Yankee Spring Update

The Yankess opened their 2012 spring season against the Phillies. Curtis Granderson picked up right where he left off, hitting a double and a homerun. The Yankees used two pitching prospects in the game. Lefty Manny Banuelos who got the win pitching two scorless innings. He walked two and stuck out none. The other prospect used in the game was Dellin Betances who went one inning gave up no runs while walking two. Ivan Nova also went two innings giving up one hit, two runs one of the earned. He struck out two and walked none. The only hit he gave up was a homerun to Hunter Pence in the first inning.The Yankees went on to win 8-5.

Manny Banuelos

          In  their second game, again against the Phillies Alex  Rodriguez got things going hitting the the first pitch he saw to right field for a homerun off starter Roy Halladay. A-Rod also had a single and a double in the game both pitcher off Joel Pinero. Starter Freddy Garcia had a rough start giving up a homerun to Hunter Pence who homered the day before. The Yanks took this game 7-4 banging out twelve hits on the day.

          Game three was against guess who ? the Phillies. Yankees lost this won 9-3. The only good thing to come out of this game was that newcomer Micheal Pineda made his debut and went two innings giving up one hit, no runs, no walks and struck out two. Not much else going on in this game.

          In their fourth game of the spring the Yankees lost to the Pirates 7-4. No offensive story here either. CC Sabathia made his spring debut going two innings giving up one run, no walks, one strike out. He gave up three hits and two of those were to Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen who may have been fired up for this game after signing a 6 year $ 51.5 million dollar contract. Pitcher Phil Hughes who is fighting for a spot in the starting rotation had a rough start to say the least. He was unable to complete the standard two innings that most pitchers make in their first outing. He went just 1 1/3 innings and has tagged for four hits two runs, one of them earned. Hughes said he felt fine afterwards he was just a little excited and was over throwing.

         Yanks take on Tampa next where Hiroki Kuroda will make his pinstripe debut. Stay tuned.

New York Yankees Organization Top 5 Prospects Preview

By The Big Ragu

1. Manny Banuelos                                                          

     Height: 5' 11", Weight: 155                                    ETA: 2012

     Position: LHP                                                         Age: 20, DOB: 03/13/1991

     Bats: L Throws: L                                                   Signed: March 30, 2008

Banuelos has three above average picthes. Fastball, curve and change up. All of his pitches are Major League ready he just needs to throw them more consistently. He also needs to have better command. He walked 5 batters every 9 innings in 2011.

2011

     Team        W     L     ERA    G    GS    SV     IP       H      HR    BB    K    AVG    WHIP

     Trenton     4      5     3.59    20    20       0    95.1     94      7      52    94   .263     1.53

     Scranton   2      2     4.19     7      7        0    34.1     36      2      19    31   .277     1.34

     Totals        6      7     3.75    27     27      0   129.2    130    9      71   125  .266     1.20

2. Dellin Betances

     Height: 6' 8", Weight: 260                                       ETA: 2012

     Position: RHP                                                         Age 23, DOB: 03/23/1988

     Bats: R Throws: R                                                  Drafted: 2006, 8th (254)

Betances has three pitches. A mid-90s fastball, a power curveball, and a changeup. He needs to work on throwing his curve ball for strikes. In 2011 he threw a career high 126 innings. Injuries have affected his development in the past.

2011

     Team       W      L       ERA     G    GS    SV     IP       H       HR     BB      K     AVG     WHIP

     Trenton    4       6       3.42     21    21      0     105.1   86       7       55    115   .219        1.34

     Scranton  0       3       5.14      4      4       0       21.0   16       2       15      27   .208        1.48

     Totals       4       9       3.70      25    25     0      126.1  102     9       70     142  .217        1.36

3. Gary Sanchez

     Height: 6' 2", Weight: 220                                           ETA: 2014

     Position: C                                                                  Age: 19, DOB: 12/02/1992

     Bats: R Throws R                                                       Signed: July2, 2009

Sanchez is an offensive catcher with some defensive ability with an above average arm. He has a powerful bat and is a good all round hitter. Keep in mind he is very young.

2011

    Team            G        AB      AVG      R     2B    3B     HR     RBI     BB     K      SB    OBP     SLG     OPS

    Charlston      82      301     .256       49    16     1       17       52      36      93     2      .355     .485     .820

4. Mason Williams

     Height: 6' 0" Weight: 150                                             ETA: 2015

     Position: OF                                                                 Age: 20, DOB: 08/21/1991

     Bats: L Throws R                                                         Drafted: 2010, 4th (145)

Williams signed out of high school in 2010. He can hit for average and should develop into hitting with more power. Above average speed both on the bases and in the field.

2011

     Team          G     AB      AVG    R    2B    3B    HR    RBI    BB    K    SB    OBP    SLG    OPS

      Staten Is.   68    269    .349     42   11     6       3       31      20    41   28    .395    .468    .863 

5. Jose Campos

     Height: 6' 4" Weight: 195                                             ETA: 2014

     Position: RHP                                                              Age: 19, DOB: 07/27/1992

     Bats: R Throws R                                                        Signed: Jan. 15, 2009

Campos came to the Yankees with Micheal Pineda in the trade for Jesus Montero and Hector Noesi. He led the Northwest League in ERA and strikeouts before he turned 19. He fastball has reached 95 has a good curveball and is working on a changeup. He has a good idea how to pitch and could move up quickly.

2011

    Team    W     L     ERA      G      GS      SV      IP      H     HR    BB    K     AVG    WHIP 

     EVE      5     5      2.32      14     14       0        51.1   66     4      13     85   .214     0.97