Tomorrow the Yankees will be expanding their roster to 40 men and calling up a handful of prospects who are still knocking on the door. You can look at our evaluation of the roster expansion situation here, although it was published last week and has not factored in Brian Cashman’s announcements on where Rob Refsynder and Aaron Judge will be next month. Some prospects we have already covered shined this past week, including starter Jordan Montgomery, profiled on August 17th, who threw six perfect innings for Tampa on Friday evening. Since we have already covered most top prospects in the higher minors over the last few weeks, let’s use this week’s Yankees minor league update to take a look at some guys impressing in the lower minors, some of whom may turn into prospects within the next few years.
Giovanny Gallegos– RP- Tampa (Class-A Advanced)- The 24 year-old Gallegos has dominated out of the bullpen for High-A Tampa, putting up a 1.35 ERA and a 0.73 WHIP in 30 relief appearances with the team this season. Florida State League hitters have batted only .172 against the hard-throwing righty this season and Gallegos has converted five saves in seven opportunities. Gallegos throws a mid-90’s fastball and a curveball in the mid to high 80’s, with good control over both. Good control. He has only walked seven batters in Tampa as opposed to 54 strikeouts in 53 1/3 innings. In 24 appearances since returning to Tampa (after brief stints in Trenton and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre), he has allowed runs in only 3 of them, pitching for 2+ innings in ten of those appearances. He used to be a starter but has flourished after being converted to a reliever, but at 24 years old, the clock may be ticking on Gallegos as a prospect. He shows signs of being a possible late bloomer, but the Mexico native may still be a couple of years away even if everything goes right.
Kyle Holder– SS- Staten Island (Short-Season A)- The Yankees second first-round pick in this year’s draft, pictured above, has been struggling this summer on Staten Island. Holder is only hitting .209 entering Sunday with a low .513 OPS. He has been held homerless and has only six extra-base hits so far in 194 at bats, but there are still some positive signs, including a decent 28:15 strikeout to walk ratio and the fact that he has picked up three of his six extra-base hits in the team’s most recent series. Holder has also held his own on defense, with a .968 fielding percentage in 47 games at shortstop. It is still very early for the 21 year-old, and fatigue may be a factor as Holder has played nearly a full season in the New York-Penn League after playing since February in college. He will be worth watching into next season, as we will be able to see at what sort of pace the Yankees choose to move him.
Trey Amburgey– OF- Staten Island (Short-Season A)- This year’s 13th round pick has been absolutely on fire at the plate lately. Through Friday, he put up a 7-game hitting streak which started with five consecutive multi-hit games, and went 15-22 (.682 average) with 1 HR, 7 RBI, and 3 SB’s over that span. He snapped the streak Friday night with an 0-5 night at the plate, but followed it up with a 2-5 performance on Saturday, including a stolen base. It’s been a small sample for the 20 year-old, as he has had only 48 at bats entering Sunday, including a .438 average and a 1.265 OPS. With the GCL Yankees, Amburgey hit .333 with a .404 OBP with nine extra-base hits and 14 stolen bases in 135 at bats. At this point, it’s much too early to solidly project the Florida native and junior college product, but he has hit very well at all levels both in college and since being drafted. If he can keep up this ridiculous output, he could be a fast mover in the system, especially if his defense (only 2 errors in 42 games in the outfield) stays strong.
Nestor Cortes– SP- Pulaski (Advanced Rookie)- The 20 year-old Cortes, a 36th round pick in 2013, has impressed with Pulaski, putting up a 66:10 K:BB ratio. He is now 6-3 with a 2.26 ERA and 0.91 WHIP in 63 2/3 innings. In an appearance on August 23rd, Cortes went 5 1/3 near-perfect hitless innings with 9 strikeouts. Cortes still ended up giving up a run via errors, but was pretty much perfect on his part. He followed it up Saturday with a six-inning start in which he gave up only three hits, one walk, and one earned run while striking out four. The Florida native also had a start on August 11th during which he went 5 innings, giving up 3 hits, 3 walks, and 1 run while striking out 10. Cortes tends to give up more fly balls and line drives for outs relative to ground balls, which may be an issue if Cortes cannot keep up his strikeout pace at higher levels. Cortes is 20 and still has time to develop, but it seems as though he has some raw potential. If he can keep up the strikeout pace, he may be a prospect down the road, but that will be put to the test at higher levels of the minors.
Photo Credit: Robert M. Pimpsner/Pinstriped Prospects (via baseballessential.com and Google Images)
