Prospects : Top 10 Yankees Relief Prospects

Greg Corcoran over at Bronx Baseball Daily is at it again this time posting his top 10 Yankees relief prospects. Go see the original post HERE and give him some love and some views but with his permission here is the post for your reading enjoyment! For the full write up head over to BBD!

BBPD: Top 10 relief prospects

Amongst the craziness of the Winter meetings, A-Rod’s injury, and all of the rumors that have been circulating, it’s time to take a break from all of the insanity and talk about the farm system. Relievers in the minor leagues are not the most glamorous players. They don’t get a lot of love in the rankings, they can fall off at any level, and they are often passed up for promotions to the major leagues for converted starters. The Yankees are one team, however, who has had some recent success with relief prospects, most notably David Robertson.

Since the D-Rob success story, they have used the draft to pick up some later round guys who end up being excellent relief prospects. Here I will highlight a few of the players who I think could make an impact in the major leagues. The system has never been so deep in relief pitching, and this could be the season where we start to benefit from a cheap, homegrown, phenomenal bullpen. Only 5 of these guys made the top 50 prospects.

10. RHP Manuel Barreda

9. RHP Dan Burawa

8. LHP James Pazos

7. RHP Preston Claiborne

6. RHP Kelvin Perez

5. RHP Tom Kahnle

4. RHP Chase Whitley

3. RHP Branden Pinder

2. RHP Nick Goody

1. RHP Mark Montgomery

With Barreda, Kahnle, Pinder, and Montgomery possibly starting in Double-A, the Thunder aren’t going to lose many close games. With Claiborne, Perez, and Whitley in Triple-A, the Yankees won’t be hurting for relief pitching depth either. That’s seven relief pitchers in the top two levels of this system. The bolus of talent is coming, and it could save the Yankees significant money in 2014 and beyond. One thing is for sure. The Yankees shouldn’t need to hand out any contracts to players like Rafael Soriano anymore.