Justus Sheffield is Coming…

The New York Yankees made a big move down in Triple-A this week that all but signals one important fact for the team and one of its prospects. The Yankees shifted their top pitching prospect and top prospect overall Justus Sheffield to the bullpen down in Scranton, all but signaling the fact that the Yankees plan to use the left-hander out of their Major League bullpen here sometime in 2018.

Tuesday night Sheffield made his first bullpen appearance for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and allowed just two hits with no walks and two strikeouts over two innings pitched. Aaron Boone was quoted as saying “He’ll get a couple outings under his belt down there and play a part with us in our pen (in September).”

In 2018 Sheffield has posted a combined 6-6 record with a 2.52 ERA in 22 games, 20 starts, at both Double-A Trenton and at Triple-A with the RailRiders. Sheffield has struck out 118 batters to just 50 walks surrendered in 110.2 combined innings pitched. While at Triple-A this season Sheffield has limited left-handed batters to just a .160 batting average against, which could signal how the Yankees plan to use him next month in the bullpen.  

With Aroldis Chapman now on the disabled list with knee tendinitis the time is now for Justus Sheffield. Your move, Brian Cashman.

The Next Baby Bomber to Watch: Nestor Cortes

Attention all Yankees Prospect Humpers, trademark pending on that term, it is time to pay attention to the next wave of Baby Bombers coming through the Yankees system. We have all seen an enjoyed the emergence of Luis Severino, Gary Sanchez, Aaron Judge and others but more reinforcements are on the way including Chance Adams who we have spoken about a lot and another arm we could see as early as the 2017 season, Nestor Cortes.

Cortes reminds me a lot of Luis Severino if I am being honest and not only because of his small pitchers frame. Cortes stands at just 5’11” and weighs in at 205 pounds. That’s where the similarities may end for some but not for me. Cortes does not throw in the mid-to-high 90’s, instead Cortes tops out at around 90 MPH. Cortes does not throw over the top like Severino, instead Cortes has a nice sidearm delivery. Cortes may not be a starting pitcher at the next level but the Yankees may have a hell of a bullpen arm coming their way really, really soon.

Cortes is now 22-years old and was drafted by the Yankees in the 36^th round of the 2013 MLB First Year Players Draft, that same draft the team took Aaron Judge in among others. Cortes doesn’t overpower players but he simply wants to make outs and uses every trick in the bag to get every single out that he can which is evident by his 11-4 record and 1.53 ERA and 0.80 WHIP last season across four Yankees affiliates including the Charleston Riverdogs, the Tampa Yankees, the Trenton Thunder and the Scranton/Wilkes Barre RailRiders for one spot start. Cortes strikes out more batters than he probably should with the velocity that he has and has a 5-to-1 strikeout to walk ratio which would fit into any team and any stadium, especially Yankee Stadium.

Cortes has been moved primarily to the bullpen this season in Triple-A, although he started in Tampa and made a return trip to Trenton earlier this season, making 17 of his 27 appearances out of the bullpen. At the time of this writing Cortes is posting a 6-3 record and a 2.16 ERA with a 1.03 WHIP which is encouraging for a player the team will need to add to the 40 man roster or leave available for any team to take this winter in the Rule 5 Draft. I can’t see a scenario where the Yankees leave Cortes unprotected though as any team would love a guy who pounds the strike zone, trusts his fielders as he pitches to contact and just simply knows how to get advanced hitters out. Every team wants the next Ramiro Mendoza or Aaron Small on their team so thank goodness he looks like he is going to be a New York Yankee for a long, long time.  

TGP Prospects Month Top 29 Prospects List - #2 Jorge Mateo

Uh oh, I didn't follow the pack leader and put Jorge Mateo as the best and top Yankees prospect in the entire farm system. How many people do you think clicked off the site when they saw Mateo get less than first? I'll let you know tomorrow but really the top three are pretty interchangeable in my opinion so it's not meant to be a slap to Mateo. Mateo is great and he could be the Yankees best prospect and he may be ultimately. The thing with prospect lists though is it's all left up to interpretation. Some use the players ceilings as their main basis for the ranking and some factor in other factors like age, whether he was drafted out of High School or college and their proximity to the Major Leagues.

The latter is the reason for me having Mateo ranked #2 behind the obvious #1 prospect Gary Sanchez. Sanchez is in Triple-A and where Aaron Judge, a fellow RailRider, struggled Sanchez flourished. It's also worth mentioning that Sanchez flourished when he wasn't expected to. He was up to fill in for an injured Austin Romine and was expected to go back to Double-A when Romine returned, Sanchez made the Yankees give him a spot. He then got another opportunity to build his stock in the Arizona Fall League while Mateo is still in A-Ball.

A ton can happen between now and the time that Mateo presumably gets to the Major Leagues. Injuries, lack of production, who knows. If we were playing MLB The Show on Playstation Mateo is likely ranked higher because he is likely the better player but he's also the furthest away from the majors out of the Yankees Top 5. For that reason alone I place Sanchez ahead of Mateo, no disrespect intended. I love Mateo, but I love Sanchez too.

2. Jorge Mateo
3. Aaron Judge
4. James Kaprielian
5. Robert Refsnyder
6. Domingo Acevedo
7. Dustin Fowler
8. Wilkerman Garcia
9. Ian Clarkin
10. Brady Lail
11. Jacob Lindgren
12. Bryan Mitchell
13. Drew Finley
14. Mason Williams
15. Slade Heathcott
16. Abi Avelino
17. Hoy-Jun Park
18. Luis Torrens
19. Cale Coshow
20. Chance Adams
21. Miguel Andujar
22. Jonathan Holder
23. Tyler Wade
24. Nick Rumbelow
25.Jordan Montgomery
26.Trey Amburgey
27. Ben Gamel
28. Austin DeCarr
29. Thairo Estrada
30. James Pazos

Weekly Check In: Greg Bird

It has been so far so good in the month of July for Yankees first base prospect Greg Bird. In the last month or so he has come off the disabled list, hit some towering shots and bombs for the Double-A Trenton Thunder, got promoted to Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre and has continued to hit some towering shots and bombs for the RailRiders. The Yankees have been uber-aggressive with their top prospects this year and Bird is included in this batch of prospects the Yankees now have knocking on their doors.

Bird will finish the season in Scranton unless a devastating injury to Garrett Jones or Mark Teixeira occurs and will presumably get a shot at a spring training “competition” in 2016 if all goes according to plan. Whatever the future holds for the former Arizona Fall League MVP has yet to be determined but Bird has taken the next step in his path to the major leagues and it has been so far so good. Bird is the word. 

Year	Lev	G	PA	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2015	AA-AAA	58	250	32	56	18	8	35	1	29	39	.260	.360	.456	.816
2015	AA	49	212	29	47	16	6	29	1	24	30	.258	.358	.445	.804
2015	AAA	9	38	3	9	2	2	6	0	5	9	.273	.368	.515	.884

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Weekly Check In: Aaron Judge

Extra, extra, read all about it. Yankees finally becoming aggressive with their polished prospects. Aaron Judge may be a second half call up, especially with Carlos Beltran injured again. Extra, extra, read all about it. But really in all seriousness, it’s true. The Yankees are one injury away from seeing The Judge in the major leagues right now and while I’m never one to wish an injury on any team, especially the Yankees, I have to admit that I have the song “Wouldn’t it be Nice?” in my head right now. With Slade Heathcott, Mason Williams, Jacoby Ellsbury and Beltran on the disabled list the team has relied heavily on Ramon Flores and Taylor Dugas. Dugas was called up in an emergency situation while Flores was ineligible for a call up but if one more outfielder goes down the decision comes down to Dugas or Judge, and it will probably be Judge.

Judge has earned it so I don’t mean to make it sound like the Yankees had to lose half their outfield depth to make room for Judge because that’s the farthest thing from the case. Judge has dominated Double-A pitching with the Trenton Thunder and is well on his way in Triple-A leading the offensive charge with the Scranton Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. Judge was drafted out of college and came along with one of the more polished bats in the draft meaning he likely won’t need the four or five, even six sometimes, seasons of seasoning in the minor leagues. The Judge is ready now and he may be in the Bronx before the calendar turns to 2016. 

Year	Lev	G	PA	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2015	AA-AAA	77	343	42	85	18	3	13	51	1	33	83	.281	.353	.490	.843
2015	AA	63	280	36	71	16	3	12	44	1	24	70	.284	.350	.516	.866
2015	AAA	14	63	6	14	2	0	1	7	0	9	13	.269	.365	.365	.730

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Weekly Check In: Aaron Judge

The New York Yankees have a gluttony of outfield prospects currently in their minor league system including Ramon Flores (who is with the big league club), Slade Heathcott (who was with the big league club before an injury), Mason Williams, Tyler Austin, Taylor Dugas, Jake Cave and others but at the top of that list of outfielders and at the top of many Top Yankees Prospects Lists stands one man, Aaron Judge.

Judge currently resides with the Double-A Trenton Thunder but a call up to Triple-A Scranton by mid-season or later is not out of the realm of possibilities. Judge can hit, and hit for power, and he can also defend enough to stick in right field in Yankee Stadium. He’s an exciting talent and many cannot wait to see the Judge emerge from the ashes that is the minor leagues and into the Bronx.

I know I can’t. 

Year	Lev	G	PA	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2015	AA	51	232	28	59	13	2	8	33	19	58	.284	.349	.481	.830

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Weekly Check In: Miguel Sulbaran

Occupying Jacob Lindgren's former spot in our weekly check in's has been Miguel Sulbaran, the left handed starting pitcher that the Yankees acquired for shortstop Eduardo Nunez. Sulbaran has been pitching well for the Double-A Trenton Thunder and the Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre RailRiders and may be on the cusp of the major leagues at just 21 years old. Notice his impressive home run numbers and healthy strikeouts numbers when you check out this stat line:

Year	Lev	W	L	ERA	GS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9
2015	AA-AAA	4	3	3.95	11	57.0	58	29	25	2	19	39	1.351	9.2	0.3	3.0	6.2
2015	AA	3	3	4.33	10	52.0	53	29	25	2	17	36	1.346	9.2	0.3	2.9	6.2
2015	AAA	1	0	0.00	1	5.0	5	0	0	0	2	3	1.400	9.0	0.0	3.6	5.4

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Just in case you were wanting an update from Lindgren here is the stat line he has posted inside the Yankees bullpen thus far this season:

Year	W	L	ERA	G	GF	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA+	FIP	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9
2015	0	0	3.38	5	2	5.1	3	2	2	1	4	7	124	5.18	1.313	5.1	1.7	6.8	11.8

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Weekly Check In: Aaron Judge

The good news for the New York Yankees is that Carlos Beltran may finally be coming around with his bat offensively after trying to repair a year’s worth of bad habits and mechanics after playing hurt. The bad news for Aaron Judge is he seems less and less likely to push the envelope and less likely to make his own case for a call up as long as Beltran and Chris Young are hitting. Judge is still smashing in Double-A Trenton making many wonder how long he is for the Thunder before making the logjam in the outfield in Scranton even worse than it already is. With stats like these though you cannot justify for too long keeping him down in Double-A and not with the RailRiders: 

Year	Lev	G	PA	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2015	AA	22	101	12	30	4	1	4	12	5	26	.319	.356	.511	.867

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Weekly Check In: Tyler Austin

At first we started off by just checking in with a few of the top Yankees prospects and we have now grown into checking in with a different prospect every single day. We have gone from Luis Severino to Robert Refsnyder and now to one of my personal favorites, Georgia boy Mr. Tyler Austin. Austin has been bounced all over the field since being drafted by New York playing various infield positions before settling in as an everyday outfielder for the Scranton RailRiders. Let’s check in and see just how Austin is doing as he continued his quest towards manning the right field position in the Bronx and inside Yankee Stadium: 

Year	Lev	G	PA	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2015	AAA	18	75	6	15	2	0	1	8	2	19	.208	.227	.278	.504

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Meet A Prospect : Matt Tracy

Matt Tracy was called up for the game yesterday between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees to give New York a fresh arm in the bullpen after a 19 inning marathon the night before. Tracy was not on the 40 man roster at the time of the call up and is likely not long for the 40 man this time around so we better hurry and introduce you to the latest pitcher to come out of the bullpen for Yankees manager Joe Girardi. Let's meet Mr. Matt Tracy. 

Matthew J. Tracy was born on November 26th, 1988 in St. Louis Missouri. Matt Tracy was drafted in the 24th round of the 2011 MLB First Year Players Draft out of Ole Miss University. Tracy spent most of his time playing in the outfield for the Rebels but the Yankees announced that they would be drafting him as a pitcher after signing him for a $2,000 draft bonus. He has a great pitchers frame at 6'3" and 212 lbs while hitting 94-95 mph on the gun with his two seam fastball.

In his first professional season for the short season Staten Island Yankees Matt pitched 47.1 IP between the bullpen and starting while striking out 48 batters for a 9.13 K/9 and only walking 16 for a 3.14 BB/9 ratio. Matt helped the Staten Island Yankees win the New York Penn League title in 2011. While pitching out of the pen Tracy had a .108 batting average against in 22.3 IP before being moved to the starting rotation. Combined Tracy finished with a 3-2 record with a 2.43 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP. Matt split his time between Low A Charleston and the Tampa Yankees as a full time starter in 2012 and had a combined 6-7 record with a 3.20 ERA in 19 starts and 104 IP while compiling 68 K's and a 1.29 WHIP.

Since the 2011 season Tracy has been all over the Yankees system including stops in Scranton and Tampa in 2012, Trenton in 2013 with return trips to Trenton and Scranton in 2014. Tracy holds a career 20-22 record in the minor leagues heading into 2015 with a 3.81 ERA and 265 K's in 366 IP. Tracy is not going to go out there and throw 100 MPH and he isn't going to strike out 10-15 batters per nine innings but he can give you solid relief and take one on the chin, or the left arm, much like Rogers and Shreve did on Friday night for the Yankees. 

Welcome to the family and welcome to the big leagues Tracy. You earned it.