Evil Empire Yankees Blog

6-foot-0 165-pounds Right-handed starting pitcher 24-years-old Signed May 21, 2018 out of the Dominican Republic For the first time in a long time, the entire Triple-A rotation for the RailRiders will be composed of prospects instead of reclamation projects. Randy Vasquez is one of the five starting pitchers who are now one step away from the major leagues. He is also on the 40-man roster which means he has a leg up on some of the competition to get the call at some point this season. Vasquez has slowly increased his innings total year by year, culminating in a 115.1 inning performance in 2022 in Double-A. He had a 3.9 ERA and 120 K : 41 BB on the season. It was a solid performance all around, though a slight decline from the year prior. The Yankees can give Randy just about as many innings as he can handle this season in the minor leagues. If a need arises in the majors, he could be one of the first to make it to the show. Stuff-wise, Vasquez has five useable pitches. None grade out a...

5-foot-10 150-pounds Shortstop Switch-hitter 21-years-old Signed: August 1, 2018 out of Cuba Some guys take time to develop their man strength and put on mass. I recall drinking “Weight gainer 3,000,” a protein shake with 3,000 calories per serving, in high school in a desperate attempt to pack on a few pounds and somehow failing miserably. Before the current offseason, it was the same story for Alexander Vargas. He’s a skinny, athletically gifted kid who may just need some time to grow into his body. Despite a trying season in 2022, it’s easy to forget that he finished 2021 as one of the most intriguing prospects in the system.  In his first crack at the full season leagues and under the bright lights of evening games, Vargas stumbled a bit. He hit .203/.271/.311/.582 with eight homeruns, 14 doubles, two triples, and 27 SB. He also struck out 123 times in 100 games. Just one year prior, he had hit .273/.362/.393/.755 in the FCL.  Despite the rude awakening, there were several...

  Two weeks into the regular season, it appeared the Yankees had caught lightning in a bottle with Franchy Cordero in pinstripes. He hit four homeruns in a short period of time, and won a couple of games for the Yankees. Fast forward a few weeks, and that lightning has escaped the bottle. His average is down to .160 with an OBP of .192. He hasn't hit a homerun since his early streak. Defensively, Cordero has been average at best. With injuries to Giancarlo Stanton and Harrison Bader, the team needs offense now more than ever. Jake Bauers has entered the chat. All indications are that the Yankees training and development teams have unlocked him in Triple-A.  Bauers is posting career bests in average, OBP, and slugging percentage. Just 20 games in, he is just five off from his career high in homeruns (14) with nine. Better yet, he has struck out just 15 times while walking 18. He is currently sporting a .328/.476/. 859/1.335 quad slash.  The best news, however, is that his ...

  6-foot-4 190-pounds Right-handed starting pitcher 22-years-old Draft: 2 nd round of the 2022 draft out of California Polytechnic State University The Yankees now have a robust system in place for their draft. Vice-president and Director of Amateur Scouting Damon Oppenheimer has assembled a team of scouts, development coaches, and analytic staff to consult about every pick. In the case of Drew Thorpe, the three came together to determine that he was grossly underrated in the second round of the 2022 draft. The analytics team liked his accuracy, spin rates, and movement, though felt he needed more velocity. The development team looked at his size and mechanics and determined they could get more velocity and movement out of his frame. The scouts loved his bulldog mentality on the mound, ability to get through lineups multiple times, and the way his pitches generate bad swings. It was a no brainer once he fell to the Yankees in round two. Thorpe had a successful seas...

  6-foot-2 205-pounds Catcher, First baseman Left-handed batter 24-years-old Draft: 12 th round of the 2021 draft out of Dartmouth   Sometimes scouting a player means being in the right place at the right time. In the case of Ben Rice, the best time to see him was in summer league wood bat leagues. In college, he didn’t get much run at Dartmouth due to injuries and COVID-19 shutdowns, but he managed to play quite a few games between the Futures College Baseball League and the Cape Cod Baseball League. Yankees scouts got their looks at these venues, and Rice performed well enough to get drafted in the 12 th round. Ben’s best performance came in the FCBL in 2020, when he hit .350/.467/.683/1.150 with 11 homeruns, six doubles and a triple in 43 games. He followed that up in 2021 with mediocre stats in the CCBL, but was drafted nonetheless. He got into 23 games with the Yankees in 2021 and posted a forgettable stat line. When 2022 came around, Rice was ready....

6-foot-0  205-pounds Rightfielder Left-handed batter 22-years-old Draft: 15 th round of the 2022 draft out of Grand Canyon University Power is the name of the game for Tayler Aguilar, and it’s the reason he got drafted by the Yankees despite playing in a subpar division in college. Aguilar hit 23 homeruns in 59 games last season, with 13 doubles and three triples on the way to a .326/.397/.719/1.116 line. Aguilar also does a good job avoiding strikeouts, with just 49 in 59 games. He was drafted as a junior and played an additional 23 games with Yankees affiliates after being drafted. Unfortunately, his first taste of professional baseball did not go as planned. He did show some of the power that made him attractive to Yankees scouts though. It was enough that there should be some optimism heading into the 2023 season. As far as tools go, Aguilar has power and is expected to be a good hitter. He hits the ball hard and makes good contact. The biggest question in hi...

  6-foot-3   155-pounds   Right-handed relief pitcher   21-years-old   Signed: August 16 th , 2018 out of the Dominican Republic   What’s the best way to start your season as a pitcher? Outside of a perfect game, most pitchers would say a no hitter. Yorlin Calderon did just that in 2022, with a seven-inning no-no for Tampa in his first appearance. He went on to have his best season as a professional, with 75 K : 16 BB in 58 innings pitched. Finishing with a 3.88 ERA, he was then sent to the Arizona Fall League where he threw 12.2 ineffective innings.   The results matter not; the important part is that Calderon threw a career high 70.2 innings, which is 40 more than his previous high. This will allow him to throw at least 100 this season if he earns it and stays healthy.   Calderon has a fastball that sits 90-93 mph with big spin and a nasty changeup. He already has two good pitches to work with. He also throws a slid...

   6-foot-7   195-pounds   Right-handed starting pitcher   19-years-old   Signed: February 3 rd , 2022 out of the Dominican Republic   In his first year as a professional, Carlos Lagrange impressed. He spent the whole season in the DSL, where he had a 3.00 ERA and 43 K : 19 BB in 33 innings pitched. Batters hit just .094 against him. He signed with little fanfare, but is quickly making a name for himself.   Lagrange sports a fastball that has already hit 100 mph. I saw a video of him hitting 99.7 on the rhapsodo so that checks out. There’s also a video of him pitching in the DSL in August of 2022 during which he appears to feature a 4-seam fastball, 2-seam fastball, slider, and curveball. All of these pitches got swings and misses during this start. The fastball is plus by virtue of velocity, the 2-seam appears to have good tailing action, the curveball has nice downward motion, and the slider looks like it is inconsisten...

  5-foot-10   162-pounds   Right-handed starting pitcher   24-years-old   Signed: 2018 out of the Dominican Republic   The key to being successful in minor league baseball is to show improvement every season. Blas Castano has done just that. Most recently he improved his ERA to 3.86 and set career highs in innings pitched (107.1), strikeouts (103), and average against (.256). He is a control pitcher, with just 34 BB in 107.1 innings.   The story of Castano’s career came from humble beginnings, but he has slowly but surely put himself on the map. Though not tall in stature, Castano has a bulldog mentality and tons of deception in his delivery. With a couple of tweaks, Castano could be in for a big season in Double-A.   Castano sports a 92-95 mph fastball and filthy secondary pitches. His slider and curveball have big spin, and the changeup has excellent fade. As previously mentioned, his delivery has deception. Still jus...

  6-foot-4   220-pounds   Right-handed starting pitcher   21-years-old   Draft: 1 st round (34 th pick) in the 2020 draft   When the Yankees were looking to trade Luke Voit, I was surprised to hear they got a former first round pick in return. Sure, his numbers were bad in his first professional season, but Justin Lange had big stuff and a great arm. The Padres were ready to move on, however, and it may turn out to be to the Yankees’ benefit.   In his first year as a pro, he had a 6.95 ERA and 29 K : 15 BB in 22 innings pitched. He had a .217 average against. That offseason he was traded to the Yankees, and he had a similar season with a better strikeout rate. He finished 2022 with a 6.44 ERA and 51 K : 30 BB in 36.1 innings pitched. He again had an impressive .215 average against.   While these are not the numbers you want to see from a first-round pick, they portray a pitcher who simply needs to do one thing to be s...

6-foot-3 186-pounds Right-handed 21-years-old Last level: High-A Expected level: High-A Signed: July 2, 2018 Carela came out of the gait hot in 2022, sporting a re-tooled delivery with improved control. The Yankees worked with him to tighten his slider which got a ton of strikeouts. He mowed down the competition until August, when he hit the proverbial wall over his last 27 innings. At that point he was already 48 innings over his previous career high, so it’s neither surprising nor concerning that he tired out. Even with the forgettable last month, Carela finished with respectable numbers. He finished with a 4.21 ERA and 131 K : 52 BB in 107 innings. Opponents also batted just .192 against him. Considering that he was 20-years-old in Low-A and High-A for the entire season, those are not numbers to be scoffed at. Carela is working with a 92-94 mph fastball which already tops out at 97 and has sinking action. He has what is now a plus slider to go with the fastball. The next steps, per ...

  It is fun to imagine what would happen if the Yankees traded every player who was originally from another team and stuck only with homegrown talent. This is a fun exercise, and in no way is the author suggesting that the Yankees should do this. It’s just for kicks.   The criteria for this list are as follows:   1. The player must have spent at least one full season in the Yankees minor leagues. 2. The player must currently be in the Yankees system, including both the major and minor leagues. 3. Every player currently on the roster who does not meet the above criteria will be traded or released sometime over the next three seasons in this hypothetical scenario.   C – Austin Wells – If the catching skills are merely average, the Yankees are going to want his bat in the lineup. Slotting in a lefty starting catcher would provide great balance to the lineup, especially with Wells being a power threat.   Predicted line: .267/.345/.500/.845 wi...

It’s about a week into the minor league season and there are some minor league pitchers who appear to have taken a step forward. Sean Hermann, Brock Selvidge, and Luis Velasquez all started their season at Low-A this year, and their stuff appears to have taken a step forward.   First up, Sean Hermann In Sean Hermann's start on 4/8/24 he threw 6 innings and let up no earned runs. He let up three hits, no walks, and struck out four. His sinker averaged 91.4 mph and topped out at 94. It had 24 inches of vertical break and 18 inches of horizontal movement. His cutter averaged 89.5 mph and topped out at 90.4, with 27 inches of vertical break and six inches of horizontal movement. The changeup averaged 87.6, peaking at 88.3. It showed 30 inches of vertical break and 16 inches horizontal. Lastly, his slider sat at 84.7 mph, peaked at 86.1, and had 36 inches of vertical break. Most importantly, Hermann controlled all of his pitches well and navigated the lineup while allowing just thre...

  1. Keiner Delgado – 5-foot-8, 145-pounds, SS/2B, SH, 19-years-old – Soon to be everyone’s favorite prospect, the diminutive shortstop was dominant in the DSL in 2022. He hit .310/.504/.506/1.010 with three homeruns, 16 doubles, and four triples in 52 games. He had an incredible 58 BB : 28 K, and stole 34 bases. Delgado does everything well, including in the field. His maturity and talent should allow him to move quickly through the system. He’s drawn comparisons to Jose Altuve, though that is of course not fair. Of all the people on this list who may have a breakout season in 2023, he might be the most likely. He has been highly touted by scouts despite his size, which is both unusual and exciting. For talent evaluators to rave about a player his size as much as they have, he must be special.   2. Roderick Arias - 6-foot-2, 178-pounds, SS, SH, 18-years-old – Arias had a disappointing season in the DSL in 2022, but he was playing through an injury and adjusting to life as...

In news that surprises no one, Yankees’ fans have been tough on newcomer Anthony Volpe and veteran Aaron Hicks. A quick gander at their baseball reference pages reveals the reason behind the disappointment. Quite simply, both players have underperformed in the early season. Anthony Volpe is hitting .143/.273/.214/.487 with one triple and three stolen bases, while striking out 11 times. Aaron Hicks is hitting .091/.167/.091/.258 with a single and four strikeouts in four games. Volpe has not committed an error yet but there have been several plays he should have made that he didn’t. Hicks has been exactly what you’d expect from him in the field. Is the criticism of the fans justified? In one case no, and in the other yes. A rookie shortstop nine games into his career, under the microscope of New York City, debuting at the age of 21 with just 21 games under his belt is beyond reproach at this stage. To be able to get to this point was an impressive feat. With all the challenges Volp...

1. Spencer Jones – 6-foot-7, 240-pounds, CF, LHB, 21-years-old – Not yet a top 100 prospect, but will be if he has the season he is capable of in 2023. Jones has the speed to man CF, the power to be a perpetual 40 homerun threat, and a left-handed bat with tremendous exit velocity. He even has a powerful left-handed arm in centerfield. It still baffles me that he somehow made it to the Yankees in the 2022 draft. Personally, I think he’s the next top prospect in this organization, and possibly a star someday. 2. Will Warren – 6-foot-2, 175-pounds, RHP, 23-years-old – Word from camp is that Warren is up 1-2 mph from last season, which would put him at 94-97 mph. If this is true, Warren is incredibly dangerous with his spin rate and arsenal, and could be a major league option by the end of 2023. Warren has filthy secondary pitches, though scouts main gripe with him at this point is command (locating his pitches within the strike zone). Warren is another developmental success story for...