Yankees Farm Report Part One: Low-A Charleston RiverDogs

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Yankees prospects are both being and becoming. Some prospects, like Gleyber Torres, have continued to demonstrate their excellence. But as always some young players have proven to be flashes in the pan, while others have risen beyond expectations. And now it’s time to see who’s gettin’ ripe down on the 2017 New York Yankees farm.

Yankees fans know full well that Gleyber Torres was recently promoted to Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes/Barre. They can almost see him playing in the Bronx. But not every top rated player in the system has given truth to the promise. If you’re a big fan of Jorge Mateo’s, you might not want to read the rest of this piece.

But, as always, some players have risen with less fanfare to become real big time prospects. Which is the main reason to have a deep system: uncertainty. It takes time to see who develops. However, it takes far less time to see the players who started as dreams but have become passing fancies.

This is a good time to take stock. The lower levels of the minors are about to start playing, and that is going to double the number of prospects playing for the Yankees. It’s also going to push Baby Bombers to play their best or lose their place; just ask Mike Ford.

But before we look at the top performers at the four current levels, here’s a quick look at those prospects who have fallen out of favor with the baseball gods.

…Falling; SS Jorge Mateo, High-A Tampa.

Mateo is currently the fourth ranked prospect in the Yankees system, and the 41^st ranked player in the minors. That seems likely to change. Mateo’s main asset is his speed, which should mean he needs to focus on getting on base, stealing, and scoring runs.

But even though the Yankees are giving him every opportunity, Mateo is just not developing.

He has 197 AB’s, good for a tie for second place in the Florida State League, and first on his team. But he has only worked nine walks. The leader in the league—Braxton Davidson—has 32. Jorge’s OBP is .288; Florida’s leader is at .434 (Brandon Lowe). And that’s not the worst of it.

Jorge does not even lead his team in either of these categories. He’s eighth among Trenton players with at least 50 AB’s in OBP and seventh in walks for that same group. While it’s true he leads the Tampa Yankees in several important categories—runs, hits, doubles, and total bases—he is doing so because he has by far the most AB’s.

But he is only in the top ten in one of those categories in the Florida State League–doubles–and he ranks ninth. It looks like the Yankees have seen the writing on the wall. They are giving him a lot of bats to inflate his numbers, pursuant to a trade. The only question is if anybody is willing to take him.

New York Yankees third baseman Miguel Andujar. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /

3B Miguel Andujar, Double-A Trenton.

Andujar is the Yankees ninth-ranked prospect and projects as a power-hitting sixth or seventh hitter. Most of his numbers are promising. He, like Mateo, has by far the most AB’s on the team but he is doing more with his chances. Miguel leads in most power categories, and some of them are not even close.

For instance, Miguel has 37 RBI’s in 184 at-bats. The next closest is Zach Zehner, and it took him 150 AB’s to reach 22 RBI’s. And Miguel’s numbers hold up against the rest of the league. He is fifth in the Eastern League in AB’s but second in both doubles and RBI’s, as well as ninth in hits. But he has one glaring error: errors.

Andujar currently has seven errors. He will not be a serious prospect until he cleans up his game.

SP Albert Abreu, High-A Tampa.

Abreu is currently ranked tenth in the Yankees system and started out doing well at Low-A Charleston. Albert posted an ERA below 2 in his first four starts and a WHIP of 1. His first start was his worst when he posted a 2.25 ERA.

Since being moved up, though, his numbers have plummeted.

Unlike Low-A, here his first start was his best, posting a 1.29 ERA; his last three have not been as good. Abreu’s ERAs over that time read: 4.50, 4.85, and 4.50 again. His WHIP at High-A is 1.63. This is not to say that Abreu cannot be a good player for the Yankees one day. For instance, he has 14 strikeouts in 16 innings at Tampa. But right now he is struggling, and that puts him on this list.

And, finally, CF Jake Cave, Trenton Thunder.

He seemed like a fast-rising star, but maybe he rose too fast. He was selected by the Reds in the Rule 5 draft last year but did not make their roster, and so was returned. Cave finished the season at Scranton but with a familiar problem for young speedy outfielders, namely, no power.

Cave hit only eight home runs and had 55 RBI’s for the year. He did not score a lot of runs, 59, take a lot of walks, 36, or steal many bases, six. Jake was caught stealing more times, seven than he was successful. Jakey, as Joe Girardi would surely call him, just did not excel at anything other than defense.

Worse is that Cave might be injury prone. He is currently in the second of his two DL stints already this year. But he is 24, the injuries might be an aberration, and he might still develop more power. Right now, however, he is fighting to keep his spot on the team as there are players at Low-A Charleston who might be coming for his job.

So let’s start there for some good news.

Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports /

Florial and Rutherford Redux

I recently wrote about the progress and potential of both CF Estevan Florial and CF Blake Rutherford. Both are doing well and making significant progress, although Estevan is playing better right now. For instance, he is tenth in AB’s (181), in the South Atlantic League but third in runs scored (36). Florial is 13^th in hits and sixth in total bases.

Rutherford is learning and doing better as the season progresses but will probably stay in South Carolina when Estevan has already moved to Florida. Blake is only 37^th in AB’s but is tenth in doubles and 13^th in walks. His OBP of .358 puts him in the top 25 as does his OPS (.763).

Both have something to work on. Rutherford needs to let his power develop—he has but one home run—while Florial needs to cut down on strikes; he has 62, third in the league. But both also share a secret weapon: no errors. Neither player has committed even a single gaffe this year.

Take Joel Booker, CF Kannapolis Intimidators. With roughly the same number of AB’s, he has 60 hits to Florial’s 50 and is in the top three in both runs and hits. He also has eight errors. Which player do you want on your big-league club? It’s not even close, is it? Both Rutherford and Florial are doing well and will move up soon.

LF Ben Ruta

And that brings us to Ben Ruta. He was drafted last year in the 30^th round and assigned to Staten Island. But in early May of this year, he was promoted to the Sally League, where he has been killing it. Ruta is currently slashing .340/.375/.396.

That gives him the highest average on the team, the second highest OBP, and the fourth highest SLG.

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What makes that so interesting is that he is doing better, in a small sample size, than any of the players drafted ahead of him, including Rutherford. Ruta comes from a small college, Wagner on Staten Island, and was almost un-scouted in high school. He played great in college; you can read about him here.

If you do, you will see that Ben was a two-time all-conference outfielder and batted .343. But again it was a small college and league, the Northeast Conference.

Ruta, We hardly Knew Ya’

So there are reasons for optimism and doubt. First, he has no errors. That alone will keep him in the field. And he is great against lefties, batting .439 in his senior year. The Yankees might have drafted a slow-developing player who is only now truly starting to mature. He could be that rare find you only come across because he played near the big club.

It’s a possibility. But he could also be someone having a good start to his career, his numbers more a result of adrenaline.

One, he only has 53 AB’s. Two, he is 22, which could mean he is dominating against younger talent, their ages and abilities similar to what he saw in college. He might only face better talent than he is used to at High or even Double-A. Or he might hit a wall 60 games in.

As a reference, Florial is 19 and Rutherford is 20. That’s what makes their production so promising.

Next: And Here is the Secret to the Yankees Current Success

One of the latter scenarios is more likely for Ruta just based on the odds. So many Yankees have developed that some will have to fail. But right now he is playing great ball and that warrants attention.

This league is a little short on talent. That will all change once the lower levels start playing ball in June. It won’t take long for players such as Wilkerman Garcia to move up. But until then, we’ll move on to Tampa in the next installment.

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