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-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 factors

  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 average ex

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 his pr

  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 slider which varies pitch to pitch in it’s

   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 inconsistent with movement but he mixed in a coupl

Despite a surging Giancarlo Stanton and recent improvements from Gleyber Torres, DJ Lemahiue, and Clint Frazier, a large portion of the Yankees lineup is still struggling. The back half of the lineup is a collection of below the Mendoza line batting averages with little to no run production. Giancarlo Stanton can't continue to hit a homerun every game forever (or can he?), so it is important that some other people in the lineup start to step it up. Aaron Judge is beginning to slump a bit, and Gio Urshela is hurting, though he will likely avoid a DL stint. Mike Ford has not done a great job filling in at first base. Gary Sanchez has been the 2019-2020 version of himself, and Brett Gardner hasn't been great either. These guys all still have plenty of time to turn their seasons around, but the team could use a boost at this stage of the season. Enter Miguel Andujar and Luke Voit. Miguel Andujar started the season in Triple-A hot, so the Yankees called him up when they learned Ursh