http://yankees.lhblogs.com/2011/10/24/triple-a-year-in-review/
Some of you follow the Yankees minor league system very closely, and for you,
this is going to be familiar information. For those who don’t pay much
attention, we’ll try to provide the nuts and bolts with a level-by-level
look at what happened this season, and we’ll start at the top with Triple-A
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Young pitching was expected to be a strength, and it was The Triple-A Yankees
were fourth in the International League with a 3.80 ERA, but their lineup was
in the bottom half of the league in runs scored.
Hitter of the Year: 1B Jorge Vazquez
He strikes out a ton, but there’s no denying the raw power of perhaps the
organization’s most unusual prospect. Vazquez is already 29 years old, and he
spent most of his career playing in Mexico, but at this point there’s little
reason to doubt his ability to hit. His batting average is, well, average. His
on-base percentage is disappointing. But the guy hit 32 home runs and 20
doubles in 118 Triple-A games this season. He missed a little bit of time with
minor injuries and still finished second in the league in RBI.
Starter of the Year: RHP D.J. Mitchell
Honestly, you could make a case for Mitchell, Adam Warren or David Phelps, and
truthfully, Mitchell is probably the smallest name of the bunch. He doesn’t
have Phelps strikeout stuff, and Warren held hitters to a lower batting
average, but Mitchell has ground ball stuff that carried him to 13 wins and a
3.18 ERA through 161.1 innings. A 10th-round pick in 2008, Mitchell would
probably standout more if he weren’t in an organization with so much pitching
depth. As it is, he’s more than holding his own with bigger names.
Reliever of the Year: RHP George Kontos
In the first half, it was closer Kevin Whelan who stood out, but by the end of
the season, it was impossible to ignore Kontos. In his first full year back
from Tommy John surgery, Kontos fully adapted to the bullpen as a long reliever
with a 2.62 ERA, .221 opponents batting average and a little more than a
strikeout per inning. The Yankees rewarded Kontos with a 40-man spot and a
September call-up. He fell a little bit off the prospect map after the injury,
but he’s back on the radar and pitched his way into the big league mix for
next season.
Breakout performance: RHP Kevin Whelan
This is probably the closest Scranton came to a traditional breakout
performance. Jordan Parraz had a great year in the outfield, but I’m not sure
it changed his status. Lance Pendleton earned a lot of big league time, but he
finished year out of the organization. Justin Maxwell was doing big things
before he got hurt. Whelan, on the other hand, landed on the 40-man roster by
finally improving his control and taking advantage of good stuff that’s always
led to low opponents batting averages. Now the question is whether the Yankees
were impressed enough to keep Whelan on the 40-man this winter. It might be
telling that he didn’t get a September call-up.
Disappointing numbers: RHP Andrew Brackman
After last season, and strong first impression this spring, things seemed to be
back on track for the former first-round pick. But the wheels fell off again
this season. Brackman seemed to fall back into his old rut of high walk totals
and erratic production. There is a bright side to his 6.00 ERA: In the second
half, Brackman’s ERA was a much-improved 2.35 with a .149 opponents batting
average. In his last nine outings — coming immediately after a nine-walk
disaster — Brackman had a legitimately good pitching line: 20.1 IP, 11 H, 3 R,
3 ER, 6 BB, 17 K.
Top prospect watch: C Jesus Montero
There were quite a few prospects on this roster, but obviously none stands out
quite like Montero. The Yankees top young hitter finally emerged in the second
half and made an impact down the stretch. Overall, it wasn’t the dominant
season some predicted — .288/.348/.467 — but he had a good July and a
terrific August, and he might be finished with the minor leagues altogether. Of
the regular catchers in the league, Montero had the lowest caught stealing
percentage at just 20.5 percent. Montero was the only regular catcher below 25
percent and he was well behind league leader Raul Chavez who threw out 47.1
percent of base stealers.
Noteable: 3B Brandon Laird took a step back from last year’s breakout season,
but still showed some of the power that makes him an intriguing corner man…
Two of the true breakout prospect performances this season came from RHP Ivan
Nova and RHP Hector Noesi, but they combined for only nine Triple-A appearances
because they spent so much time in New York… OF Justin Maxwell spent most of
the year on the disabled list, but before he got hurt, he had a .358 on-base
percentage and a .588 slugging percentage. He’s still on the 40-man, and given
the Yankees lack of upper-level outfield depth, his 48 games do standout a
little bit… RHP David Phelps would have led the team in strikeouts with a
relatively low walk total if not for a late-season injury. He’s now getting
innings down the Arizona Fall League… If he had a spot on the 40-man, OF
Jordan Parraz might have won a call-up with his .289/.362/.440 slash line.
Truth be told, he outhit both Greg Golson and Chris Dickerson down in Triple-A…
This team used 40 different pitchers. Forty!
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