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NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 27: Luis Severino #40 of the New York Yankees pitches in the first inning against the Chicago White Sox at Yankee Stadium on September 27, 2015 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)

Yankees minor league update- June 13th

The MLB Draft has now finished which means that short-season minor league baseball will be starting soon. The short-season A level Staten Island Yankees begin their season this upcoming Friday, and the rookie-level Pulaski Yankees start in a little under two weeks. In other minor league news, it looks as though the Yankees will be signing veteran first baseman Ike Davis to a minor-league deal to fill the major-league void at first base. The Yankees do not have many first basemen left in the high minors, as Mark Teixeira’s injury replacement Chris Parmelee also found his way to the disabled list and Nick Swisher has been struggling at AAA. Signing Davis reflects that the Yankees are pretty shallow at first base as an organization. Regardless, there are still quite a few prospects, although not first basemen, who have put up impressive performances this past week. Here, as always in the Yankees minor league update, we will highlight a few of them who stood out.

Luis Severino– SP- Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (AAA)- The 22 year-old Dominican has struggled in the major leagues this season but has returned to AAA after his stint on the disabled list. Severino had a rehab outing with High-A Tampa late last month where he looked good, but struggled in his first AAA start on June 3rd, allowing three runs, two hits, and three walks in 3 2/3 innings. On Wednesday, however, Severino looked sharp as he fired six shutout innings, striking out seven batters while allowing just three hits and one walk. Severino had a rough go in the majors in 2016 after looking impressive in 11 2015 starts, but looked good in his most recent outing. It will still take at least a few more similarly strong starts from the right-hander (or at least a few injuries) before he gets another look in the big leagues, however.

Kyle Higashioka– C- Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (AAA)- Higashioka has been on a hot streak both before and after his call-up to AAA. Before being called up to AAA on May 27, the 26 year-old had a six-game hitting streak that included four multi-hit games. After going 0-4 in his 2016 RailRiders debut, he has put up another hitting streak of eleven games through Sunday, during which he has batted .455 (20-44) with 5 HRs, 17 RBI, and just 5 strikeouts and 2 walks. Higashioka has a tendency toward low walk and strikeout rates, but is a career .243 minor league hitter in parts of nine seasons in the Yankees organization. This hot streak is thus a little unexpected, but may be part of an improvement at the plate for the catcher, who is still just 26 years old. It will still take a longer, more sustainable hot streak, however, for the Yankees to consider calling him up.

Tyler Wade– SS- Trenton (AA)- Wade has been with the Yankees since being drafted in the 4th round in the 2013 draft out of a California high school, and has worked his way up to becoming one of the team’s higher-ranked prospects. Wade is batting .274 with a .381 on-base percentage this season, also hitting two home runs and driving in 13 RBI while stealing 14 bases in 18 attempts this season. In his last nine games, the 21 year-old is batting .379 (11-29) with a home run, 3 RBI, and 3 stolen bases. He has also improved his plate discipline this season, drawing 36 walks in 219 at-bats. For comparison’s sake, in 2015 he drew just 41 walks in more than double the number of at-bats. In the field, errors have been an issue as he made 31 last season. This year, he has made 12 errors while splitting time between shortstop and second base. Still, the defense should develop over time, and assuming he can continue developing and reduce the number of errors, he has the tools to potentially become an everyday major league infielder.

Chance Adams– SP- Tampa (High-A)- We’ve mentioned Adams not too long ago in a minor league update, but he has earned a shout-out for his performance in Friday night’s game. Adams started on Friday and struck out 10 batters in five perfect innings against Bradenton. Adams has 73 strikeouts compared to just 15 walks in 57 2/3 innings, putting up a 5-0 record with a 2.60 ERA and a 0.97 WHIP. The 21 year-old has impressed since being selected in the 5th round of last year’s draft and he may be promoted before the end of the season if he continues to impress against Florida State League hitters.