Yankees Prospects Night Open Thread featuring Juan De Leon

Juan De Leon was one of the Yankees top targets from their 2014 international free agent spending spree. De Leon signed a deal worth $2 million and will bring his big bat and right field arm into the organization for the foreseeable future. The above video is some batting practice and live-game at bats from various Instructional leagues and such with the team. Enjoy the rest of your evening. 

Top Rookie Disappointments in 2015

Major League Baseball's 2015 season was quickly donned as the Year of the Rookie and the rookies that were called up did not disappoint. From Carlos Correa to Kris Bryant down to the 18 rookies that made their Major League debut in 2015 for the New York Yankees every rookie had an impact, some impacts a ton bigger than others. This is great for baseball, the future of the brand and the future of the game. Not every prospect made the immediate impact that they would have hoped and not every prospect, especially in the Yankees system, had a great 2015 season. The most disappointing prospect seasons are detailed here below.

Tyler Austin had the biggest disappointing season. Austin was thought to be knocking on the door to Yankee Stadium in the Bronx and instead ended the season being demoted to Double-A with the Trenton Thunder. Austin did turn heads back in his direction with a strong Arizona Fall League showing but that all came after he was designated for assignment and went unclaimed after being sent off the 4 man roster.

Dante Bichette Jr. was another big draft signing for the New York Yankees and the team has not been rewarded for their patience with Bichette Jr. as of yet. Bichette finished with a .226 batting average and just three home runs in 112 games. Bichette finished in Trenton alongside Austin.

Angel Aguilar (SS) had a great 2014 season with the club hitting .311 with seven home runs in the GCL but injuries hampered much of his 2015 season. Aguilar did not make his debut until April and was forced to learn new positions, second base and third base specifically, which along with the injuries may have led to his .229 batting average in 2015.

Juan De Leon was one of those big international free agent signings out of the Dominican Republic and he did not immediately live up to the hype. It was his first professional season but he did hit just .226 in the Dominican Summer League. De Leon was signed as a "polished" hitter and looked anything but that in 2015. The good news for him though, and the Yankees, is that he's just 18-years old.

Yankees Dominican Summer League Rosters

by: Ben Embry

The Dominican Summer League starts today.  Like previous years, the Yankees will be fielding two teams.  As you'll recall, New York invested over $30 million in several international free agents, (IFA for short), last July in an unprecedented spending spree.   By most accounts, New York signed 10 of the top 30 IFA, including highly touted prospects SS/3B Dermis Garcia, CF/RF Juan de Leon, and 3B Nelson Gomez.  Of the 10 elite prospects signed, all but Dermis Garcia and 18 year old Korean SS Hy-Joon Park are starting their summers in the Dominican, (see the rosters here: DSL Yankees 1 and DSL Yankees 2).  Here are the main prospects:

DSL Yankees 1
SS Diego Castillo
SS Wilkerman Garcia
3B Nelson Gomez

DSL Yankees 2
C Miguel Flames
RF Jonathan Amundaray
CF Antonio Arias
CF/RF Juan de Leon
RF/LF Brayan Emery

Honestly, I expected most of these players to begin their careers in the United States playing in the Gulf Coast League.  That season does not start for another 2-3 weeks, so I guess it's possible that they will play a handful of games here before coming up to the GCL.  However, most of  the times prospects play whole seasons in the Dominican and do not make that transition in the middle of a season.  If anything, I'm guessing anybody who comes up will do so in July or August.

There are a handful of other prospects on these rosters worth noting, including two prospects who made my Preseason top 30 lists for hitters and pitchers: #30 hitter SS Yonauris Rodriguez and #29 SP Orby Tavares.  The Yankees signed 8 other players last summer to 6 figure contracts that I will be tracking this summer: C Jason Lopez, CF Lisandro Blanco, RF Leobaldo Cabrera, RF/LF Frederick Cuevas, and CF Pablo Olivares on DSL Yankees 1 and SS/2B Griffin Garabito, SS Danienger Perez, and CF Raymundo Moreno on DSL Yankees 2.

Yankees Signed Three More International Players

The New York Yankees big day on the International market continues as they have officially signed three more IFA's since the last post got put up on the blog a few hours ago. The Yankees have signed Korean shortstop Hyo-Jun Park. Park is a little older than most prospects that will be signed this week at 18 years old but it a High School senior that projects to stick at shortstop.

New York also signed the second best prospect available Dominican outfielder Juan De Leon. De Leon is 16 years old and possesses the best bat speed in this year's class to go with a strong arm and above average speed. De Leon may not stick in center field but should be a solid corner outfielder, worst case scenario.

Finally the Yankees signed Venezuelan catcher Miguel Flames. Flames is a former third baseman who has a ton of raw power and obviously a strong throwing arm. Flames is raw as far as catchers are concerned and may have to move to first base eventually due to his size, see Jesus Montero and Gary Sanchez.

Yankees International Spending Coming Into Focus

The international spending spree for the New York Yankees begins on July, 2 this year as the new international signing period begins. The Yankees have said that they plan to blow the international spending limit cap out of the water and spend somewhere in the $15-$20 million range this signing period and deal with the spending limitations and penalties for the next two seasons in hope for an International Draft to be implemented. The players and cash allotment are starting to come into focus according to Ben Badler who has the Yankees signing at least four players for $2 million or more this signing period.

The Yankees are said to have verbal deals with outfielder Juan De Leon, shortstop Dermis Garcia, third basemen Nelson Gomez, and shortstop Christopher Torres. All four players are 16 years old and coming out of the Dominican Republic. De Leon seems to be the Yankees top priority as he has the potential for plus power in the future and has great bat speed as a right handed hitter. Garcia has "some of the best raw power in the 2014 class," Nelson has shown good hands and a good glove along with some pop, and Torres is a switch hitting shortstop that screams Cito Culver to me.

Assuming all these deals get done that is only somewhere in the neighborhood of $9 million so if you believe the rumors the Yankees have plenty of money left for pitching. The Rays, Red Sox, and Brewers are following suit and are expected to spend heavily internationally this season, although not as much as New York. It's going to be an interesting couple of months in Yankee land and I personally cannot wait for July 2nd.

Yankees Have Around $12 Million Committed In International Signing

The New York Yankees have said they plan to rebuild their farm system by blowing everyone out of the water this year in the International free agent market. This is also a ploy to try and get ahead of the game for if and when an International Draft is instituted in the game. The Yankees have somewhere around $2 million in cap room before the penalties kick in but New York is said to have somewhere around $12 million in verbal commitments, something not uncommon, already with a few months left to go before the signing period begins.

The list has a bunch of names you probably have never heard of yet but you certainly will because they are some of the top prospects in what is widely considered to be a strong class this season. Names like Dermis Garcia and Nelson Gomez(both Dominican third basemen), Juan De Leon (Dominican center fielder), Jonathan Amundaray (Venezuelan outfielder), Chris Torres (Dominican shortstop), and Diego Castillo (Venezuelan shortstop).

The original article we posted stated the Yankees may be willing to go around the $15 million range and incur major penalties for the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 signing periods but now it seems more like New York could go closer to $20 million. The farm system would be instantly formidable and that really excites me, penalties or not.