More good news for the Yankees revitalized farm system came today, as Baseball Prospectus ranked two Yankee farmhands in their top 50. Outfielder Aaron Judge was ranked as the 13th best prospect, yet another sign that he can handle professional pitching in spite of his massive frame. Judge has dealt with skepticism throughout his young career because taller players usually struggle at higher levels, but Judge has yet to show an inability to make contact. After beginning the season by batting .284/.350/.516 with 12 homers and a 147 wRC+ in Double-A Trenton, he was promoted to Triple-A Scranton, where his first 14 games have gone pretty well, producing a .269/.365/.365 triple slash. His stock only continues to rise.
Luis Severino was signed out of the Dominican Republic for a relatively low $225,000, but his velocity increased as he added size. He has an ERA of just 1.96 in seven starts at Scranton following his May promotion, but his strikeouts are uncharacteristically low at Triple-A. Some scouts have noticed that he doesn't use his lower body efficiently while pitching. So while he has some room for improvement performance-wise, there might also be reason to believe that he has more untapped upside left in the tank. Severino could very realistically debut for the big league club this season.
This is very good news for a farm system that was considered to be almost desolate as recently as last season. Hopefully Judge, Severino, and others can contribute at the big league level soon. In a separate article, BP admitted that Jorge Mateo just missed the cut for the top 50, so look out for him to make their top 101 list soon.