Yankees top prospects winning monthly awards will give you hope

The big-league New York Yankees have been exceedingly disappointing in 2021, riding their supreme pitching to even a serviceable record, but remaining without any offense to speak of.

They don’t attack fastballs. They don’t hit hangers. They just don’t … play baseball. It’s odd.

Are things hopeless, though? No! Not at all.

Minor-league team records are for suckers, but the Yankees’ squads at Low-A Tampa, Double-A Somerset, and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre are blitzing the competition. High-A Hudson Valley, the losers of the group, are still an over-.500 club.

Two of the Yankees’ most important young depth pieces/standouts were rewarded for their efforts on Wednesday. One of them entered the season among the league’s most hyped prospects, while the other … did not, and proved very quickly that was a mistake.

I’m just now learning we have a league called the “High-A East,” which is new, but semantics aside, congratulations to Oswald Peraza, the Yankees’ No. 4 prospect who’s been living up to his pedigree!

Yankees top prospect Oswald Peraza won High-A Player of the Month.

After a spring training cameo in which he mostly looked like a slick-fielding 20-year-old playing with adults, Peraza has comported himself extremely well thus far after a one-year break from organized ball.

He’s shown off all five tools, triple-slashing .316/.394/.558 with five homers, 15 stolen bases, and only a single failure on the base paths. By first-hand account, the defense is coming along nicely, too, though that’s always been his calling card.

Don’t believe us? Listen to former Yankee and Hudson Valley eyes-on-the-scene Joe Ausanio!

The second Yankees honoree came out of the 2020 draft, meaning this month has been his professional debut. He’s already smashing the cover off the baseball.

Meet Trevor Hauver, the Player of the Month in the Southeast League, who might’ve had the hottest start of anyone this month. Like, any person in the game.

https://twitter.com/NYYPlayerDev/status/1400202261742166017?s=20

Yankees prospect Trevor Hauver won Player of the Month, too.

On the season thus far, Hauver’s hitting .316 with six bombs, 22 RBI, and a sterling OPS of 1.124. Very good!

In actuality, though, Hauver hasn’t homered since the first week of the season, smacking all six dingers in his first five games. The Arizona State product, whose position has yet to be determined, can flat-out rake when he gets in a rhythm. All he did was walk and smash home runs that week, going 10-for-18 with seven walks in those six contests.

Hauver has earned the accolade with consistency ever since, but that first week probably cemented it for him.

So, which Yankees will be their respective league’s best in June? Probably a few, at this pace!

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