Saturday, August 1, 2015

2015 Midseason Yankees Top 30 Prospects

by: Ben Embry

This is the first time I've waited this long into the summer to post my Mid-season prospect rankings. I thought for sure we'd see some of the top 10-15 names be shuttled off to some far flung outposts like San Diego or Cincinnati. Instead, there was very little movement. The only prospects traded away were Ramon Flores and Jose Ramirez, (two Yankees prospect lists staples for the last half-decade), in exchange for Seattle's Dustin Ackley.

Fans who support the idea of promoting your prospects are probably happy with how this week turned out. Conversely fans who want to trade for big names like David Price or Craig Kimbrel are likely not pleased. It's easy for fans to fall on one side or the other of the line that separates the groups, but in reality that line should be straddled. I implore fans to have a healthy understanding of the value of prospects. We won't know for a while whether keeping our prospects paid off or not. And the answer may never be clear, leaving fans to decide for themselves what they think.

First, before the rankings I have a disclosure: I am not a scout. I do not communicate directly with scouts. I do not regularly watch the prospects in person, on television, or on the Internet. My opinions are informed by websites and publications such as Baseball America, Fangraphs, and ESPN.com and interactions with fans and writers on social media. I am simply a fan who is expressing his opinion; take it for what it's worth.

Ok, here are the Yankees' top 30 prospects:

Rank Name POS Born
1 Luis Severino SP 1994
2 Aaron Judge RF 1992
3 Jorge Mateo SS 1995
4 Greg Bird 1B 1992
5 Gary Sanchez C 1992
6 James Kaprielian SP 1994
7 Jacob Lindgren RP 1993
8 Eric Jagielo 3B/1B 1992
9 Ian Clarkin SP 1995
10 Rob Refsnyder 2B/LF 1991
11 Miguel Andujar 3B 1995
12 Tyler Wade SS 1994
13 Abiatal Avelino SS/2B 1995
14 Rookie Davis SP 1993
15 Domingo Acevedo SP 1994
16 Luis Torrens C 1996
17 Jake Cave CF 1992
18 Mason Williams CF 1991
19 Brady Lail SP 1993
20 Angel Aguilar SS/3B 1995
21 Slade Heathcott CF 1990
22 Kyle Holder SS 1994
23 Drew Finley SP 1996
24 Domingo German SP 1992
25 Austin DeCarr SP 1995
26 Leonardo Molina CF 1997
27 Thairo Estrada SS 1996
28 Dustin Fowler CF/RF 1994
29 Juan de Leon CF/RF 1998
30 Dermis Garcia SS/3B 1998
Let's compare the last list to his one. First, players who were in the previous ranking but not this one, (including previous ranking):

13. Tyler Austin (out of top 30)
14. Bryan Mitchell (graduated)
18. Ty Hensley (out of top 30)
20. Jose Ramirez (traded for Dustin Ackley)
22. Ramon Flores (traded for Dustin Ackley)
24. Jose Pirela (graduated)
26. Chasen Shreve (graduated)
27. Gosuke Katoh (out of top 30)
30. Johnny Barbato (out of top 30)

And now, the players who were not in the previous ranking but in this one, (including current ranking):

6. James Kaprielian (drafted)
14. Rookie Davis
15. Domingo Acevedo
22. Kyle Holder (drafted)
23. Drew Finley (drafted)
27. Thairo Estrada
28. Dustin Fowler
29. Juan de Leon *
30. Dermis Garcia *

* - I do not include July 2 signees until they have started playing GCL or DSL games, which is after pre-season rankings.

For those interested in some true DEEP DIVES, I also do top 30 hitters and pitchers lists. First, the hitters:

Rank Player Position Born
1 Aaron Judge RF 1992
2 Jorge Mateo SS 1995
3 Greg Bird 1B 1992
4 Gary Sanchez C 1992
5 Eric Jagielo 3B/1B 1992
6 Rob Refsnyder 2B/LF 1991
7 Miguel Andujar 3B 1995
8 Tyler Wade SS 1994
9 Abiatal Avelino SS/2B 1995
10 Luis Torrens C 1996
11 Jake Cave CF 1992
12 Mason Williams CF 1991
13 Angel Aguilar SS/3B 1995
14 Slade Heathcott CF 1990
15 Kyle Holder SS 1994
16 Leonardo Molina CF 1997
17 Thairo Estrada SS 1996
18 Dustin Fowler CF/RF 1994
19 Juan de Leon CF/RF 1998
20 Dermis Garcia 3B 1998
21 Tyler Austin RF/1B 1991
22 Nelson Gomez 3B 1997
23 Wilkerman Garcia SS/3B 1998
24 Hyo-Jun Park SS 1996
25 Jonathan Amundaray RF 1998
26 Alexander Palma RF 1995
27 Tony Renda 2B 1991
28 Ben Gamel RF 1992
29 Gosuke Katoh 2B 1994
30 Dante Bichette, Jr. 3B 1992

Finally the pitchers:

Rank Player Position Born
1 Luis Severino SP 1994
2 James Kaprielian SP 1994
3 Jacob Lindgren RP 1993
4 Ian Clarkin SP 1995
5 Rookie Davis SP 1993
6 Domingo Acevedo SP 1994
7 Brady Lail SP 1993
8 Drew Finley SP 1996
9 Domingo German SP 1992
10 Austin DeCarr SP 1995
11 Ty Hensley SP 1993
12 Vicente Campos SP/RP 1992
13 Jordan Montgomery SP 1992
14 Jeff Degano SP 1992
15 Nick Rumbelow RP 1991
16 Tyler Webb RP 1990
17 Jonathan Holder SP 1993
18 Cale Coshow SP/RP 1992
19 Johnny Barbato RP 1992
20 Danny Burawa RP 1988
21 Branden Pinder RP 1989
22 Nick Goody RP 1991
23 Luis Cedeno SP/RP 1994
24 James Pazos RP 1991
25 Simon de la Rosa SP 1993
26 Alexander Vargas SP 1997
27 Josh Rogers SP 1994
28 Jordan Foley SP/RP 1993
29 Chance Adams RP 1994
30 Miguel Sulbaran SP/RP 1994

Well, let me know what you think. My Twitter handle is @thebronxempire and my email is bembry24@gmail.com. I'll update the list this fall after the season. Ok, have a good day!

6 comments:

  1. Great post. I love prospect lists. I do have a question though. Ian Clarkin was drafted with Jagielo and Judge. They've progressed to AA and AAA respectively. I know they were both college bats and Clarkin was a high school pitcher, but he has played extremely sparingly due to injury. Why does he continue to be ranked so high? To me, he's just the next Andrew Brackman.

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    Replies
    1. Obviously this is Ben's list and not mine but I know why I rank him so high. Ranking prospects is part effectiveness on the field and part ceiling/projections. Clarkin projects to be a left-handed ace... which keeps him there.

      Doesn't hurt the Yankees farm is on the weak side when it comes to upper end starting pitching.

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    2. Who projects him to be a left handed ace? Keith Law? He's now 20. I'm not going to look up his stats, but he's been rather unimpressive thus far. He has to pitch a little before you rank him in the top 10, right? I don't want to argue, but if he's going to rank that high, he should at least play.

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    3. No he doesn't have to pitch to be ranked in the Top 10. James Kaprielian is ranked in our Top 10 by a ton of people. Many people who are drafted are immediately ranked highly in the rankings.

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  2. I see what you're saying, and I'm not arguing. I just believe that you have to factor in their proximity to the major leagues and not just their projections. Clarkin may dominate high school hitters. But you have no idea what he can do against advanced hitting because he hasn't done it. Kaprelian has at least faced college level hitters.

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  3. I like the list, a few were lower/higher than I would have placed them, but the list is his opinion. Everyone has an opinion of which player is better than their favorite player(s), as do I. All in all I'd say "Well Done, Ben!

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)