Baseball America's steady Yankees farm system rise aligns with latest promotion

The New York Yankees' farm system will always be inherently disadvantaged by poor draft position (unless the Yankees start to suck more consistently, which would be ... also bad!). They win in the regular season, they spend to supplement their core, and they end up plummeting far from the top of the first round. For years, they plugged this hole with expert spending on the international market, but ... well ... something's gone wrong there for the past half-decade (or longer), and a regime change this offseason has left that process in flux, too.

The most the Yankees can hope for, at this point, is late-round scouting wins, pitching development success stories, and a slow-and-steady climb closer to the top of the league via incremental victories and occasional gems (while they get their international apparatus back in gear). A few shrewd trades might help, too.

The goal is to have enough pitching and viable depth to make trade deadline splashes every summer — maybe not of the Tarik Skubal variety, but at least enough to plug on-the-fly holes (and maybe they should plan for fewer midseason leaks, if at all possible). Baseball America's latest assessment of the Yankees' farm system proves things are steadily getting better, even if the leap is destined to never look drastic. BA had the Yankees ranked 23rd entering the season, and pushed them up to No. 21 in their midseason rankings.

Without Dax Kilby playing any game of consequence, and with Carlos Lagrange on the shelf, it's impressive they didn't catastrophically tumble downwards. And part of the reason why is the re-emergence of left-hander Henry Lalane, who just topped back-to-back BA Hot Sheets and might reach a year-end Top 100 if he continues meeting his development goals.

Will he do so with the Yankees? Depends on how drastic their deadline makeover gets. Lalane was promoted to High-A Hudson Valley on Tuesday night, which seemed impossible mere months ago, but inevitable in recent days.

Henry Lalane gets Yankees showcase after deserved promotion boosts farm system

Lalane made a total of 16 starts the past three seasons, run over by various injuries when he was previously on the cusp of making a top 100 leap. He just finished his Low-A tenure with back-to-back seven-inning shutouts, featuring one hit/12 Ks/no walks and three hits/11 Ks/no walks, respectively.

He's never been more ready, and his projectable 6'7" frame gave BA reason to believe, writing, "Left-hander Henry Lalane's return to his pre-injury form gives the Yankees another top-tier pitching prospect (if he stays healthy)." I'd argue that he returned to his pre-injury dream form, and has actually looked better now than he ever has in reality. But that's mincing words. His noteworthy excellence has gotten him, and the Yankees' farm, a bump.

Now, will the Yankees cash him in before they can find out if his health will hold? That depends on how impressive the available upgrades are. Expect him to be the biggest name in the Yankees' system who might move this summer, and the reason their rankings either dip or rise further (concurrent with the draft).

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