Are there any under-the-radar impact players waiting in the minors for the Yanks?

This year Kevin Russo came out of nowhere from the minors and has made an impact. Last year, Francisco Cervelli came out of nowhere to make a big impact with Posada hurt and has carried his great play into this year with Posada hurt again. Are there any other players like that waiting in the Yankee minor league system that will make an impact like that in 2011? I'm going to name 5 guys. Chances are, at least 4 of them will still be nobodies after the 2011 season. But, hopefully one of these players will make an impact in 2011. I'm not talking about players who will come out of nowhere to win a Rookie of the Year next year- I'm talking about bench players who could make an impact like Russo has had this year because Granderson was hurt and Winn played so badly that he was designated for assignment.

No, I'm not going to mention guys like Jesus Montero or Austin Romine who if you know anything about the players in the Yankee minor league system, you should already recognize. I mentioned many of those kind of players in my "The future of the Yankees" posts or other posts that talk about the future of the Yankees (you can go to the "all posts link on the right to read those posts). Instead I'm going to mention players who you may have seen in spring training or something, but who you probably don't recognize. I'm going to put the players in order of likelihood of making an impact in 2011, in my opinion.

1. Eduardo Nunez: 23 year old infielder Eduardo Nunez is hitting .311 at Triple-A Scranton with 10 doubles, 2 homers, 22 RBI, 12 SB (3 CS), and a .353 OBP in 49 games. He hit .322 with 26 doubles, 9 homers, 55 RBI, 19 SB (7 CS), and a .349 OBP at Double-A in '09, so he is really showing signs of improvement. He has posted a very good .980 Fld% at SS so far in '10. He also has some experience at 2B and 3B, but so far in '10 he has just a .800 Fld% at 3B and a .889 Fld% at 2B. He needs to work on those 2 positions. Maybe he could be a utility infielder in 2011. Keep in mind that Ramiro Pena is hitting just .190 right now.

2. Tim Norton: 27 year old RHP Tim Norton impressed so much at High-A Tampa in '10 that he bypassed Double-A Trenton and went straight to Triple-A Scranton. At High-A Tampa, Norton went 0-0 with a 1.23 ERA, 17 K's, just 4 walks, and 1 save in 8 relief appearances and 14.2 IP. Since being promoted to Triple-A Scranton, Norton has appeared in one game, and he threw a scoreless inning. In '09, Norton went 2-1 with a 2.75 ERA, 30 K's, and 9 walks in 23 relief appearances and 36 IP. Norton was really set back when he underwent rotator cuff surgery in '07 and missed most of that season and all of '08. If he hadn't gotten hurt, he maybe could have been in the Yankee bullpen right now. Norton has an impressive 9.7 career K/9 in the minors, so I have to think that he has a chance to be a member of the Yankee bullpen in 2011. His career BB/9 is just 2.1, so he also has great control. He also has allowed just 0.1 homers per 9 innings. Obviously we'll have to see how Norton does the rest of the season at Triple-A, but if he does well, he will have an opportunity to make an impact as a reliever in 2011.

(You would expect the Scranton-Wilkes Barre Yankees to have more players on this list, but really don't have any other players who jump out from the stats besides Ivan Nova and Zack McAllister who I've talked about in my "future of the Yankees" posts, and Boone Logan, Mark Melancon, Jonathan Albaladejo, and Royce Ring who all have major league experience.)

3. David Phelps: Even I've never heard of 23 year old RHP David Phelps before I did this post, but he's really good. He has gone 3-0 at Double-A Trenton with a 2.40 ERA, 45 K's, and just 16 walks in 9 starts and 56.1 IP. In '09, he went 13-4 with a 2.38 ERA, 122 K's, and just 31 walks in 27 starts and 151 IP. He really has great minor league numbers. If he continues his great '10 and starts out well in 2011 at Triple-A Scranton, the Yankees will definitely have to consider calling him up to the majors. But, he has never been used as a reliever in the minors. Still, when you have an ERA under 2.80 every year in the minors, you definitely deserve a look by the major league club. I think Phelps has a good chance to make an impact as a starter in 2011 if someone gets hurt, or as a reliever.

4. Josh Schmidt: 27 year old RHP Josh Schmidt went 3-1 with a 2.00 ERA at Double-A Trenton, with 26 K's, and 14 walks in 19 relief appearances and 27 IP before being promoted to Triple-A. Schmidt is a similar kind of player as Norton. He is another right-handed reliever with a very good career strikeout rate. But, although Schmidt has done pretty well in '10, his strikeout rate is not as high as Norton. He also walks may more batters. Schmidt has made 2 relief appearances since being promoted to Triple-A Scranton and has not done well, going 1-0 with a 7.20 ERA, 3 K's, and 2 walks in 2 relief appearances and 5 IP. Schmidt will defintiely have improve a lot on that 7.20 ERA to be in the Yankees bullpen in 2011.

5. Brandon Laird: 22 year old Brandon Laird, brother of Tigers catcher Gerald Laird, is hitting .316 at Double-A Trenton with 11 doubles, 10 homers, 50 RBI, and a .362 OBP in 49 games. Laird is putting up these numbers the year after hitting just .266 with 13 homers and 75 RBI in a disappointing '09 at High-A Tampa. In '08, he hit .273 with 23 homers and 86 RBI at Low-A Charleston. Laird's 50 RBI in '10 in 49 games is an average of over 1 RBI per game- no major leaguer with enough at-bats to qualify has an average of 1 RBI per game or better in his career. To put that into perspective, Albert Pujols has averaged under .8 RBI per game for his career and has not had a single season where he has averaged 1 or more RBI per game. (In fact, since 2000, Manny Ramirez is the only player to have averaged 1 RBI per game in a season in which he played 25 or more games by driving in 122 runs in 118 games. The other 8 players who have done it since 2000 all played in less than 25 games.) The problem with Laird is fielding. Laird started out as a 3rd baseman, then was switched to 1st, and now is back at 3rd. He has a decent .991 career Fld% at first base, but he has just a .936 career Fld% at 3rd base. He will need to make strides defensively at 3rd base to be promoted to the majors. The Yankees have only let Laird play 3B so far in '10 (2 appearances at DH), but he has posted just a .935 Fld%. Still, I can see Laird having a Juan Miranda-type impact in 2011. But, one problem with that: Juan Miranda will probably still be on the team unless top prospect Jesus Montero has already taken away his roster spot, so it will be tough for Laird to make the team.

In case you're wondering, switch-pitcher Pat Venditte did not make this list because he's only in Tampa right now and has only posted a 3.08 ERA so far so he won't be called up to Double-A in the near future.

Just like for Russo, injury or complete failure by role players might be needed for one of these guys to get called up. But, it's bound to happen to someone, and I think that these 5 players have a shot to be called up to the majors and make an impact.