Yankee System is Loaded with Right-Handed Starters

Yankee Prospects

The article on George Kontos got me thinking about how many right-handed pitching prospects the Yankees have in the organization. Not just players but legit prospects litter every level. The have major league ready talent (Joba, Ian), prospects a step away(Marquez, Horne, Sanchez) and a ton of high upside kids at the lower levels(Heredia, Betances, Brackman, etc.). Below is my ranking of the top Yankee starting pitching prospects. I omitted Steve White due to his age but the list is long and deep on talent.

• Joba- Number one pitching prospect in baseball
• Ian Kennedy- People forget HE was minor league pitcher of the year. He dominated in 07.
• Alan Horne-Eastern League pitcher of the year, four plus pitches.
• Andrew Brackman - Has more upside then maybe any other pitcher in the draft.
• Humberto "the Dirty" Sanchez-Was a top prospect before the injury. Could be a real force if healthy.
• Delin Betances-Raw but a potential number 1 starter.
• Jeff Marquez-15 Wins in '07. From BA Marquez has the chance to become a workhorse groundball machine who fills the No. 3 or 4 slot in a rotation.
• George Kontos-We all know he's the Yankees' "Best Kept Secret"
• Jairo Heredia- Ranked 15th best Prospect in the GCL by Baseball America
• Zach McAllister-Still developing but my breakout prospect for '07. I love this kid.
• Chris Garcia - Elbow injury cost him all of '07 but from BA in '06 Yankees officials believe Garcia has almost as much upside as Hughes.
• Ryan Pope- Hardball times thought he was a steal in the third round

Most of these kids will turn out to be nothing but the sheer number almost guarantees one of two will emerge. I count five players who could develop into Aces - Brackman, Betances, Joba, Heredia and Garcia. Of those five if two develop the Yankees are in very good shape.

Yankees' Development Strategy

Yankee Prospects

WasWatching asks the question - whether the Yankees are being smart developing their own pitching instead of focusing their resources on postional players and signing pitching. He cites the following study by Victor Wang. Wang looks at top pitching prospects and the probability of success against top postional prospects and the results are not good for pitchers. Was Watching states the following;

"Like I said the other day, the Yankees have focused their "draft" strategy around drafting, signing, and trying to develop pitching prospects. As Wang notes "top pitching prospects are a bust over half the time." Note we're not talking about "prospects" here but "top prospects." And, note we're not talking about them being "less than great" here but about them being "busts." So, again, I have to ask the question: Is Brian Cashman making the smart move by going with older and expensive position players, with no one to force them out of the picture for less money, and going very heavy with pitching prospects where it's risky to project performance and health at the big league level?

While some teams may argue it, success in NY and success in other cities is not achieved the same way. Teams prepare for the Yankees and know their players unlike any other team in baseball. Players' weaknesses get exposed and the pressure gets to even the most seasoned and talented imports (see Clemens, Roger and Johnson, Randy). Most positional players will eventually come back to their career norms even if they do feel the NY heat at first (Arod, Giambi to a degree before he broke down, Tino, etc.). Pitchers who lose confidence, however, can be lost forever (Vazquez, Weaver, Contreras, etc...).

For this reason and this reason alone I agree with the Yankee strategy. Signing and trading for established pitchers has proven to be just as much of a crapshoot for the Yankees as developing prospects. The main difference is that our homegrown talent seems to be more impervious to Yankee pressures.

So if it's the same crapshoot either way, why not spend $1 million instead of $100 million?

2008 Yankees Top 10 Prospect Rankings

Yankee Prospects

I just wanted to give everyone the heads up that I have just published JP Schwartz annual ranking of the Top 10 Prospects in the Yankees organization.

It is located at:

www.topprospectalert.com/2008newyorkyankeesprospects.htm



Have a great holiday season!!!

BEN


YankeeGM - Thanks, Ben. We'll take a look!

Also, John Sickels came out with list of top Yankee Prospects of 2008.
http://www.minorleagueball.com/story/2007/12/17/14218/226

To compare look at Kevin Goldstein's List;
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=6957