📌 Join the BPCrew Chapter in your city and meet up with more Yankees fans! 👉 CLICK HERE
Matt Tracy might be the best starting pitcher in the New York Yankees minor league system right now.

Minors Wrap-Up: Tracy K’s Five in Tampa Victory

Matt Tracy might be the best starting pitcher in the New York Yankees minor league system right now.

A quick note before we go any further: Today marked the Opening Day of short-season ball. I’ll do the best I can to keep up with it and include Staten Island in the wrap-ups (likely on nights where one or more of the other affiliates are off). However, I’m not going to try and cover the Gulf Coast League nightly as well. I’ll keep an eye on them, and I’m sure I’ll have a few main articles regarding some of the guys there. Additionally, I’ll post some information from the GCL on my Twitter, @danpfeiffer74.

AAA: Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees
John Maine started for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre tonight, but was yanked after just 2.2 innings pitched, six hits allowed, and four runs allowed (though none were earned). Nelson Figueroa, who relieved him and pitched 3.1 innings, wasn’t any better. Figueroa allowed five runs (four earned) on eight hits on the evening. Colin Curtis had one of the few bright moments on offense for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, with his first home run of the season in the second inning. Ramiro Pena turned in the team’s only multi-hit performance with a pair of singles. Yet again, the Yankees struggled with runners in scoring position, going just 1-for-10 tonight.

High-A: Tampa Yankees
Matt Tracy continued his march up prospect boars with an outstanding performance tonight. Tracy pitched six innings, allowing just two runs (one earned) on five hits while striking out five en route to a 6-3 Tampa victory. It was the sixth time in seven Florida State starts that Tracy has allowed one earned run or less. Mark Montgomery recorded the last four outs for his tenth save of the season. All-Star catcher J.R. Murphy and first baseman Kyle Roller led the Tampa offense tonight. Murphy went 2-for-5 with an RBI, the only Yankee to come away with a multi-hit game. For Roller, he went 1-for-4 on the evening with three RBI.

Also, a quick note: Slade Heathcott, who would be the Tampa center fielder if healthy, made his first rehab appearance today for the GCL Yankees. He went 0-for-3 with a pair of walks and a run scored as the Designated Hitter.

Low-A: Staten Island Yankees
Staten Island opened their season today against their rival, the Brooklyn Cyclones, with a 2-0 loss. Taylor Morton was lights out on the mound through six shutout innings, allowing just four hits, but he did not factor into the decision. The “Baby Bombers” couldn’t generate much offense at all, scraping together just four hits. Two of those hits came off the bat of Exicardo Cayones, an outfielder acquired by the Yankees in the A.J. Burnett deal. Ravel Santana, one of the Yankees best outfield prospects, went 0-for-4 in his Staten Island debut.