Under the Radar Yankees Prospects: Thairo Estrada

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

One of the players most hurt by the New York Yankees enormous collection of top shortstop prospects is 20-year-old Thairo Estrada, who has more or less fallen off the radar of more fans and analysts despite another strong season in 2016.

In his first taste of full-season ball, Estrada hit .290/.346/.391 with eight home runs and 18 steals in 118 games (499 PA) for the Low-A Charleston Riverdogs and High-A Tampa Yankees. He faltered slightly at first upon his promotion to the Florida State League, but finished the year strong despite being almost three years younger than his average competition.

Estrada has found success at every stop of his young career despite consistently playing against guys 2-3 years his senior. He signed for a relatively modest $49,000 bonus out of Venezuela in 2012, and spent the next three seasons quietly putting up solid numbers in the GCL and NY-Penn League before making the leap to full-season A this year.

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Ranked number 28 on MLB Pipeline’s list of top 30 Yankees prospects entering 2016, Estrada was pushed out of the rankings through no fault of his own when the team acquired five of their current top 15 prospects at the August 1st trade deadline.

Despite being a natural shortstop, Estrada didn’t receive much time at the position this year because he was playing alongside elite names like Jorge Mateo, Gleyber Torres, Kyle Holder, and Hoy Jun Park. He split his time pretty evenly between second and third base this year, with only occasional cameos at short.

That’s a shame because Estrada has an outside shot at developing into an OK everyday big league shortstop if given the opportunity. He has a cannon arm, good range, and quick hands. Estrada’s lack of power is the real knock against him. He did show surprising pop at times this year from his 5’10 155 lb frame, and at 20, he still might have some filling out to do.

Estrada is your typical scrappy shortstop at the plate. He makes a ton of contact, has plus plate discipline, and is an above-average runner who should steal 20 bags consistently. I could definitely see him developing into a weapon in the bottom of some team’s order at some point.

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With his versatility, contact skills, and small frame, the comparisons to Ronald Torreyes are inevitable, but potentially accurate. The most likely outcome for a fringe shortstop like Estrada is a career as a utility infielder, but that still can have a lot of value for an organization, especially since there’s a chance he could become more than that.