The Yankees farm report: The playoffs and beyond

Winning Yankees Ways

The Scranton Wilkes/Barre RailRiders are the gold standard of Yankees farm teams. This is their third straight International League North crown, and their ninth in twelve years. Their 84 wins were the most in the north, and they return to the playoffs as the defending champion.

And just today, they won the best of five semifinal series to advance to the Governor’s Cup finals.

The pitching has again been excellent, with Domingo German’s five runs in five innings in the series opener the lone bad start. The RailRiders lost that game 6-5 but then took three straight.

Chance Adams led the way in game two, surrendering two in five innings. But unlike some of the lower levels, the bullpen came to play. Most significant was Nick Rumbelow’s 2.1 innings of relief; the RailRiders won 4-2.

Game three saw Brady Lail go six and give up but one—RR won 6-1—while today’s starter was Nestor Cortes. His was the best start of all. He went seven strong and surrendered not a run, and Rumbelow finished the game for his second save. Between them and Jonathan Holder, the RailRiders pitched a shutout.

Time to Put Up

That was four games against one of the best teams at the highest level of the minors. And the Yankees pitchers gave up a total of nine runs, six coming in just one game. With Nestor Cortes now at Scranton, they, too, have a claim to the best staff on the farm.

While you and I, gentle reader, might disagree about which team has the best pitching, we can all agree that the best part for the Yankees is that there is an argument to be had. I will start: Staten Island has the best two starters.

Scranton’s offense, meanwhile, scored 16 runs; they have plenty of offensive heroes. Two of the top producers of these four games have been 2B Donovan Solano and CF Mason Williams. And up-and-down in the system 1B Mike Ford deserves special notice as it was his home run that won the last game, and the series.

Heavy Around the Middle

But the two most important hitters are familiar names: LF Billy McKinney and 3B Miguel Andujar. McKinney didn’t just hit a ton; he showed a penchant for hitting two-run homers. For the four games, Billy got four hits, scored three runs, hit two two-run home runs, and ended with five RBI’s.

More from Yanks Go Yard

• Aaron Judge Time interview scared Yankees as much as it scared you
• MLB Network’s proposed Yankees-White Sox trade seems insane
• Why weren’t Yankees in on Kodai Senga now that we know the price?
• There’s one way Yankees can make SF Giants’ offseason even worse
• Yankees should swing trade for old enemy to fill 2023 left field vacancy

Andujar provided the perfect counter-punch of this one-two combination. He ended with only one run scored and five hits, but four of his hits were for extra bases: one home run and three doubles. That helped him collect three RBI’s and continues to profile him as a real middle of the order hitter.

The RailRiders will start their final series against Durham on the twelfth; I expect more great hitting and pitching before that series is through.

Getting Noticed

There were two RR’s deemed worthy of awards, and once again the manager was the best in his league.

"The International League announced its end-of-year awards today and the SWB RailRiders (Triple-A/ New York Yankees) had two names included. Infielder Tyler Wade was named to the postseason All-Star Team at shortstop and Al Pedrique was voted Manager of the Year for the second straight season."

"Pedrique becomes the first IL skipper to win back-to-back Manager of the Year awards since Rick Sweet took home the award with Louisville in 2008 and 2009. He is the first manager in SWB franchise history, and only the fourth in IL history, to earn the honor in consecutive seasons. The RailRiders have enjoyed seven postgame celebrations under watch, including a playoff berth and the IL North Division Championship this year. Finishing up his second year in Moosic, Pedrique has guided SWB to two North Division titles and the franchise’s second Governors’ Cup and first Triple-A National Championship in 2016."

AAAA

Tyler Wade was the only position player selected, although I have to believe that Andujar did not have enough AB’s to qualify. That is not meant as a slight at Wade, who earned his accolades. Tyler has looked over matched at the big league level, but right at home in Scranton.

"Wade, 22, has put together a terrific rookie season with SWB. Through 81 games, his .305 batting average ranks fourth and his 26 stolen bases are third most on the circuit. He has scored a team-high, 67 runs and boasts a .378 on-base percentage, also top five in the IL."

Until Part Two

That wraps up this look at the minor league team’s and their playoff performances. For some, we have taken our last look. But three teams are still in play, and we will return to them once all the leagues have been decided.

Two things will happen by then. The Yankees will call up more of their promising, impact players once they are done in the playoffs. Most of those players will come from the top two teams. And it’s because they’re both still competing that we haven’t seen such players as Cortes and Andujar already.

That should change before Steve can edit that next piece. And the other thing that the Yankees should do by then is name the remaining AFL players. Again, it gives us a glimpse into how the Yankees see their young talent.

Next: Farewell to Gene Michael

But all the fans want is to see that talent in pinstripes, succeeding at the big league level. If the Yankees are right, and getting September playoff experience helps players produce later in October, the farm is producing its most important crop of the year.

And, for some of that talent such as Sheffield, Cortes, Rumbelow, and Andujar, this might not be their last playoff series’ of 2017.