Promotions Day - NYY Style

Circling the drain in the AL East after losing eight straight and falling nine and a half games back of the final Wild Card spot, the Yankees are making changes.  Two top prospects are coming to the Bronx from Scranton Wilkes-Barre; another has been promoted to Scranton from Somerset.
Everson Pereira (above) was having a very good year at Somerset -- and then ramped up his game even more in 35 games in AAA.  Eight homers, 33 RBI and a .937 OPS look even more impressive when compared to the revolving door of left fielders who've seen time with the 2023 Yankees.  Oswald Peraza has right handed power (16 homers in 63 games and a good glove.  With Josh Donaldson out of the picture and DJ LeMahieu looking like a ghost of himself, he should get a chance to claim his place in the club's future.
Fans saw plenty of Jasson Dominguez on TV during spring training -- and on the YES Network series spotlighting minor league prospects -- but at age 20, he needs to finish the development process.  After a slow start at Somerset -- where he was the youngest position player in the AA Eastern League, his bat came alive.

Coming off a scorching week where, in six games versus Reading, he went 13-for-28 (a .464 average) with a pair of four-hit games, plus eight RBIs, two homers, five doubles and three walks, "The Martian" now heads to Scranton, just one level from the big leagues... The highly touted prospect is looking more and more like a future teammate of Judge, Volpe and Cole.  In 18 games during August, the switch hitter has an OPS over 1.000, slashing .380/.438/.608 with 14 RBIs.

While it's hardly the season Yankees fans expected, investing some playing time in two kids the organization has developed for years -- and seeing strong progress from another -- there could be a reason to tune in as the Yanks prepare for big changes in 2024 and beyond.



 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rare Remnant of a Lost Ballpark

Image
When the subject of baseball in Brooklyn comes up, the discussion centers around Ebbets Field, the Flatbush venue most famously home to The Boys of Summer.  Those legendary 1940s and '50s teams that featured such historic and beloved players as Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese, Roy Campanella and Gil Hodges. Ebbets Field hosted its last major league game in 1957 and was torn down during the winter of 1960. But decades earlier, just before World War One, the Dodgers were based in the Park Slope area and played at Washington Park.  Once they moved out, the land was occupied by another stadium, which housed a different franchise.  The upstart Federal League, which played in the 1914 and '15 seasons, had a Brooklyn team called the TipTops.  Owned by a local baking magnate Robert Ward, whose company produced TipTop bread, the club took over the abandoned lot along 3rd Avenue and built a new brick and steel venue. The only no-hitter in the Federal League's two...
Read more

Will He Wear Zero in the Bronx?

Image
The Yankees bolstered their starting rotation with Thursday's signing of Marcus Stroman .  The Long Island native, who spent 2019 and '21 with the Mets before moving onto the Cubs, brings a 77-76 career record to the Bronx, along with a recent loyalty to uniform number (?) zero.  If he requests that, he'd become the third Yank to wear it, following the path of Adam Ottavino and Domingo German.  Of course, neither of their Yankee tenures ended all that well -- Ottavino struggled badly in 2020, before reviving his career with the Red Sox and Mets; German's alcohol and domestic violence issues sabotaged such Yankee highlights as last year's perfect game. Can a number truly be lucky? You can understand kids in little league or high school ball wanting to wear 2 in honor of Derek Jeter or 7 for Mickey Mantle.  But is there an heroic ballplayer associated with 0?  The closest I recall comes from pro football, where the Oakland Raiders Hall of Fame center Jim Otto wore...
Read more

Spring Training Flashbacks: Subway Series, Florida Style - 2016

Image
It's a return visit to the Mets' Florida home in Port St. Lucie, this time for a 2016 showdown with the Yankees. (Below), Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman chat during batting practice. Aaron Judge and Rob Refsnyder have their game faces on in the dugout... though neither would be in the starting lineup. (Above) A couple of Brooklyn natives that made their mark in New York baseball -- Lee Mazzilli and John Franco. (Below) Mets pitcher Josh Smoker makes friends by signing a few autographs. (Above) Mets reliever Jeurys Familia; (Below) 2nd baseman Neil Walker (Above) Curtis Granderson, one of the select few players to star for both the Yankees and Mets, getting ready for his third summer at Citi Field. (Below) Aaron Hicks came to the Yankees in a trade the previous November. 3rd baseman Chase Headley enjoying the Grapefruit League vibe, even against Mets ace Jacob deGrom. (Above) Mets slugger Yoenis Cespedes watches where he hit one... so does Joe Girardi from the visitor's dugou...
Read more