Meet the 2019 Yankees: Luke Voit

Photo credit: Elite Sports NY

One of the few spring training competitions this spring will be at the first base position for the New York Yankees. Greg Bird was the incumbent until Brian Cashman picked up basically, at the time, a career minor league player in Luke Voit from the St. Louis Cardinals. Voit immediately took the league, and the Yankees fans in the Bronx, by storm with his on-the-field play and energy, as well as with his off-the-field intense workout videos. Now Voit is back in 2019 looking to not be the next Shane Spencer or Chad Curtis, so let’s check in with him. Luke Voit, ladies and gentlemen.

Luke Voit, 28-years old, is a right-handed batting and throwing first baseman in the New York Yankees organization. Luke, standing 6’3” and weighing in at a solid 225 lbs., is an aggressive fastball hitter that is prone to swing and miss a lot, but when he makes contact the ball tends to go the other way towards the short porch in right field inside Yankee Stadium. Voit has shown patience on breaking pitches and offspeed pitches, but throughout his career he has been prone to the strikeout and prolonged slumps.

Louis Linwood Voit III was born on February 13, 1991 in Wildwood, Missouri where he attended Lafayette High School. Voit was drafted out of high school by the Kansas City Royals in the 32^nd round of the 2009 MLB First Year Players Draft but did not sign and instead opted to attended Missouri State University. While at the school, Voit played for the Missouri State Bears where he caught the eye of the St. Louis Cardinals, who drafted the senior in the 22^nd round of the 2013 MLB Draft. Voit, drafted as a catcher, immediately began his professional career within the Cardinals system before being ultimately moved to first base during the 2014 season.

Voit remained in the Cardinals system until June 25, 2017 when St. Louis called him up to the Major Leagues after hitting .322 with 12 home runs and 48 RBI with the Memphis Redbirds. Voit totaled 114 at-bats for the Cardinals in 2017, bouncing back and forth between Triple-A and the majors, posting a .246 average with four home runs and 18 RBI. Voit was back in the minors for much of the 2018 season before the New York Yankees came calling on July 27, acquiring Voit along with bonus pool money for LHP Chasen Shreve and Giovanny Gallegos. Voit was initially assigned to Triple-A Scranton before being promoted to the Bronx on August 2. Voit went back down to Triple-A on August 13 but was called back up to stay on August 21 after Didi Gregorious was added to the 10-day disabled list.

After his call-up, Voit essentially stole the first base job from incumbent Greg Bird by batting .333 with 14 home runs, 33 RBI and by posting a 1.095 OPS in 39 games down the stretch for New York. Voit was the Yankees starting first baseman in the 2018 American League Wild Card Game as well as their ALDS trip against the Boston Red Sox and will head into the spring of 2019 hoping to keep his stranglehold on the position. Good luck to you Luke. I have to admit, I have been down on you more than most this offseason, so prove me wrong. Much love.

Meet the 2019 Yankees: Kyle Higashioka

Every team has three catchers, whether they are all on the 40-man roster or whether they stash one down in Triple-A just to be sure, and that is especially true for the New York Yankees. The Bronx Bombers actually have some serious depth at the catcher position and that depth begins and ends with the man that will likely begin the season receiving down in Triple-A Scranton with the RailRiders, Mr. Kyle Higashioka. Let’s meet the Yankees 3^rd catcher that has arrived with their spring training pitchers and catchers this week down in Tampa.

Kyle Higashioka, 28-years old, is a right-handed hitting and throwing catcher from the New York Yankees system. Higashioka stands 6’1” tall and weighs in at 205 lbs. Higashioka is a steady hitter that doesn’t have a huge swing and miss ratio, but he doesn’t make enough contact to ever progress from a backup catcher at the Major League level in my opinion.

Kyle Harris Higashioka was born on April 20, 1990 in Huntington Beach, California where he attended Edison High School. Higashioka played for the school’s baseball team and committed to the University of California, Berkley to play college baseball for the California Golden Bears. Before playing for the Cal Golden Bears he caught the attention of the New York Yankees and their scouts, who subsequently selected Higashioka in the seventh round of the 2008 MLB First Year Players Draft. Higashioka signed with the Yankees for $500,000 rather than attend college and immediately began his professional career.

Higashioka’s climb through the Yankees system was a slow one, especially after missing all but 13 games combined in 2013 and 2014 after undergoing Tommy John surgery and suffering a broken thumb. Higashioka became a minor league free agent after the 2015 season, but ultimately decided to re-sign with the organization for the 2016 season. Kyle started the 2016 season in Double-A Trenton and finished the season in Triple-A with the RailRiders, finding himself just one step away from the Major League level. The Yankees added Higashioka to their 40-man roster following the 2016 season and optioned him to AAA to begin the 2017 season.

Following an injury to Gary Sanchez in 2017 the New York Yankees selected the contract of Higashioka and promoted him to the Major League level. Higashioka started his MLB career 0-for-18 before being optioned back down to Triple-A when Sanchez was activated off of the disabled list. Kyle was back in the majors by June 16, again following an injury to Gary Sanchez, and was returned to Scranton once the Yankees starting catcher returned from the DL. Higashioka suffered an injury of his own once returning to the minors in 2017, limiting the Yankees catcher to just eight comes during the months of August and September.

Higashioka got called back up to the Major Leagues on June 27 of 2018, following another injury to Sanchez, and had another sluggish start with the bat. After starting his MLB career 0-for-22, he had his first major league hit, a home run off Boston Red Sox starter David Price. His next two MLB hits, one on July 3^rd and another on July 4^th, were also home runs, making him the ninth player since 1920 to have three home runs for their first three hits of their career.

Kyle will likely start the 2019 season, barring injuries, back in Scranton, but the New York Yankees know that he is just one phone call (and a Scranton Shuttle) away from being back in the Bronx. We look forward to seeing you this season, Kyle. Good luck!

I’m Mad, Frustrated and a Little Pissed Off. What about You?

When was the last time I did a rant on the blog? I feel like it’s been a while, especially for me, and I also feel like it’s time. The time is right for one. I’m not asking for widespread change or unrealistic trades, DFA’s or anything like that. I’m just asking for some victories. Apparently that is too much to ask as a lot of things seem to be thus far this season.

It’s not like me to keep things bottled up inside, I have to get them out or I will explode, so I do so in a rant here on this lovely Friday morning. I’m mad, I’m frustrated and I am a little pissed off. I don’t even have to ask “what about you?” because I already know the answer. I see the tweets, I read the emails and I respond to almost every comment on the blog. We as a Yankees fan base are NOT happy about this start, not in the slightest. We as a collective group were not happy to see CC Sabathia “win” the 5^th starter job and we haven’t been happy very since.

Alex Rodriguez is struggling. How many times are we going to watch him swing at a low and inside fastball that he may not have been able to catch up to even ten years ago and then proceed to watch one right down the middle for strike three on the next pitch? Swing the bat Alex! A frontwards K is always better than a backwards one.

Don’t even get me started on RISPFails. The New York Yankees have failed with runners in scoring position so many times this season they are coming up with new and inventive ways to do it. Second and third with one out, ground into a double play. Runner on second and nobody out, don’t even advance the runner. Have a pitcher on the ropes and swing at the first pitch, especially when that first pitch is a bad pitch. The Yankees have been beaten about three times this season and beat themselves the rest of the losses, it’s crazy.

I only rant because I care and I only care because I love this team. This team is jam packed with talent and while there are a few areas of concern and a few areas that are in need of an upgrade, as I stare at you Chase Headley, I still believe in this team. It’s obvious to me though that this team doesn’t believe in itself and that is a huge problem. That’s a player problem, a manager problem and an organizational problem that needs to be fixed now before the standings tell us that it’s too late. Just win, please?

Corporan, Romine Not Going Down Quietly

The forgone conclusion heading into spring training this season was that Gary Sanchez was going to be the Yankees backup catcher heading into the 2016 season.New York sold us all on a catchers competition with Carlos Corporan, Austin Romine and Sanchez but it was originally thought to be a competition in name only. Sanchez makes perfect sense for the 2016 team so why wouldn't he be the favorite? He's right-handed and can give both Brian McCann and Alex Rodriguez rest throughout the season and can add doubles and home run power rather than a defense only type like Corporan and Romine but what makes the most sense on paper doesn't always happen in real life.

Romine has shown some bat consistency this spring hitting three doubles in his first 18 at-bats while his defense and throwing game is much improved this spring. Meanwhile Corporan has what Sanchez and Romine don't have, true MLB experience. Corporan has 232 games under his belt with three teams in six seasons but he also owns just a .118 batting average in 17 at-bats this spring.

The Yankees may be more inclined to give Corporan the job if he earns it since he has a late-March opt-out date written into his minor league contract while Romine could be designated for assignment to make room on the 40 man roster. Romine is out of minor league options as Corporan is so either one or both will have to make the team or both will have to be passed through waivers and allowed the opportunity to play elsewhere and/or hit free agency.

it is worth mentioning that if Sanchez spends more than 35 days down in the minor leagues the Yankees could delay his free agency by a season and give either Romine or Corporan an extended look at the MLB level. Will the Yankees give the job to Sanchez straight out of camp or will they save a few dollars and delay his free agency by a season like a small market team does? Either way it looks like Sanchez is the catcher of the future so the end will always justify the means, at least in this situation.

Spring Training Competitions & Fantasy Baseball

Pitchers and catchers have reported to their various spring camps and first workouts are already underway as we inch closer to the 2016 regular season. As we inch closer to the 2016 regular season we also inch closer to the 2016 Fantasy Baseball season and your fantasy baseball drafts if you haven’t had yours already. I tend to like to wait until March, sometimes even late-March, before having my draft because so many things can happen between the beginning of spring training and the beginning of the regular season with injuries and spring training competitions being at the top of my precautionary list. You can’t predict or analyze injuries for the most part but you can analyze and take a stab at predicting the spring training competitions though and I will attempt to do just that in hopes of helping you with your upcoming fantasy baseball drafts.

We’ll start in the American League East with the Toronto Blue Jays and their closer situation. Will it be Roberto Osuna or will it be recently acquired Drew Storen? Storen could close and the Blue Jays could opt to place Osuna in the starting rotation or they could place Aaron Sanchez in the rotation and let Osuna and Storen battle it out for the 9^th inning. In my opinion I think the team attempts their own dominant back end of the bullpen and at least starts the season, barring one disaster or amazing spring training from either one of these men, with Storen in the 8^th and Osuna in the 9^th.

Sticking with the AL East theme we head down to Tropicana Field with the Tampa Bay Rays to try and sort out their outfield, first base and DH position battle they have going on. As it stands now Kevin Keirmaier is a lock for the team with Corey Dickerson, Steven Souza, Desmond Jennings, Steve Pearce, Logan Morrison and Mikie Mahtook vying for playing time. The team also has James Loney at first base but with capable first base options like Morrison and Pearce his job may be on the line as well. This is going to be one of the tougher ones to predict but you have to think Dickerson gets one of the starting spots with Keirmaier and Jennings while Loney stays at first base and Morrison spends much of his time at the DH position. Pearce should see plenty of time off the bench though and is eligible at multiple positions this season once again.

I’ve said many times this winter that even the worst team is going to have around 30-50 saves throughout a season. Even a team that loses 100 games is going to have 62 wins so giving a team 30-50 saves is not out of the realm of possibilities. The real question is will all those saves go to one person, which is ideal in fantasy, or to multiple people, which obviously is not. This is the question you should be asking if you’re in need of a closer and trying to decide who will close games for team’s like the Miami Marlins, Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers to name a few. Spring competitions are all over with Will Smith battling Corey Knebel and Jeremy Jeffress in Milwaukee, David Hernandez battling Ernesto Frieri and Edward Mujica in Philadelphia, AJ Ramos battling Carter Capps in Miami and Jason Grilli battling former Yankees prospect Arodys Vizcaino in Atlanta. If I had to pick a winner in each of these competitions I would have to go with Will Smith in Milwaukee, David Hernandez in Philadelphia, AJ Ramos in Miami and Jason Grilli in Atlanta but all will have extremely short leashes on from Opening Day on. If you’re set elsewhere and you absolutely need a closer it may be worth grabbing two options from one team just to make sure you have the saves situation handled, one can easily be traded or passed through waivers to the free agent market later on.

So there you have it, the spring competitions that could impact your fantasy baseball draft and league this season. There are more, the Yankees bullpen, the Washington Nationals shortstop situation, the Tigers center field situation, whether Hanley Ramirez will stick at first base in Boston, various starting pitching competitions around the league and almost the entire Atlanta Braves team is up for grabs. Spring training is close and I can’t say how excited I am to be talking about it and how excited I am to be talking about fantasy baseball. That means real baseball is near and that makes me smile. Hope this information helps and if it does pass it on!