Grading The Yanks' Top Prospects

by James Vlietstra

June 6, 2022

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The 2022 Minor League season is roughly two months old. The Yankees have lots of talented players in their system. Some entered the year with lots of preseason hype and talk of being on next year’s top 100 lists.

So far, the Yankees organization has used 70 positional players and 76 pitchers for their four active affiliates. I wanted to do a quick overview of how some of their top prospects are performing. For this exercise, I will be using MLB Pipeline’s top 30.

The season is still very early, but I have given out grades based on their performance to date. The grades are on a sliding scale, based on expectations. An “A” is exceeding. A “B” is meeting and a “C” is below expectations.

These are all talented young men that are striving to reach their dreams, so I did not give out grades lower than a C. To get where they are is quite an accomplishment in itself. And like I said, the season is young and there’s plenty of time to get on a hot streak.

In the list, please note these abbreviations:

SWB - Scranton RailRiders

SP - Somerset Patriots

HVR - Hudson Valley Renegades

TT - Tampa Tarpons

THE LIST:

30. Edgar Barclay 24, LHP HVR 15th round 2019

Swing man has started and relieved. 8 G, 24.1 IP, 32 K

Grade:A-

29. Estevan Florial 24 CF SWB Was once one of the organization’s top prospects, he has suffered from prospect fatigue. Has the speed and defense to be a star. Played 4 games in MLB. .277/.365/.423/.789

Grade: B+

28. Deivi Garcia 23 RHP SWB Also a former top prospect. Is suffering through the same problem that plagued him last year, that’s the inability to throw strikes. 16 BBs in 21.2 IP coupled with 5 HRs has led to an ERA north of 10.

Grade: C-

27. Ron Marinaccio 26 RHP SWB/MLB 19th round in 2017

Perhaps a surprise addition to the 40- man roster last fall, has made 7 appearances in the majors and 5 more in AAA.

Grade: A-

26. Elijah Dunham 24 OF SP UDFA 2020

Has produced a slash line of .271/.346/.534/.880

Grade: B+

25. Josh Breaux 24 C SP 2nd round 2018

.212/.294/.504/.798 Continues to hit for power, but little else.

Grade: B

24. Cooper Bowman 22 SS HVR 4th round in 2021

.237/.371/.432/.803 20 SBs

Grade: B+

23. JP Sears 26 LHP SWB/MLB 11th round 2017

In 21.2 AAA he’s allowed 2 ER, in 7 MLB innings 0

Grade: A

22. Justin Lange 20 RHP TT Padres 2020 1st round pick trades for Luke Voit.

Yet to make his 2022 season debut.

Grade: I

21. Beck Way 22 RHP HVR 4th round 2020

Pitched 31.2 innings, struck out 44.

Grade: B

20. Brendan Beck 23 RHP 2nd round 2021

Recovering from TJS.

Grade: I

19. TJ Sikkema 23 LHP HVR 1st round 2019

After not pitching at all in 2020 or 2021, he’s back healthy. In 9 innings, he’s allowed 2 runs and struck out 12.

Grade: B

18. Antonio Gomez 20 C TT

.200/.301/.300/.601 struggling to do anything offensively.

Grade: C+

17. Brandon Lockridge 25 CF SP 5th round 2018

.239/.303/.371/.674 Also off to a slow start

Grade: B-

16. Alexander Vargas 20 SS TT

.180/.224/.299/.523

Grade: C

15. Randy Vasquez 23 RHP SP

Has allowed 8 runs in 29.2 IP, striking out 26

Grade: B+

14. Brock Selvidge 19 LHP 3rd round 2021

Has yet to make season debut

Grade: I

13. Oswaldo Cabrera 23 SS SWB

.186/.255/.337/.593 very disappointing after last year

Grade: C

12. Roderick Arias 17 SS

Yet to make professional debut

Grade: I

11. Luis Medina 23 RHP SP

Just can’t harness control. 32.1 IP, 14 ER, 38 K, 22 BB, 3 HBP

Grade: B-

10. Everson Pereira 21 CF HVR

.272/.373/.371/.744 not showing last year’s power but getting on consistently

Grade: B

9. Luis Gil 24 RHP SWB/MLB

Pitched 25.2 unimpressive innings between AAA and MLB before being sidelined by TJS.

Grade: C+

8. Yoendrys Gomez 22 RHP

Since 2019 has only thrown 23.2 innings. None yet this year.

Grade: I

7. Hayden Wesneski 24 RHP SWB 6th round 2019

46 IP, 45 K, 18 ER

Grade: B+

7. Clarke Schmidt 26 RHP SWB/ MLB 1st round 2017

Graduated from his status as a rookie. 0.8 WAR over 14.2 ML innings

Grade: A

6. Trey Sweeney 22 SS HVR 1st round 2021

.199/.281/.360/.641

Grade: B-

5. Ken Waldichuk 24 LHP SP/SWB 5th round 2019

39 IP, 46 K, 4 ER

Grade: A+

4. Austin Wells 22 C HVR 1st round 2020

.323/.429/.576/1.004

Grade: A

3. Jasson Dominguez 19 CF TT

A month ago he was looking at a C-, a strong May brings his line up to.267/.348/.442/.790

Grade: B

2. Oswald Peraza 21 SS SWB

.207/.272/.342/.614 was supposed to be Major League ready by mid season

Grade: C

1.Anthony Volpe 21 SS SP 1st round 2019

.203/.313/.368/.681 expected to be a top 5 prospect in the sport

Grade: C+

Some others of note:

Anthony Seigler 22 C HVR 1st round 2018

.271/.447/.449/.895 finally showing his potential

Grade: A

Jesus Bastidas 23 SS SP

.286/.369/.473/.842

Grade: A-

Andres Chaparro 23 3B SP

.241/.328/.509/.837

Grade: A-

Anthony Garcia 21 1B TT

.209/.386/.439/.824

Grade: A-

Marcos Cabrera 20 3B TT

.204/.315/.430/.745

Grade: A-

Ryder Green 22 OF TT 3rd round 2018

Injured

Grade: I

Jhony Brito 24 RHP SP/SWB

47 IP, 40 K, 12 ER

Grade: A-

Will Warren 22 RHP SP 8th round 2021

39.2 IP, 43 K, 19 ER. Moving through system quickly

Grade: B+