Yankees Minor League Baseball Blog

Here’s the Yankees top ten prospects from Baseball America

1) Jesus Montero  C
2)  Manny Banuelos  LHP
3)  Dellin Betances  RHP
4)  Gary Sanchez  C
5)  Mason Williams  OF
6)  Dante Bichette  3B
7)  Ravel Santana  OF
8)  Austin Romine  C
9)  J.R. Murphy C/3B
10)  Slade Heathcott  OF

John Sickels put out his new Yankees Top 20 prospect list.  Good stuff as always and there’s no surprise that Jesus Montero tops the list here again.  This should be his last time on the list as he should play for the Yankees for the entire season.  Gary Sanchez, another catcher, comes in at number two but he’s only 18 so there’s plenty of time to see what he can do.

From, there, we get into the B’s.  Manny Banuelos (LHP), Dellin Betances (RHP) and Mason Williams (OF) round out the top five.    Banuelos and Betances are close to making their debuts and you could see them with the Yankees in 2012.

Trenton had a sub-par season and it’s not surprising because the team was particularly thin in hitters.  Here’s a look at the stand outs in 2011.

Corban Joseph – Joseph led the team in just about everything because he played in 131 games.  He led in runs (75), RBIs (58) and walks (59) and he also had the best OPS of the regular players but it was a decent .768.  He just turned 23 though so let’s see what he can do as me matures.

Melky Mesa – Mesa was second on the team with nine home runs but he hit just .251 so his OPS was a mediocre .733.  He also struck out 129 and walked just 36 times and he’s getting past prospectdom because he turns 25 next month.

Cody Johnson – The designated hitter belted a team high 15 home runs but he hit just .226.  This was after a very nice stint with the Tampa Yankees where he raked for .326.  He’s 23 so he has some time, just not too much time.

Dellin Betances was probably the most reliable starter and the guy with the most potential that played for the Thunder this year.  He struck out 115 in 105 1/3 innings and he finished with a 3.42 ERA.  He struggled in his four starts when he got promoted but this kid showed that he has an arm.

Josh Schmidt – One of the best relievers, Schmidt was nearly unhittable.  He finished with a 1.83 ERA, a .155 batting average against and 48 strikeouts in 34 1/3 innings.