Evil Empire Yankees Blog

  6-foot-7 235-pounds Right-handed relief pitcher 22-years-old Draft: 15 th round of the 2021 draft out of Virginia Commonwealth University In addition to Jack Neely and Bailey Dees, the Yankees drafted a third huge pitcher in 2021. Watson is still young, and spent the whole season in Low-A last year. He had respectable numbers, finishing with 66 K : 36 BB and a 4.01 ERA in 58.1 innings. This was pretty similar to the season he had in 2021 for Virginia Commonwealth. Similar to Neely and Dees, Watson carries with him a substantial ceiling for a player drafted in the 15 th round. At the time he was drafted, Watson was already hitting 96 mph regularly on the radar gun and had a nice slider to complement it. The Yankees have worked with him to improve his control power, velocity, and secondary pitches. Watson began the year at High-A, where he has excelled. He has a 2.45 ERA and 28 K : 8 BB in 14.2 innings. That's an incredible strikeout rate, and unsurprisingly batters

6-foot-8 225-pounds Right-handed relief pitcher 22-years-old Draft: 11 th round of the 2021 draft out of Ohio State University In 2021, the Yankees drafted several big pitchers later in the draft. In doing so, they infused the lower minors with some high ceiling talent. One of these players was Jack Neely. In 2021, Neely was coming off a bad year for Ohio State. He had a 6.1 ERA and struggled with walks (5.2 BB/9) and homeruns (2.0/9). Despite that, the Yankees saw something in him. They drafted him in the 11 th round. 2022 was a different year for Neely. He was a dominant reliever in Low-A and briefly in High-A. The walks improved, he developed a slider and improved his strikeout rate. He finished with a 3.58 ERA and 87 K : 26 BB in 50.1 innings. Neely is equipped with a fastball that averages 97 mph and hits 98-99 regularly. If that wasn’t enough, the fastball also features a high spin rate. He added a slider in 2022 that catapulted him to bigger success. Neely stil

6-foot-1 180-pounds Shortstop/Second baseman/Third baseman Right-handed batter 23-years-old Draft: 10th round o the 2021 draft out of the University of Maryland The Yankees have been successful in recent years with drafting middle infielders in the middle rounds. They have drafted Trevor Hauver, Josh Smith, Rob Refsnyder, and Cooper Bowman in recent years. All of these players have worked out nicely for them, mostly in terms of trade returns. Cowles is the latest in this line of players, and he has acquainted himself nicely to pro ball so far. In 2021, Cowles had his best year in college at Maryland, where he hit .287/.409/.632/1.042 with 18 homeruns and six doubles. The Yankees then drafted him and he continued to be successful in the Yankees system. He finished the year with an .804 OPS in 36 games. Ben hit the ground running in 2021, starting in Low-A and hitting his way to a promotion about three quarters of the way through the season. He hit a bit of a wall in High-A, but he didn’

6-foot-6 225-pounds Right-handed 23-years-old Last level: Low-A Expected level: High-A Draft: 13 th round in the 2021 draft Similar to his last college season, Messinger split 2022 between relieving and starting. The results were mixed but encouraging. Messinger began the 2022 season as a reliever, likely in an attempt to limit his innings. He finished the season as a starter and logged a total of 83.2 innings. This was a career high by 26.2 innings. He finished with a 4.3 ERA and 112 K : 45 BB. To put these numbers into better perspective, it is important to realize that he was also learning two new pitches in the changeup and slider all season. Moreover, he was dealing with an increase in his velocity from low-90’s to mid-90’s (93-95 mph, topping out at 97). The stuff and velocity is coming along nicely, and should only improve with more time, innings, time in the gas station, and strength and conditioning. With a batting average against of just .221, there are sig

5-foot-8 168-pounds Second baseman Right-handed batter 20-years-old  Signed: July 2nd, 2019 out of Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico The Yankees have made a habit recently of not letting height get in the way of signing guys with talent. Keiner Delgado, Abrahan Ramirez, and Jared Serna are all players are the shorter side and the Yankees are giving them every opportunity. Jared Serna has so far demonstrated that his height bears no importance on the quality of his game and the numbers he can put up. In 2021, Serna’s first season, his numbers were good but not great in the DSL. He hit .238/.404/.384/.788 with three homers, nine doubles, and two triples with 24 SB. Not the best numbers, but when combined with his mature approach, patience, hit tool, and defensive capabilities at second base it was enough to get him a promotion to the FCL in 2022.  That’s when he really took off. He hit .302/.438/.527/.965 with six homeruns, nine doubles and a triple in 37 FCL games. He also stole 16 bases, earning

  Low-A Tampa Tarpons Jared Serna, 2B, RHB – 11 for his last 24 (.458) with a double and three walks (.518 OBP) in his last six games. His season total is now .310/412/.774. He also has 6 SB already on the season in 16 games. Nelson Medina, LF, RHB – 10 for his last 29 (.344) with a homerun, a triple, and three doubles (.620 SLG), and three BB (.406 OBP) in his last nine games. He struck out 10 times in those nine games and still needs work on his contact rate, but the results have been encouraging. On the season he is now hitting .296/.371/.908 with two homeruns. Omar Martinez, C, LHB – 11 hits in his last 28 (.392) with three doubles (.500 SLG) and six walks (.500 OBP) and 10 K in his last nine games. Again, too many strikeouts but Martinez is off to a great start to the season and is now up to .264/.400/.834 with two homeruns on the season. Martinez is a sleeper at catcher who can both hit and defend the position well. Ronny Rojas, SS/2B/3B, SH – 10 for his last 30 (.333)