Yankees prospects: Week six minor league review

While the major league team has struggled, after six weeks every Yankees affiliate has at least a share of first-place. Highly-regarded prospects such as Anthony Volpe, Luis Gil and Austin Wells have continued their strong performances to start the season, and a group headlined by Ken Waldichuk have positioned themselves for a jump to the next level.

Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes Barre RailRiders

Record: 23-11, 1st Place in Triple-A (Northeast); 1 GA

Past Week: 4-2 vs. Buffalo Bisons (Blue Jays)

Upcoming: Home vs. Syracuse Mets; 11-25

The RailRiders saw another wave of star power come through town this week as they hosted Zack Britton and Luke Voit during their rehab assignments. Voit will move on to Somerset for the next few games, while Britton finished his assignment and is back with the Yankees to help stabilize their bullpen. Trey Amburgey has stretched his cross-season hitting streak to 20 games as he continues to power the Scranton offense early in the year. Braden Bristo is going to be a name to watch moving forward, as he has been flawless out of the Scranton bullpen so far this season. After experiencing a wild streak to start the year, he has been particularly impressive over his last 10.1 innings pitched, allowing just two hits and two walks while striking out 13 batters.

Players of Note:

Trey Amburgey: 18 G; .388/.423/.761, 6 HR, 7 2B – 20 G hit streak dating to 2019 season

Braden Bristo: 11 G; 0.00 ERA, 17 IP, 3 H, 9 BB, 18 K – 13 K, 2 BB in his last 10.1 IP

Nick Nelson: 2 G; 0.00 ERA, 6.2 IP, 4 H, 2 BB, 7 K

Nick Goody: 9 G; 0.82 ERA, 11 IP, 5 H, 4 BB, 17 K

Double-A Somerset Patriots

Record: 22-13, 1st place in Double-A (Northeast), 2.5 GA

Past Week: 2-4 vs. Erie SeaWolves (Tigers)

Upcoming: Home vs. Richmond Flying Squirrels (Giants); 21-15

Oswald Peraza registered his first Double-A home run but struggled to produce consistent offense in his first week at the new level. Despite a losing record on the week, some players continued to excel against a very good Erie team. Both Luis Gil and Janson Junk registered quality starts and continued their impressive starts to the season. While no moves have been announced, if the rumors of three starting pitchers earning promotions from High-A are true then several arms from the Double-A staff could also find themselves on the move.

Players of Note:

Kevin Gadea: 8 G; 11.1 IP, 1.59 ERA, 16 K

Janson Junk: 7 G; 29 IP, 0.93 ERA, 39 K, 1.00 WHIP

Luis Gil: 7 G; 30.2 IP, 2.64 ERA, 50 K, 1.21 WHIP

Diego Castillo: 13 G; .327/.389/.653, 4 HR, 4 2B, 179 wRC+

High-A Hudson Valley Renegades

Record: 20-14, T-1st place in High-A East (Northern)

Past Week: 5-1 vs. Brooklyn Cyclones (Mets)

Upcoming: Home vs. Jersey Shore BlueClaws (Phillies); 18-16

Facing a Brooklyn Cyclones team that featured the Mets’ top three position player prospects, Renegades pitching put up an impressive week. The Hudson Valley staff was led by strong outings from Ken Waldichuk and Hayden Wesneski as the team allowed just 11 runs in the six-game series. Luis Severino joined the team on Saturday but saw his outing and rehab cut short with a groin injury. Shortstop prospect Josh Smith also joined the team and homered in his first at-bat, giving him seven on the season after a quick stint with Low-A Tampa. The five-win week pulled the Renegades into a first place tie for the division lead.

During Sunday’s game, Josh Norris from Baseball America broke news that the majority of the Hudson Valley starting pitching staff, Luis Medina, Ken Waldichuk and Hayden Wesneski, were set for promotions to Double-A Somerset. Those promotions have not been officially announced, but they have certainly earned those promotions based on their early season results.

Players of Note:

Ken Waldichuk: 7 G, 0.00 ERA, 30.2 IP, 55 K, 12 H, 0.82 WHIP, .120 BAA

Hayden Wesneski: 7 G, 1.49 ERA, 36.1 IP, 47 K, 0.91 WHIP, .194 BAA

Barrett Loseke: 4 G; 11 IP, 1.59 ERA, 16 K

Matt Minnick: 9 G; 11 IP, 2.45 ERA, 16 K

Low-A Tampa Tarpons

Record: 26-10, 1st place in Low-A Southeast (West Coast); 3.0 GA

Past Week: 4-2 vs. Clearwater Threshers (Phillies)

Upcoming: Home vs. Bradenton Marauders (Pirates); 23-13

Anthony Volpe continues to spark the Tarpons prolific offense as an on-base machine at the top of the lineup. Austin Wells has started to tap into his power with three home runs over the last two weeks. Despite outscoring their opponents by 110 runs on the season, the Tarpons enter this week’s series against second-place Bradenton with just a three-game lead in their division.

Players of Note:

Anthony Volpe: 10 G; .447/.563/.895, 4 HR, 3B, 3 2B, 5 SB

Austin Wells: 12 G; .319/.433/.596, 3 HR, 3B, 2 2B

Elijah Dunham: 17 G; .291/.466/.564, 3 HR, 3B, 3 2B

Carlos Narvaez: 8 G; .292/.514/.500, HR, 2 2B

Baseball America also posted the news this week that the Gulf Coast League (GCL) will begin play on June 28th. While this date has been public for awhile, it did come as a mild surprise that the Yankees will only field one GCL this summer after fielding two teams in the league during recent years. Also reported was that the Dominican Summer League (DSL) will begin on July 12^th and run through October 2^nd. The Yankees will have two teams in the DSL this summer.