Friday, January 25, 2008

Yankee System is Loaded with Right-Handed Starters

The article on George Kontos got me thinking about how many right-handed pitching prospects the Yankees have in the organization. Not just players but legit prospects litter every level. The have major league ready talent (Joba, Ian), prospects a step away(Marquez, Horne, Sanchez) and a ton of high upside kids at the lower levels(Heredia, Betances, Brackman, etc.). Below is my ranking of the top Yankee starting pitching prospects. I omitted Steve White due to his age but the list is long and deep on talent.

  • Joba- Number one pitching prospect in baseball
  • Ian Kennedy- People forget HE was minor league pitcher of the year. He dominated in 07.
  • Alan Horne-Eastern League pitcher of the year, four plus pitches.
  • Andrew Brackman - Has more upside then maybe any other pitcher in the draft.
  • Humberto "the Dirty" Sanchez-Was a top prospect before the injury. Could be a real force if healthy.
  • Delin Betances-Raw but a potential number 1 starter.
  • Jeff Marquez-15 Wins in '07. From BA Marquez has the chance to become a workhorse groundball machine who fills the No. 3 or 4 slot in a rotation.
  • George Kontos-We all know he's the Yankees' "Best Kept Secret"
  • Jairo Heredia- Ranked 15th best Prospect in the GCL by Baseball America
  • Zach McAllister-Still developing but my breakout prospect for '07. I love this kid.
  • Chris Garcia - Elbow injury cost him all of '07 but from BA in '06 Yankees officials believe Garcia has almost as much upside as Hughes.
  • Ryan Pope- Hardball times thought he was a steal in the third round

Most of these kids will turn out to be nothing but the sheer number almost guarantees one of two will emerge. I count five players who could develop into Aces - Brackman, Betances, Joba, Heredia and Garcia. Of those five if two develop the Yankees are in very good shape.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Where are all the lefties? Seriously, the Yankees need to figure out a way in infuse some lefthanded talent.

Anonymous said...

The problem is if you ended up dealing from strnegth to get a different type of prospect you run the risk of an Eddie Yarnall for Mike Lowell type trade.

Anonymous said...

I love Ryan Pope but think the Yankees got duped by Boras with Brackman.

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