GCL season comes to an end with a win and a loss

Let’s start with some notes:

• 1B/3B Dan Johnson was granted his release from Triple-A Scranton according to Sweeny Murti. The Yankees weren’t going to call him up in September and this gives him some time to hook on with another club before rosters expand. Johnson hit .253/.379/.447 (133 wRC+) with 21 homers and more walks (93) than strikeouts (82) in 559 plate appearances for the RailRiders. They aren’t going to the postseason, so this opens a roster spot and some playing time for someone else before the season ends on Tuesday.
• LHP Caleb Smith, this year’s 14th rounder, has been promoted from Short Season Staten Island to Double-A Trenton, reports Josh Norris. He’ll start one game of their doubleheader on Saturday. Seems like a temporary move more than anything. RHP Diego Moreno was placed on the DL for an unknown reason to clear a roster spot.
• 1B Greg Bird was named to Low-A South Atlantic League Postseason All-Star Team. There isn’t an actual All-Star Game or anything, it’s just a list of the best players in the league at each position as voted on by whoever. Bird leads the circuit in OBP (.423) and OPS (.940) but lost out on the league MVP award to SS Rosell Herrera (Rockies).

Triple-A Scranton (9-2 win over Lehigh Valley)

• 2B David Adams: 0-4, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K
• DH J.R. Murphy: 1-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 HBP — season doesn’t end until Tuesday, but he’s already set new career highs in hits (110), homers (12), and walks (46)
• LF Ronnie Mustelier: 1-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K — wonder if they’ll open a 40-man roster spot for him next month
• RHP Chris Bootcheck: 5.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 7/5 GB/FB — 67 of 106 pitches were strikes (63%)

Double-A Trenton (4-1 loss to New Britain in 13 innings)

• LF Ben Gamel: 2-6, 2 K — threw a runner out at third
• LF Ramon Flores: 2-6, 1 BB, 1 K
• DH Gary Sanchez: 2-5, 1 RBI, 1 HBP
• RHP Bryan Mitchell: 7.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 10 K, 2 WP, 7/5 GB/FB, 1 E (pickoff) — 78 of 107 pitches were strikes (73%) … ties his career-high in strikeouts … this might be the best start of his career, pretty good way to close out the regular season before the team has to decide whether to protect you from the Rule 5 Draft
• LHP Francisco Rondon: 2.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 2/2 GB/FB — 23 of 42 pitches were strikes (55%)

High-A Tampa (6-3 loss to Lakeland)

• SS Cito Culver: 1-4, 1 RBI
• CF Taylor Dugas: 2-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K — third career homer for the K/BB monster (39/61 in 2013)
• 2B Rob Refsnyder: 0-3, 1 K
• DH Peter O’Brien: 1-4, 1 R, 1 2B
• RHP Rafael DePaula: 5 IP, 10 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 1 WP, 1/6 GB/FB — only three days left in their season, so this was his final start … ends the year with a 4.29 ERA (~3.10 FIP), 11.4 K/9 (29.9%), 4.2 BB/9 (10.9 BB%) in 113.1 innings across 23 starts and one relief appearance

Low-A Charleston had a scheduled off-day.

Short Season Staten Island (2-1 loss to Brooklyn)

• CF Brandon Thomas: 0-4, 2 K — 82 strikeouts in 260 plate appearances (31.5%)
• LF Michael O’Neill: 0-2, 1 BB, 1 HBP — threw a runner out at the plate
• 3B Eric Jagielo: 0-3, 1 BB, 3 K — no contact night
• SS Tyler Wade: 0-3, 1 BB
• RHP Gio Gallegos: 3 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 1 K, 1 HB, 4/2 GB/FB — seven walks in his last eleven innings after seven walks in his first 49.2 innings
• RHP Cale Coshow: 3.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 5/2 GB/FB
• RHP Stefan Lopez: 1.1 IP, zeroes, 2 K, 1 WP, 3/0 GB/FB

Rookie GCL Yanks1 (8-3 loss to GCL Blue Jays) the GCL season is over, they finished 28-32 and in last place in the Northwest Division

• 2B Gosuke Katoh: 0-3, 1 BB, 3 K — ends the year at .310/.402/.522 with six homers and four stolen bases in 50 games
• RF Austin Aune: 1-4, 1 2B, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K — finishes with 72 strikeouts (43.6%) and eight walks (4.8%) in 165 plate appearances
• LHP Ian Clarkin: 2.2 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 WP, 2/3 GB/FB — six runs and nine base-runners in five innings across three appearances in his pro debut

Rookie GCL Yanks2 (5-2 win over GCL Astros) they finished 36-24 and in first place in the Northeast Division … they play the GCL Red Sox in a one-game playoff tomorrow with the winner advancing to the best-of-three championship series starting Saturday

• SS Abi Avelino: 2-4, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, 3 SB — finishes the regular season at .302/.383/.401 with 19 walks, 16 strikeouts, and 28 steals in 32 attempts … guessing he was sent down from SI to help with the playoff push
• RF Tyler Austin: 2-3, 1 BB — guessing he’ll stick around for the playoffs before joining the Thunder for their playoff run
• LF Nathan Mikolas: 0-3, 1 BB, 1 HB
• 3B Miguel Andujar: 2-4, 1 RBI — 18-year-old hit .318/.364/.496 with four walks, four homers, seven walks, and 21 strikeouts while repeating the level
• DH Luis Torrens: 0-3, 1 K — 17-year-old finishes the regular season at .246/.353/.304 with 39 strikeouts and 27 games