Top Yankees pitching prospect makes strong call-up argument (while another whiffs 12)

If you found it difficult to believe in New York Yankees pitching prospects these days, given how many of them seem to break — and how many elite-sounding names you heard of before Luis Gil/Clarke Schmidt actually broke through — we'd understand. But Cam Schlittler (at Triple-A) and Carlos Lagrange (at Double-A) are putting it all together this year to the point of demanding your attention, and Thursday represented the peak of both pitchers' seasons.

These two hurlers are very much at different career points these days. Schlittler is knocking on the door at Triple-A, threatening to knock it down entirely. Lagrange remains a bit of a wild card, but the more he puts his ridiculous arsenal together at Somerset — recently described as including "a fastball that hits triple-digits as often as some people visit Starbucks" by Baseball America — the closer to the inner circle he moves.

Don't expect to see Lagrange in the MLB conversation this summer, unless he's switching cities at the trade deadline.

But Schlittler ... ? If the Yankees are hurting for arms, they might determine that he's got more polish than the expensive fours and fives on the market. And, if you thought of him as more of a finesse guy, be forewarned that he's picked up some heat, too. Schlittler piled up 19 swings and misses and touched 99 miles per hour in a Thursday night start that brought his Triple-A ERA down to 2.35. Usually, this gets harder as you move up levels, too.

Yankees Prospect Update: Cam Schlittler, Carlos Lagrange both dominate Thursday

Lagrange's season ERA numbers aren't quite so gaudy (4.42 in 11 starts), but the eye-popping stuff has translated to a ridiculous number of Ks; 84 in 57 innings, to be exact.

He's also kept his WHIP encouragingly low at 1.14, standing a powerful 6'7" and a lithe 195 pounds at the age of 22.

The Yankees won't be ultra aggressive here. They understand they have a special specimen they must handle with care. But it's hard not to get tantalized when Lagrange is doing the types of things he did on Thursday night.

The next step for Lagrange is consistency, but the next step for Schlittler might be MLB action. He's at least given himself a prime position on the promotion list.

We know. You've been burned before. But these guys might be worth taking a chance on. At the very least, gaudy minor-league numbers are fun to gawk at.