THE YANKEE CUTS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

With the regular season now directly in front of us, teams across MLB get on with the unappealing process of trimming their rosters to 25 players prior to Opening Day.

For the Yankees, it has been a spring training filled with competitive battles for spots at key positions in the outfield, infield, bullpen and starting rotation.  Given the disappointing results of last season, it is no wonder that many of the spots are being held open as long as possible.

Even so, the process of paring down the roster has begun for the Bombers and includes some familiar names.   Among the earliest “demotions” from the Major League roster were:

Jose Ramirez – optioned to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (AAA) on March 9^th.  Ramirez is a 24-year-old right handed hurler that has been in the Yankees organization since 2008 and started eight games for the Rail Riders last year with a 4.88 ERA.  Baseball America rates his fastball as the best in the Yankees’ farm system.

Slade Heathcott – optioned to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on March 12^th.  Heathcott is one of the Yankees top outfield prospects (his arm is rated the best in the team’s minor league system), but the 23-year-old has struggled through numerous injuries during his young career.  Last season he played 103 games at Trenton and hit .261 while stealing 15 bases in 23 attempts.

Gary Sanchez – optioned to Double-A Trenton Thunder on March 12^th.  Sanchez, according to Baseball America, is the franchise’s number one prospect.  Only 21 years of age, BA already rates him as the organization’s best power hitter.  In the Yankees’ system since age 17, the catcher has been promoted to a higher level of pro ball every season.  Expect him to make an appearance in Scranton before the 2014 campaign is over.

Nik Turley – optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on March 12^th.  Turley is a 24-year-old left -handed hurler who made one appearance with the Rail Riders last season after spending most of it at Trenton.  Turley is another prospect who has steadily risen through the ranks and is only a year or two off from making regular appearances in the Bronx.

Bryan Mitchell – optioned to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on March 13^th.  Drafted in the 16^th round of the 2009 draft as a 19-year-old, Mitchell is rapidly flying through the Yankees’ minor league system.  In a little over 18 innings pitched at Trenton last season, the right-handed pitcher struck out 16 and walked only 5.  The fact that he is being placed at the Triple-A level shows the confidence the Bombers have in him.  This is someone to keep an eye on!

Jose Campos – Optioned to Tampa (high-A) on March 13^th. Campos is the right-handed pitcher included in the deal that brought Michael Pineda to the Yankees.  He’s still young (21) and features a 93-mph fastball.  He has yet to break above the “A” level of the system because of injury issues and most recently has battled elbow injuries.  At Charleston last year he did manage to pitch 87 innings and had a decent 3.41 ERA, so there is hope.  If he can put the injuries behind him, Campos can get back on track as a rising star.

This past week the Yankees had a couple more players sent to the farm.  They were:

 Manny Banuelos - Optioned to Tampa on March 16^th.  Banuelos is half of the “killer Bees” – the highly touted duo of Banuelos and Dellin Betances - and while Baseball America still rates him as the team’s 12^th best prospect, it seems that his stock is falling.  He didn’t pitch in 2013 as he recovered from elbow surgery, and that clearly has set him back in his progress through the ranks.  This spring he made two appearances and yielded seven earned runs in one inning.  He still has work to do if he wants to achieve his dream of pitching for the Yankees.

Ramon Flores - Optioned to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on March 18^th.  The 21-year-old outfielder is another prospect working his way through the ranks, and Scranton will mark the highest level of ball he has achieved.  Last season he hit .260 and has shown decent speed on the base paths in stealing 56 of 80 bases during his five seasons in the minors.

Even though the aforementioned players aren’t coming to New York with the big league club, for many their assignments represent promotions from last season’s team.  In spite of rumors of its demise, these “baby Bombers” each show that the farm isn’t barren.

Look for the Yankees to make more decisions on players in the very near future as they define the team they will take to the Bronx for Opening Day.


    

--Steve Skinner, BYB Writer
Twitter: @oswegos1




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