Yankees News: Team Makes Second Set of Spring Training Cuts

On Tuesday the New York Yankees made their second set of spring training cuts, sending prized prospect Gary Sanchez to Double A-Trenton, the newly acquired Domingo German to High-A Tampa and right-handed pitcher Branden Pinder to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. First basemen Gregory Bird and Kyle Roller were also both reassigned to the minors, but because they weren’t on the 4o-man roster, they don’t have to be assigned to a specific minor league roster just yet.

22-year-old Gary Sanchez was 1-for-9 this spring, with his one hit being a home run against the Baltimore Orioles. He’ll likely be the every-day starting catcher for the Trenton Thunder this season, where he’ll look to build off an impressive 2014 campaign in which he posted an impressive .270/.338/.406 slash line in 429 at bats.

Branden Pinder, 26, hurled a total of 5.1 innings this spring, giving up three earned runs and walking two batters. While he had hoped for better this spring, the Corona, California native has recorded an impressive 2.95 ERA in 212 innings pitched since being drafted by the Yankees in the 16th round in 2011. An ERA that low may translate to a Branden Pinder call-up in the foreseeable future.

Gregory Bird turned plenty of heads this spring while averaging .357 with a home run, three doubles and four RBIs. In four minor league seasons, Bird has an astounding .283 batting average with 36 home runs and 140 RBIs. With a log-jam of first-baseman (Teixeira, Jones, A-Rod) at the big league level, the Yankees just don’t have room for him on their roster, but mark my words Yankees fans, this won’t be the last you hear of Greg Bird.

Kyle Roller, a first-baseman like Bird, went 4-17 this spring with an incredibly high eight strikeouts. In six minor league seasons, he’s cracked a total of 86 home runs, but already has 580 strikeouts. He’ll need to work on his plate discipline in the minors, or else he’ll have a ton of trouble earning his way onto a big league roster.

The 22-year-old Domingo German, who was acquired in the Nathan Eovaldi / Martin Prado swap over the winter, didn’t get into a game this spring.

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