Yankees Farm Report Part Four: Triple-A Scranton RailRiders

Dustin Fowler

CF Dustin Fowler has made me a convert. He was always a great defender but lacked power; not anymore. Fowler is slashing .309/.344/.578 with nine home runs. That gives Fowler the ninth highest batting average in Triple-A and, more significantly for his progress, the second highest SLG.

Dustin has finally put together both power and speed.

Two stats illustrate the point. One, he leads the league in triples. While his at-bats are in the top ten percent in the league, he leads by a lot: Fowler has 7; the next closest has 3.

The other telling stat is that he is number two in slugging at this point in the season. If his power were a result of one good stretch, he could not have maintained it over the course of his 209 AB’s. No, Fowler looks like he has added the only tool he lacked.

It is clear that Dustin Fowler has arrived, although I would have had more reservations a month ago. Dustin has three errors, which is a lot for him. But he has had those errors seemingly since April, and we are at a point in the season when three errors are no longer egregious.

Fowler looks better than Ben Gamel, who won Player of the Year honors in 2016 and is currently batting .309 for the Mariners. And Dustin bats left, so his power will be enhanced at Yankees Stadium.

If the Yankees needed an outfielder, they would definitely call up Fowler before LF Clint Frazier. Unless they want to see, someone hit farther than The Judge.