Ian Desmond and the New York Yankees?

Earlier on during our annual Prospects Month I discussed the state of the Yankees farm system and specifically showcased New York's plethora and stable of upcoming shortstop prospects. I broke all these shortstops down to future shortstops, assuming they stay in this organization, and future third or second baseman, again assuming they stay here in the Bronx, but the Texas Rangers gave me something else to think about when they signed former Washington Nationals shortstop and second baseman Ian Desmond. The Rangers did not sign Desmond to replace Elvis Andrus at short or to take over in the infield at all though, the team has plans of having him play in left field in Arlington Park in 2016. Is this something the Yankees could conceivably be doing with all their shortstop talent they have down on the farm?

Truth be told the Yankees have a ton of outfield prospects as well but none of them are the "can't miss" or blue chip prospects that every team covets. Ben Gamel won the MiLB Player of the Year Award in 2015 and Mason Williams, Dustin Fowler, Slade Heathcott and others look to be very usable and capable MLB pieces going forward but outside of Aaron Judge the Yankees are lacking true impact and game changing talent. Could the Yankees use all their shortstops to build a complete team full of versatility and flexibility? In a word, yes!

For the sake of consistency and not contradicting myself I will leave the likes of Jorge Mateo, Thairo Estrada, Hoy-Jun Park and Wilkerman Garcia at the shortstop position since we kept them there in previous posts here on the blog. This leaves, and this is obvious an incomplete list but I picked the most notable shortstops left in the organization, Cito Culver, Abi Avelino, Tyler Wade, Vince Conde, Angel Aguilar and Kyle Holder as potential outfielders for the club. Could any of them hack it? No pun intended.

Culver's biggest issue as a Yankees prospect has been his inability to hit, not to defend, and you need a certain amount of offense out of any outfielder leaving Culver on the outside looking in once again. Meanwhile Avelino is a small guy standing at 5'11" and weighing in at 186 lbs and has seemingly shown little in the power department hitting just seven home runs in four professional seasons. Avelino is just 21-years old but it seems unlikely he'll ever have the bat to carry him in the outfield at the Major League level. The same can be said for Wade and Holder, although Holder is still considered raw with the bat and elite defensively in the middle infield, but Angel Aguilar may have a true shot.

Aguilar is just 20-years old and has already shown a patience at the plate that could lead towards big power numbers and a higher batting average. Aguilar also has the frame for an outfielder standing at 6'0" and 170 lbs. with plenty of time still to grow into his frame and add power. As a member of the Gulf Coast Yankees Aguilar played center field, albeit for a single game, and did not look out of place giving the Yankees a glimmer of hope if they choose to move the talented middle infielder to the outfield. The Yankees need to move someone, probably multiple people, off the shortstop position to make room for them all and Aguilar may be the best bet to move from the shortstop position to the outfield.