Yanks give up on McAllister

The Yankees acquired OF Austin Kearns from the Indians in exchange for a player to be named. That player to be named was minor league RHP Zach McAllister. McAllister, ranked fifth in Baseball America's prospect rankings entering this season, never really fit in with the Yankees organization. McAllister is a sinker-slider pitcher. Most of the starters that the Yankees develop throw four-seam fastballs and hard breaking balls (ex. Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain with Chien-Ming Wang a notable exception). McAllister was leapfrogged by Ivan Nova, who throws a low-90's four-seam fastball and a high-70's power curveball. (Nova was just called up to the majors to make a few starts because Phil Hughes is nearing his innings limit.) McAllister has struggled through a disatrous season in the minors, going 8-10 with a 5.09 ERA for the Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes Barre Yankees, primarily because he has allowed 11.2 hits per 9 innings, a remarkably bad ratio. (Nova has gone 12-6 with a 2.86 ERA.) Bottom line, the Yankees were going to stick with McAllister and his sinker-slider repertoire as long as he was successful in the minors. But, since he started struggling and had been passed by Nova (and possibly David Phelps) in the race for the next available major league rotation spot, he was expendable, and the Yankees gave him a chance with another organization. Good luck to him as a member of the Cleveland Indians.