.666, 3 RBI in 3 at-bats. I realize it's 3 at-bats, but Curtis looks so comfortable out there. He has been so clutch. In 3 games, he already has a 2-run double to break open a game, and an RBI single to get the Yankees within a run. Where did he come from?
I'm not sure if anyone thought that Curtis would make it to the majors so fast. Curtis, a 4th round draft pick out of Arizona State, had a good first season between the Rookie level GCL Yankees and the Short Season-A Staten Island Yankees, hitting .311 with 11 doubles, 2 homers, 22 RBI, 5 SB, and a .374 OBP in 47 games. In '07, Curtis hit .270 with 19 doubles, 8 homers, 41 RBI, 5 SB, 69 runs, and a .339 OBP in 126 games between the High-A Tampa Yankees and the Double-A Trenton Thunder. He looked like a decent hitter at that point, but nothing special.
In '08, Curtis hit .255 with 20 doubles, 10 homers, 71 RBI, 6 SB, 68 runs, and a .329 OBP in 132 games at Trenton. His power numbers improved, but his BA and OBP were not good enough. Between Trenton and the Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes Barre Yankees in '09, Curtis did even worse, hitting .250 with 24 doubles, 7 homers, 48 RBI, 8 SB, 57 runs, and a .321 OBP in 126 games. His BA and OBP went down every year from '06 to '09. Who would have thought he'd be in the majors just one year later!
At Scranton in '10, Curtis hit .280 with 11 doubles, 0 homers, 12 RBI, 0 SB, 12 runs, and a .357 OBP in 34 games. Apparently the improvement in BA and OBP by Curtis was enough- he was called up to be a lefty hitter against the Arizona bullpen, which consists of all righties. Who thought he would have been called up this year?
Will he be this good in '10? Well, he won't hit .666. Still, he has a shot to make a good impact, similar to Kevin Russo. I would not be surprised if Chad Huffman and not Chad Curtis is sent down to the minors when Marcus Thames comes back from the DL.
Showing posts with label Kevin Russo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kevin Russo. Show all posts
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
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.
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.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Who are these new Yankees?
With all the injuries, the Yankees are having all these young players going up and down from Triple-A to the majors. Let me introduce you to them.
Greg Golson is a 24 year old outfielder who was brought up to the majors after the Granderson injury. So far in '10, he has just come in as a defensive replacement in one game, not making a single plate appearance, but recording a putout in centerfield. After that game, he was sent down to the minors. I wrote about him here http://www.fannation.com/blogs/post/554465-yankees-rangers-trade and here http://www.fannation.com/blogs/post/635445-with-cg-hurt-hows-the-yankee-of-situation-going-to-look.
Mark Melancon is a 25 year old relief pitcher. He made his major league debut in '09, going 0-1 with a 3.86 ERA and 10 K's in 13 relief appearances and and 16.1 IP. So far in '10, he has made 1 relief appearance, going 2 innings. His first inning was a scoreless inning, but he gave up 3 runs including 2 earned runs. Overall, he went 2 innings, giving up 3 runs (2 earned) on 2 hits, one of which was a homer, and striking out 1 batter. After that appearance, he was sent back down to the minors.
Romulo Sanchez is a 26 year old pitcher who was a starter in the minors but has only been a reliever in the majors. He made his Yankee debut on May 9th, going 3.2 innings and giving up no runs on 1 hit with 3 strikeouts. Could he be the next Aceves? After that appearance, he was sent down to the minors in favor of Ivan Nova because the Yanks knew he wouldn't be availible for at least a couple of days.
Ivan Nova has been a starter in the minors, but he will be a long reliever for the Yanks right now. He has done very well at Triple-A so far, posting a 2.43 ERA. My full article about him is here: http://www.fannation.com/blogs/post/641085-the-future-of-the-yankees-ivan-nova. I also mentioned him here: http://www.fannation.com/blogs/post/636845-whats-javier-vazquez-trade-value. His major league debut will be his first game he appears in this year with the Yankees.
Kevin Russo is a 25 year old infielder who the Yanks brought up after Cano briefly was hurt. He has appeared in 2 games, going 0 for 2 with 2 putouts in the field. In the minors, he is a career .300 hitter including hitting .326 at Triple-A in '09, but he has not done much else offensively. His best homer season was '09 with 5, while his best SB season was '07 with 19. The Yankees are trying to turn him into a Jerry Hairston Jr. type player, as he has played RF, CF, SS, 2B, and 3B so far at Triple-A. He is a natural second baseman.
The next Yankee to be called up will be Juan Miranda. Miranda had a nice year at Triple-A in '09, hitting .290 with 30 doubles, 19 homers, 82 RBI, and a .369 OBP in 122 games. He was called up to the Yankees in September and did well, going 3 for 9 with 1 homer and 3 RBI in 8 games. He will be a pinch hitter on the bench for Girardi after he has called up. Since Thames has mostly been a starter since Granderson and Johnson got hurt, the Yanks have not had a good pinch-hitter availible besides when a starter was getting a day off. Miranda should be able to fix that. Miranda, if even plays in the field, is a first baseman.
Of these players, it seems that only Ivan Nova has a bright future ahead with the Yankees. Of course, by playing well, all these other guys could have a future with the team as well. I hope these guys can just do well enough for us to win while we are dealing with these injuries.
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