Yankees News: Refsnyder and Severino Named Minor League Players of the Year

On Saturday the New York Yankees announced that second base prospect Rob Refsnyder and right-handed pitching prospect Luis Severino were deemed winners of the 2014 Kevin Lawn Awards as the organizations minor league player and pitcher of the year.

Both prospects respectively received their awards prior to Saturday afternoon’s loss to the Baltimore Orioles at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Fl.

Refsnyder, 24, is the only player of the two still in camp. Last season he split the season between the Double-A Trenton Thunder and the Triple-A RailRiders, posting an impressive .318/3.87/.497 slash line with 14 home runs, 63 RBI and 82 Runs scored across both levels in 137 games played. His .318 batting average was the third best amongst Yankees prospects, and by the end of his breakout season, the former 2012 fifth-round draft pick was named an Organization All-Star by MiLB.com and was named the seventh-best prospect in the Yankees organization by Baseball America.

In 35 at bats so far this spring, Refsnyder is making it really tough on Joe Giardi to give Stephen Drew the starting nod at second base, as the prospect is batting .343 with 12 hits, five doubles, one home run and five RBIs.

Severino, 21, was cut from camp and sent to the minors a few weeks back after pitching just 2.2 innings and recording five strikeouts in spring exhibition play. In 2014, the Dominican Republic native went a combined 6-5 with a nasty 2.46 ERA and 127 strikeouts in 113.0 innings pitched across three minor league levels (Single-A, High A and AA Trenton). His 127 strikeouts topped the entire crop of the Yankees minor league pitchers. At the culmination of his record setting 2o14 season, he joined Refsnyder as an MiLB.com Organization All-Star. According to Baseball America, he’s the number one overall ranked prospect in the Yankees farm system.

Exciting times certainly lie ahead for the future of the New York Yankees!