Which Yankees Prospects will Wear Pinstripes in April?

Yankees spring training is loaded with potential. But what makes it more intriguing is that, with the Big Club solidly in transition, any of the prospects could play his way onto the team.

The spring is about halfway through, and it’s time to see who is leaving camp with a job in the Bronx.

Yankees training camp is more exciting this year because of one former all-time MLB great: Pete Rose. Most young Yankees fans know Rose as the player banned for betting on the game. But, before that, he was a legend. And that legend started in his first spring training camp.

2^nd baseman Pete Rose signed with the Cincinnati Reds right out of High School in 1960. In 1963, still just 21 years old, he made his first spring training. He had played well his previous season in the minors, hitting .330, and had earned the trip.

But the Reds were not looking for a new 2^nd baseman. Don Blasingame was already manning the position and playing well. He was a big reason they got to the 1961 World Series, although he may have been a big reason they lost. And the following year—1962—he hit .281 with an OBP of .364.

I was going to make some hilarious comparisons to Yankees Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner along with a wish either of them would have those numbers this year. But looking it at their 2016 statistics made me so depressed I had to stop. Suffice to say neither of them matched Blasingame’s average or OBP last year.

Is this still about the Yankees?

Back to the Reds. There was no question that Blasingame was going to play second base for the Reds in 1963. But, in true Wally Pip-style, he suffered an injury and so Pete took over. And I mean that in the literal sense. He took over the position and never relinquished it. For those who don’t know, Pete was known as Charlie Hustle—meant at first in the pejorative sense—because he ran his hardest on every play. Even walks. He made that his whole career.

So, by the end of camp, Rose had run himself into a starting job and Blasingame out of town; he was traded to the Senators on July 1^st, where he returned to being a full-time player.

The point of the story? If Pete could take Blasingame’s job, and his numbers were better in 1962 than most Yankees in 2016, then almost every position on the Yankees is up for grabs. If a prospect comes into camp and plays at a high enough level, he can leave Florida with the big league club.

Now, with camp just about half way over, is a good time to see who has and has not earned a job that requires wearing pinstripes.

Aaron Judge and Clint Frazier

These two young Yankees did not come with equal expectations. Yankees and Yankees fans felt Judge had the inside track to the right fielder’s position. He had to prove he could do better than setting the record for strikeouts but that is a pretty low bar.

Clint Frazier, on the other hand, was never expected to become the starting left fielder. He had just been promoted to Triple-A for Cleveland when he was traded, and it showed. He struggled in Scranton and admitted he was pressing. But, when you are a top-30 prospect, the talent will out.

Bronx Bound

The Judge is coming to back to the Bronx, and John Sterling is already practicing his home run call. And Aaron has done a lot more than just show the Yankees he is worth taking a chance on. All he had to do was to show he could make contact; he has more than done that. Not only are his outs being achieved in the field of play, but also he has not made that many outs. He is hitting .348 with a 1.010 OPS. He has said all along he is a contact hitter and now he is proving it. Next, we get to find out if he can do it for the Yankees when it counts.

Not Ready Yet

Clint Frazier looks as talented as advertised but is still too raw. He has scuffled a bit lately but is still batting .286 with 5 RBI’s. He has shown he can be aggressive in a right way. The problem is he is still too aggressive in negative ways. For instance, his batting average and OBP are the same; he is too anxious to show he can hit. And of course we all saw his ill-advised slide that almost took out Dustin Fowler; Frazier is still learning to be intense without being tense. The Clint Frazier Show is not ready for Broadway.

Gleyber Torres and Jorge Mateo

It might be unfair even to include two players who have never played above Single-A. But Gleyber Torres is a top-five prospect, and Jorge Mateo has top-five talent. If anyone could pull off a long-shot, Rose-style position theft, it is one of these two. There was a scenario in which Torres displayed the overwhelming talent that forced the Yankees hand. And if anyone could run his way into a job, the uber-speedy Mateo is wearing the shoes to do it with.

Bronx Bound

Sadly, neither player will leave with the Yankees.

Not Ready Yet

Torres has made a strong impression. He’s batting .412 with four runs and 3 RBI’s. And he is carrying an impressive 1.127 OPS. What is equally impressive is his fielding and stoic attitude. He can clearly handle the position and do so under any bright lights. His errors ensure he will start at Double-A, but he will see the Yankees again sooner rather than later.

Mateo, on the other hand, is becoming the forgotten man faster than Rob Refsnyder. I am not sure what is worse: that his average is .133 or that his OBP is the same. Working walks to be a big part of any base-stealers repertoire, but Mateo can’t wait to swing. And I mean he cannot wait, which is why he has a .133 average.

But worse for the Yankees is that Mateo just cannot get his attitude together. He belted a deep fly ball to left field the other day that he thought was a home run. And while Ole Pete would have been running out of the box, Mateo decided to show off. He took the time to flip the bat and trot to first…until he saw that the ball stayed in the yard. Jose Bautista can do that because he has already made the Blue Jays; Mateo cannot because he is still trying to make the Trenton Thunder roster.

Gleyber Torres will play for the Yankees soon. I start to wonder if Chicago would still take Mateo in a package for Jose Quintana.

Greg Bird and Chris Carter

The Yankees have seen the first base position become less productive over the last few years. And, now that Mark Teixeira has moved on, this spot is completely up for grabs. Both candidates came into camp with power potential, but both candidates also entered into camp with serious question marks.

Greg Bird had been moving through the Yankees system and their prospect rankings for a couple of years. And he fulfilled the promise when he debuted in 2015, slashing .261/.343/.529 with eleven home runs in 46 games. The only question at the end of 2015 was whether he would push Teixeira off the first-base bag in 2016.

It never came to that. Bird hurt his wing (I know but I am too young to have covered Larry Bird, and this word play is just too good to wait for another avian) and missed all of 2016. That year off could have eroded his skills. And he did not exactly reassure the Yankees in the Arizona Fall League, hitting just .215. He had to come into camp and show he was some semblance of the player the Yankees saw in 2015.

Second choice at First Base

Chris Carter does one thing well: hit home runs. He led the National League in HR’s in 2016 (41); if you are only going to do one thing well, there are worse things than hitting homers. The problem for Chris is that one thing is the only thing he does well in baseball.

He’s a defensive liability at any position, and no one knows if he can DH. But, when your starting first baseman retires and the heir apparent might need time to find his swing in Pennsylvania, there are worse options than signing a power hitting insurance policy.

Bronx Bound

They might both be, but Bird definitely is. Readers of this column already knew it was likely to go down this way from an article we published some time ago, but Bird has done a lot more than show his shoulder is doing fine. In fact, he looks better than he did in 2015.

Yankees fans, prepare yourself. I am about to give his numbers and I want you to try not to fan-gasm: it is still just spring training. His AVG/OBP/OPS slash line is impressive enough at .389/.476/1.476. But it is the damage; he has done in only 18 at-bats that jumps off the stats sheet. He has seven hits, three home runs, two doubles, four runs scored and 5 RBI’s. The Bird will soar in the Bronx (sorry but I just cannot waste literary gold like that).

So, with all that said, it probably never mattered what Chris Carter did. This competition was over the day Greg Bird was born. That does not mean, however, that Carter will not wear pinstripes in a couple of weeks. His power gives him value and the Yankees are thinking they might want him against some of the toughest lefty pitchers this side of the Pecos.

It seems likely that Carter will be on the Yankees in the Spring. But, if Bird shows he can hit those self-same lefties as I suspect he will, Carter will wear a different uniform by Summer.