Yankees Fans: Most Important News and Rumors from the GM Meetings

Top Prospect Updates

Opposing general managers have taken notice of Miguel Andujar‘s success in the Arizona Fall League. Brian Cashman revealed that he’s received a number of calls from rivals about the club’s top third base prospect. Andujar reached Double-A this season and his hitting .309/.400/.382 through his first 64 AFL plate appearances.

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Cashman also clarified that the organization still viewed Andujar’s Scottsdale Scorpions teammate Dillon Tate as a starting pitcher, despite the fact that he has worked exclusively as a reliever since coming over from the Rangers as the centerpiece of the Carlos Beltran deal at the August 1st trade deadline. Apparently the Yankees simply didn’t have any starting pitching slots left on the Scorpions, but wanted to ensure Tate got to play in the AFL.

The Yankees GM sounded pleased with the progress Tate had made in the last few months, telling Brendan Kuty of NJ Advance Media:

"It’s been good since we got him. We kind of let him go back to some of his mechanical ways before they made changes with him in Texas and the velocity came back."

Top prospect Jorge Mateo also apparently made a strong impression on Cashman with his work in centerfield during the Fall Instructional League, as the GM told reporters the experiment will continue into next spring.

"Yeah, I think it’s something we’ll continue to look at. He’s athletic as hell. In the instructional league, it was very easy for him. So, if that’s a direction that we with him in conversations choose to go, it’s something he’ll be very good at."

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Finally, Cash confirmed that all was going to plan with both Greg Bird and James Kaprielian after missing the entire 2016 season to injury. He was open about his preference for Bird to win the 2017 starting first base job over Tyler Austin as long as he’s healthy, and had nothing but positive reports from Kaprielian’s time in Fall Instructs and the AFL.