FanPost

The Next Wave - Prospects On The Rise

The Yankees farm system has its fingerprints on all of the Top 100 prospects list. Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, Keith Law’s ESPN list, and MLB Pipeline are littered not just with current Yankee farmhands, but former players moved in big trades over the last few seasons. As the full season minor league teams hit the mid-way point, and the Short Season teams get going, I’m taking a look at the candidates to be the next Yankees prospects you see populating the list of elite prospects joining the likes of Justus Sheffield, Estevan Floiral, and Albert Abreu.

The Teenagers -

Everson Pereira – 17 years old – CF – Pulaski

Yankees signed Pereira for $1.5M last year during the international signing period, and at the time he was considered their Number 1 or Number 2 signee depending on the scouting service. He has done nothing but impress the organization since. He grew another inch and filled out 20-30lbs on his frame since signing, and projected power has become real power. Reports say that he hit 8 Home Runs during the extended spring training circuit. That was enough for the Yankees to make him one of three, 17 year olds in all of baseball to skip the Gulf Coast League and go straight to the next level of rookie ball. Pereira is only a week into the Pulaski season, so I don’t want to read too much into his numbers, (4 x 2B, 1 x HR in 7 games) but his promotion alone means that he is on the radar of talent evaluators and even a average season numbers wise could land him on top 100 list due to his young age compared to the competition.

Deivi Garcia – 19 Years Old – RHP – Charleston

Garcia started his season with one start in Tampa, and has since had two more in Charleston, through 14.2IP, he has a 24/4 K/BB ratio, and a 0.89 WHIP. He will essentially be working a short season schedule, but is one of the younger players in the league, and could even pitch his way back to Tampa by the end of the season.

Matt Sauer – 19 Years Old – RHP – Staten Island

Sauer was the Yankees 2nd round pick in 2017, and signed to an above slot bonus. He has just started his season with the SI Yankees, but the results are promising. His first start was 6 innings with no hits, and one walk. Sauer has been on scouts radars since before he was drafted. The small sample size reason that Sauer may not make a list of elite prospects is because he is not striking out a ton of hitters so far this year. His .091 Ave against, and .50 WHIP are outstanding, but only 5 Strikeouts in his first 10 IP might show that he is not be ready to go on a top 100 type list yet.

Roansy Contreras – 18 Years Old – RHP – Staten Island

Over the offseason, I was reading a piece on the Yankees farm system, and came across Contreras’s name as a guy who they thought was ready to take a big step forward. Just being 18 years old and pitching in Staten Island shows that the Yankees have a strong level of faith in Contreras. His first two starts should be enough to get a hype train moving forward… 11IP, 17K, 3BB, 0.91 WHIP. Now the NY-Penn league lineups will stiffen a little bit as numerous college players just drafted get settled into the lineups, but factoring Contreras’s age, and strong start he is a prime candidate for a very high ranking by the end of the season.

The Movers -

Jonathan Loaisiga- 23 Years Old - RHP - Yankees

Not going to talk to much about Loaisiga, as he made his best argument in Philadelphia a few days ago, but if he maintains his rookie and prospect eligibility, there is a good chance he is on some of the top 100 list.

Trevor Stephan – 22 Years Old – RHP – Trenton

Stephan was the Yankees 3rd round pick last year, and was the 3rd pitcher from that draft class to reach AA. One scout’s take on Stephan early in the year was that in a system with less pitching depth than the Yankees, he could be a real Major League bullpen option this season. He has produced a 3.00 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, with 83 K in 69 IP between Tampa and Trenton. Stephan has had a few rough starts in Trenton, but those were sandwiched around 4 really good starts. I wouldn’t be surprised if he sees some work in Scranton by the end of the year.

Long Shots, but the production is getting hard to ignore -

Garrett Whitlock – 22 Years Old – RHP – Tampa

Whitlock keeps producing at an incredible rate. The Yankees 18th round draft pick from 2017, is pitching well above what anyone would have expected with that selection… over slot bonus or not. Whitlock pitched 7 games for Charleston this season and posted a 1.13 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, and 44/7 K/BB rate. Compared to that he has been terrible since his promotion to Tampa, where he has posted a 1.80 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, and 37/8 K/BB rate in 30 innings. Whitlock will probably get a shot to pitch in Trenton before the end of 2018, and as I stated above with Stephan that would put him well ahead of most of his peers from the 2017 draft.

Pablo Olivares – 20 Years Old – OF – Charleston

Olivares was a $300K signing during the 2014-2015 International signing period where the Yankees signed seven players for over $1M each (It is a list that has yet to distinguish itself). His profile has been that of a gamer, with good tools, but does nothing special. So far this year through 45 games in Charleston he is hitting .354 .421 / .487 with a 14% K rate. He is still over a full year younger than the league average hitter, so he isn’t just ahead of the curve, but thriving against older competition. The test will be when Olivares is promoted to Tampa again. He started the season there, and slashed a pedestrian .244 / .326 / .390 in a short 14 game stint. Those numbers are more than acceptable for a 20 year old getting his first taste of High A, but not enough to garner strong prospect hype, I expect that his next look at that level will show marked improvement.

Abiatal Avelino – 23 Years Old – 2B/SS – Scranton/Trenton

Avelino was considered a candidate for being an organizational guy heading into the year, but has had a breakout campaign. I wasn’t going to put him on this list until after hearing so much Mets talk about Peter Alonso, and how he needed to be not just promoted to AAA, but quickly moved to the majors. I looked at Alonso’s numbers in the same AA, Eastern League that Avelino has played in this year, and they are comparable.

Alonso – 65G - .314/.440/.573 – 1.012 OPS, 19% K rate

Avelino – 42G - .350/.404/.583- .987 OPS, 16% K rate

Alonso is already firmly inside the MLB Pipeline and Baseball America top 100 prospects. Both players are 23 years old, Alonso actually is a few months older. Scouting reports on Alonso say he is a bat only prospect, who is a defensive liability, meanwhile Avelino has played 2B, SS, 3B, and RF this season. Avelino has bounced back and forth between AA, and AAA this season. His better results have come at Trenton, as should be expected, but with Thiaro Estrada out for the season, and Kyle Holder near ready for a promotion to Trenton, I expect Avelino to play out the second half of the season in AAA. Should he produce well at the next level, I could see him being a dark horse that one scouting organization sticks their neck out on and adds to their list.

Just a mid-season look at some strong prospects in the system of course any of these guys could see their production drop off, or someone else could have a monster 2nd half and put their name in the mix.


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