregonlive.com

SS Gil Velazquez (.370, 0 HR, 10 RBI)

Velazquez is another player that was discussed on the first edition of the Winter League update, but he’s another player you can’t ignore when you consider he has the highest batting average of any Yankee player that has played in more than five games. Like I said two weeks ago, Velazquez is not a player that we can call a prospect and he struggled with a .173 batting average in Scranton last season, but he has continued his great Winter League season at the plate.

Velazquez is on a eight-game hitting streak and has 14 hits in his last ten games. Over those ten games, four of them have featured multi-hit games. The shortstop for Aguilas de Mexicali has the highest batting average of any player in the league. Plus, like Flores, he is not a player that is going to fill the box score with extra-base hits. Out of his 30 hits, only five of them have been doubles. Despite the lack of doubles, triples, and homers, he does know how to drive in runs. He has driven in a run in four of his last five games. Velazquez could be a player that we check on more throughout the winter since he can rack up the hits and is second in the entire Mexican League in on-base percentage (.440).

Young second base slugger Jose Pirela. Mandatory Credit: Trenton Thunder

2B Jose Pirela (.281, 3 HR’s, 9 RBI)

This winter could be a big stepping stone for Jose Pirela in the 24-year-old’s goal of being the opening day second baseman in 2015 for the Yankees. Pirela got off to a nice start to his Winter League season with two home runs in his first three games. Eight of his 16 hits have gone for extra bases over the course of the 13 games he has played. In the month of November alone, Pirela has two three-hit games in seven starts.

One of the intriguing things about Pirela’s Winter League games so far is that his team down in Venezuela (Aguilas Del Zulia) has tried him out at different positions throughout the diamond. On Sunday night, he was batting third and playing left field on a team with Yankees’ prospect Ali Castillo and the Phillies’ Freddy Galvis. In fact, Pirela played 12 games at first base last season in Scranton.

While all the talk has been about Robert Refsnyder, Pirela was able to make his first impression with the big league club during the month of September. In seven games, he hit .333 and had two triples with the New York Yankees. With the position versatility and the bat that Pirela can bring to the table, you have to think that he at least is going to start the season with tbe big club. The question is will it be as a starter or a key utility player off the bench?

Home / Yankees Minor Leagues

Schedule