Chad Jennings brings us an update on his conversation with Nardi Contreras about a bunch of minor league pitchers.

The two guys who interest me the most (with Cox and Melancon just missing the cut) are Humberto Sanchez and Daniel McCutchen: Good times.

It's a couple days late because I've had a buddy staying with me the last couple days, but here's your minor league update for April 27- May 3.

A strong performance by Betances has his K:BB rate to almost 2:1.
TJ rehabber JB Cox was called up to AA on the 27th, and he looks great.
Still no sign of Alan "I'll only miss one turn in the rotation" Horne. He's been throwing down in Tampa and might see an intersquad game next week.
The Daniel McCutchen crusade continues at AA: less than a baserunner per inning, more than a strikeout per inning; call him up already!

Pitcher	Age	Level	G	IP	H	BB	ER	K
Jonathan Albaladejo	25	Called up	--	--	--	--	--	--
Dellin Betances	20	A	1	5.0	3	3	2	6
Chris Britton	25	called up	--	--	--	--	--	--
JB Cox	23	called up to AA	3	4.0	2	0	0	4
Alan Horne	25	AAA	DNP	-	-	-	-	-
Jeff Marquez	23	AAA	2	11.2	12	3	8	7
Daniel McCutchen	25	AA	1	7.0	10	1	5	8
Mark Melancon	23	A+	2	5.0	3	1	0	5
Scott Patterson	28	AAA	4	3.2	6	2	1	6
Edwar Ramirez	27	called up	--	--	--	--	--	--
Humberto Sanchez	24	DL	-	-	-	-	-	-
Jose Veras	27	AAA	2	2.0	1	0	0	3
Eric Wordekemper	24	AA	1	1.0	1	0	1	1

Hitter	Age	Level	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	BB	K	SB	CS
Colin Curtis	23	AA	20	6	0	0	1	1	3	0	0
Brett Gardner	24	AAA	27	7	0	0	0	3	7	1	0
Austin Jackson	21	AA	17	3	0	0	0	1	6	0	1
Jason Lane	31	AAA	24	6	1	0	0	5	3	1	0
Juan Miranda	24ish	AAA to DL	12	3	1	0	0	2	5	0	0
Jesus Montero	18	A	24	3	3	0	0	1	3	0	0
Cody Ransom	32	AAA	25	10	2	0	1	2	7	1	0
Jose Tabata	19	AA served team suspension	11	2	0	0	0	0	2	0	1

Caught this over at My Pinstripes: Now, Ashmore's post actually says that he heard this from a commenter, and that the FO won't discuss the situation.

Still, this explains why Tabata hasn't been in right field...

Daniel McCutchen watchers, check out his line from Friday's game:
7IP, 1 hit, 1 walk, 1 run, 12K.
I'd say he's learned what he can in AA. Let's get the college boy up to Scranton.

Jose Veras' continued dominance at AAA (11IP, 11 baserunners, 18K) is starting to make me rethink my lack of support for him. We only saw him for a month last season.

On the other side of the ball, while Tabata and Jackson get all the attention, Colin Curtis is tearing up AA. The lefty from Arizona State is hitting .307/.388/.420 in 23 games. 16 K vs 12 BB.

Brett Gardner got caught stealing twice, he's 4 for 8 on the season; he also hit his second home run.

I try to avoid the hype machine, so when I point out that 99ABs into the season catcher Jesus Montero is hitting .364/.382/.545 as an 18 year-old, I'm also going to point out that he's got 17K against only 2 BB. But wow.

In other news, Jose Tabata had a terrible week (and is hitting .200/.308/.233 on the season); TJ rehabbers JB Cox and Mark Melancon got knocked around; and Eric Wordekemper is making the saves very exciting in Trenton.

Check it out:

Pitcher	Age	Level	G	IP	H	BB	ER	K
Jonathan Albaladejo	25	AAA	1	2.0	1	3	1	2
Dellin Betances	20	A	1	6.0	2	3	1	7
Chris Britton	25	AAA	2	2.2	5	2	3	1
JB Cox	23	A+	2	2.0	3	0	0	1
Alan Horne	25	AAA	DNP	-	-	-	-	-
Jeff Marquez	23	AAA	1	5.0	4	1	2	3
Daniel McCutchen	25	AA	2	14.0	7	1	3	16
Mark Melancon	23	A+	2	3.1	6	2	1	3
Scott Patterson	28	AAA	2	2.0	2	0	1	2
Edwar Ramirez	27	AAA	2	2.0	0	0	0	2
Humberto Sanchez	24	DL	-	-	-	-	-	-
Jose Veras	27	AAA	3	3.0	1	2	0	6
Eric Wordekemper	24	AA	3	3.1	5	2	0	3

Hitter	Age	Level	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	BB	K	SB	CS
Colin Curtis	23	AA	22	8	2	1	0	5	1	1	0
Brett Gardner	24	AAA	21	5	1	0	1	5	3	1	2
Austin Jackson	21	AA	36	9	3	0	0	1	6	1	0
Jason Lane	31	AAA	19	2	0	0	1	1	3	0	0
Juan Miranda	24ish	AAA	21	8	2	0	0	4	4	0	0
Jesus Montero	18	A	31	13	4	0	1	0	5	0	1
Cody Ransom	32	AAA	19	6	3	0	0	1	1	1	0
Jose Tabata	19	AA	25	3	0	0	0	2	9	0	0

In the search for a spot starter, am I crazy to suggest Daniel McCutchen? He struggled to locate his curve last season, so he spent the time really working on his change, which enhances his 2- and 4-seam fastballs (low 90s). Now he's got both pitches working and is off to a hot start.
Going AA to MLB isn't that rare for a starter, but he's not on the 40-man, so you'd have to put somebody through waivers.

It looks like they've got top reliever Mark Melancon on a very aggressive pitching schedule- 2IP every third day.

For all you Dellin Betances fans, his BB:K ratio now stands at 15:28 in 20.1IP.

Austin Jackson collected a hit in each game this week, while Jose Tabata has taken the opposite approach- 3 multi-hit games, no other hits.

I was at the SWB Yankees (AAA) game last night. Brett Gardner (he of the 83% SB success rate) was caught stealing in the first. Shelley Duncan was at bat with one out, Gardner on second and Castro on first. In a 3-2 count the runners took off. The pitch sailed in, and Duncan started for first. The umpire stepped away from the plate, which usually means a ball, and the runners slowed down. The catcher threw to third, and then the umpire called strike three. They had trouble with that ump all night, and then the firstbase ump blew a call when Chris Stewart beat out an infield single but was called out anyway (I think because he signaled "safe" as he crossed the bag).

Pitcher	Age	Level	G	IP	H	BB	ER	K
Jonathan Albaladejo	25	AAA	1	1.0	1	1	0	0
Dellin Betances	20	A	1	10.0	8	7	2	12
Chris Britton	25	AAA	2	2.2	2	2	0	6
JB Cox	23	A+	3	3.0	3	1	1	1
Alan Horne	25	AAA	DNP	-	-	-	-	-
Jeff Marquez	23	AAA	1	5.1	8	2	5	6
Daniel McCutchen	25	AA	1	7.0	4	2	0	4
Mark Melancon	23	A+	3	6.0	4	0	0	4
Scott Patterson	28	AAA	2	3.0	3	2	0	2
Edwar Ramirez	27	AAA	1	1.0	0	0	0	0
Humberto Sanchez	24	DL	-	-	-	-	-	-
Jose Veras	27	AAA	3	3.0	1	2	0	6
Eric Wordekemper	24	AA	4	4.0	1	2	1	3

Hitter	Age	Level	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	BB	K	SB	CS
Colin Curtis	23	AA	28	9	3	0	0	4	7	1	1
Brett Gardner	24	AAA	26	8	1	1	0	3	6	1	2
Austin Jackson	21	AA	27	9	2	1	0	6	3	0	1
Jason Lane	31	AAA	25	7	2	0	0	2	6	0	0
Juan Miranda	24ish	AAA	22	6	0	0	1	5	4	0	0
Jesus Montero	18	A	25	8	1	0	0	0	3	0	0
Cody Ransom	32	AAA	25	3	1	0	1	2	5	0	0
Jose Tabata	19	AA	29	6	2	0	0	3	5	0	0

Saber-Scouting stopped by the Tampa Yankees game yesterday, and brought us a report on Mark Melancon: Melancon is, of course, one of several pitchers coming back form TJ surgery. Serendipitously, I'm in the middle of Will Carroll's excellent book Saving the Pitcher (it came out back in 2004, but I've always been a little behind the times). Remember a couple weeks ago, when we discussed why Melancon is starting the season in Tampa? Carroll writes that the Yankees possess a secret weapon in the TJ recovery process: head minor league trainer Mark Littlefield. Many other teams have tried to interview Littlefield over the years, and every time the Yanks pay him more money to keep working his magic in Tampa.

When I read that, not only did starting Melancon in Tampa make perfect sense, but I also felt infinitely better about the trade for Humberto Sanchez and the drafting of Andrew Brackman (the Yanks knew they were TJ candidates).

I'll be heading to my first Scranton/Wilkes Barre Yankees game of the season this Saturday, so my Sunday update will (hopefully) have a little more color than usual.

In the meantime, here's something to think about:
Every single AAA reliever has a lower WHIP and ERA than Kyle Farnsworth and LaTroy Hawkins.
Edwar (7IP), Britton (7IP), Jonny A. (5IP) and Sean Henn (2IP) have yet to allow any runs.
Every one of those relievers would make the major league minimum ($390,000). The combined salaries for the entire AAA bullpen (counting Jonny A.) would be $3.1M, a million dollar saving on LaTroy Hawkins and a $2,400,000 saving over Farnsworth.

Week 2 of minor league baseball is in the books, so I've got your Sunday update ready to go.

It was a great week for Edwar, Jonny A., and Austin Jackson. Alan Horne got hurt, Jeff Marquez got hit hard, and Dellin Betances showed that while he has A+ stuff (8K) he's got to work on repeating his delivery to refine his control (6BB).
TJ rehabbers BJ Cox and Mark Melancon

Pitcher	Age	Level	G	IP	H	BB	ER	K
Jonathan Albaladejo	25	AAA	2	4.0	3	0	0	3
Dellin Betances	20	A	1	5.1	2	6	2	8
Chris Britton	25	AAA	3	4.2	3	0	0	2
JB Cox	23	A+	1	1.0	2	0	1	0
Alan Horne note	25	AAA	1	2.0	4	0	1	2
Jeff Marquez	23	AAA	2	9.1	14	4	11	4
Daniel McCutchen	25	AA	1	5.2	4	1	2	4
Mark Melancon	23	A+	2	3.0	6	2	6	2
Scott Patterson	28	AAA	2	2.2	3	2	2	0
Edwar Ramirez	27	AAA	3	4.0	2	0	0	7
Humberto Sanchez	24	DL	-	-	-	-	-	-
Jose Veras	27	AAA	3	3.0	5	0	2	5
Eric Wordekemper	24	AA	2	1.2	4	0	1	1

Hitter	Age	Level	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	BB	K	SB	CS
Colin Curtis	23	AA	26	6	0	0	0	2	7	0	0
Brett Gardner	24	AAA	14	6	1	2	0	1	3	1	0
Austin Jackson	21	AA	28	10	2	0	0	5	6	4	0
Jason Lane	31	AAA	26	7	1	0	4	3	5	0	0
Juan Miranda	24ish	AAA	25	5	0	0	1	5	2	0	0
Jesus Montero	18	A	32	10	4	0	2	1	6	0	0
Cody Ransom	32	AAA	29	6	1	0	1	1	7	0	0
Jose Tabata	19	AA	27	8	1	0	0	4	4	1	0

A few thoughts:

I've included each player's age to try to help casual observers separate the prospects from the role-players.

I've put the update into this hand-dandy chart form for two reasons- I think it's easy to read, and it'll be way easier to update each week.

With great trepidation I have added columns for extra base hits- I'm far more interested in consistent contact and a good eye than in power. Players grow into their power.

Here's some good news from Tyler Kepner regarding Alan Horne and the injury he sustained last night:

Horne had a magnetic resonance imaging exam and was found to have a strained biceps muscle. He will report to Tampa and be shut down for a week, but the Yankees are not concerned about long-term damage to Horne, who had reconstructive elbow surgery in college.

"It’s not a rotator cuff, not a labrum, not a medial collateral ligament – it’s none of the stuff that concerns you as a long-term issue," said Mark Newman, the senior vice president for player personnel. "It’s a pulled muscle – not connective tissue, not the stuff that causes problems."

 

Every Sunday I'm going to try to check in on the progress of the Yankee prospects I'm keeping an eye on. You'll notice that I'm not really watching anyone who figures to spend the season below AA- the reason for this is that I'm not really interested in minor league baseball; I'm interested in identifying the players who can help the Yanks this year and next.

If there are players (at any level) you'd like me to add to my list, just let me know.

Jonathan Albaladejo (AAA): has not pitched yet.
Chris Britton (AAA): 1G, 1.1IP, 1H, 0BB, 0R, 1K.
JB Cox (DL): has not pitched yet.
Brett Gardner (AAA): 11ABs, 4H, 1HR, 1SB, 0CS
Alan Horne (AAA): 6IP, 5H, 2BB, 2R, 6K.
Austin Jackson (AA): 8ABs, 0H, 2BB, 0SB, 0CS, 1K
Jeff Marquez (AAA): has not pitched yet.
Daniel McCutchen (AA): 5IP, 3H, 3BB, 0R, 7K
Mark Melancon (A): 1G, 1.2IP, 0H, 0BB, 0R, 1K
Humberto Sanchez (60 day DL): has not pitched yet.
Jose Tabata (AA): 9AB, 1H, 1BB, 2SB, 0CS, 3K
Eric Wordekemper (AA): 1G, 1IP, 3H, 1BB, 2R, 2K