The Yankees farm report: The playoffs and beyond

Their Just Gettin’ Warmed Up

Interestingly, the Staten Island Yankees just started their playoffs. And although they lost the first game, their star pitchers have shined.

Juan De Paula pitched the Yankees into the playoffs, and the McNamara Crown, with five innings of one run ball. Jose Guzman followed that up with a stellar game one performance: Seven innings, no earned runs, and six strikeouts. That was followed by 3.2 additional shut out innings by Trevor Stephan.

The Yankees defense let them down, and they lost 5-2, but it wasn’t Guzman’s fault.

And the claim that this might be the best pitching team in the system? This quote starts by mentioning De Paula:

"Staten Island rode the 19-year-old and the rest of a strong pitching staff to the title, topping the New York-Penn League with a combined 2.62 ERA and 11 shutouts while standing second to Tri-City with 688 strikeouts. New York’s No. 10 prospect Jorge Guzman leads the way for Staten Island with a 5-3 record and a 2.30 ERA, sixth-best in the league."

I hope to have good things to report about both when I write part two.

Polonia Appears

The offense scored only four runs in the two games, although the first one was shortened to six innings. Still, that leaves little in the way of offensive glory. Danienger Perez, Timmy Robinson, and Welfrin Mateo probably deserve notice most.

But as I said, these playoffs just started. There’s even a game in progress right now. And that is all that’s left for these island boys. I can find no mention of any PS awards at this level. Hopefully, the team will offset that with a championship run.

One player, UI Jose Polonia, does deserve notice. The SI/Penn League hold a late All-Star game and Polonia was the lone Yankees representative.

Now on to Pennsylvania and the hope that the boys in Scranton are on a run of their own.