My Life. Any Questions ? #magnusstrong @magnusmedia @Yankees @Gigantes_Cibao #Faith pic.twitter.com/fvEzmjkntd
— Miguel Andujar (@MAndujarPapa) December 4, 2017
The various winter ball regular seasons are either over or will be soon, so this will be the final offseason minor league recap. Next time you see a DotF, it’ll be the start of the 2018 regular season in April. Anyway, embedded above is a video of 3B Miguel Andujar’s lone winter ball home run, and below are some minor league notes and links before we get to the performances:
- The Arizona Fall League announced their top prospects team. OF Billy McKinney, SS Thairo Estrada, OF Estevan Florial, and LHP Justus Sheffield all made it. McKinney made it as a first baseman, interestingly enough.
- Jim Callis ranked the top ten prospects traded this offseason. RHP Jorge Guzman, who went to Miami in the Giancarlo Stanton trade, was No. 2. RHP Juan Then was No. 9. He came over in the Nick Rumbelow trade. “(He is a) projectable 17-year-old who already reaches 94 mph with his fastball and also owns a promising changeup and curveball,” wrote Callis.
- Callis was asked about a combined Yankees and Red Sox farm system. “(A) combined Top 50 would include about 35 Yankees and 15 Red Sox. The contrast would be even more stark at the top, with left-hander Jay Groome and third baseman Michael Chavis the only Boston farmhands who would crack a combined Top 10,” he said. Hooray for a deep farm system.
The Arizona Fall League season ended back in November. I will refer to you the previous edition of DotF for the final stats and commentary.
Dominican Winter League
- 3B Miguel Andujar: 18 G, 12-65 (.185), 7 R, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 4 BB, 9 K, 1 CS, 1 HBP (.185/.243/.231) — he hasn’t played in over a month, so he’s home resting up for next season … and no, Andujar’s winter ball performance won’t hurt his chances of winning the big league third base job in Spring Training … the Yankees will value his 130 regular season games last year over his 18 winter ball games
- 1B Tyler Austin: 7 G, 4-25 (.160), 2 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 3 BB, 12 K (.160/.250/.360) — he’s been out of action since early-November … you don’t produce, you don’t play down here … Austin does have a minor league option remaining for 2018, so he’ll probably do the up-and-down thing again
- IF Abi Avelino: 38 G, 43-139 (.309), 2 2B, 1 3B, 9 RBI, 13 BB, 15 K, 19 SB, 4 CS (.309/.364/.338) — he could probably use a fresh start in an organization with less upper level infield prospect depth … it’s tough being stuck behind Andujar, Estrada, SS Gleyber Torres, and SS Tyler Wade
- RHP Raynel Espinal: 1 G, 0.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K (0.00 ERA and 9.00 WHIP) — that was an interesting outing … 26-year-old quietly had a 1.09 ERA (2.23 FIP) with 33.5% strikeouts and 5.4% walks in 74.1 relief innings at three levels last season
- RHP Domingo German: 3 G, 1.2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 1 WP (21.60 ERA and 3.00 WHIP) — made three appearances in mid-December then went home for the holidays … these short winter ball stints have always been weird to me (what’s the point?), but players keep doing them and teams keep allowing it, so I guess they serve some purpose
- RHP Adonis Rosa: 9 G, 3 GS, 24.2 IP, 14 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 8 BB, 21 K, 1 HR, 1 WP, 1 HB (1.82 ERA and 0.89 WHIP)
Mexican Pacific League
- OF Jabari Blash: 20 G, 18-63 (.286), 16 R, 2 2B, 5 HR, 13 RBI, 17 BB, 27 K, 1 CS, 2 HBP (.286/.451/.556) — he came over in the Chase Headley salary dump … by the way, ZiPS projected Blash for 25 homers in 440 plate appearances in 2018 … huh
- 1B Ryan McBroom: 30 G, 34-107 (.318), 2 2B, 5 HR, 18 RBI, 13 BB, 21 K, 4 SB, 4 CS (.318/.397/.447) — came over in the Rob Refsnyder trade and had a mediocre year in Double-A (98 wRC+) … he’s going to be stuck behind Austin on the Triple-A first base depth chart, not to mention Mike Ford if he comes back as a Rule 5 Draft guy
- RHP Dallas Martinez: 2 G, 4.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 WP, 1 HB (6.23 ERA and 1.15 WHIP)
Venezuelan Winter League
- C Francisco Diaz: 41 G, 35-128 (.273), 18 R, 2 2B, 1 3B, 10 RBI, 11 BB, 15 K, 3 SB, 1 HBP (.273/.333/.305)
- OF Alex Palma: 47 G, 57-190 (.300), 13 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 22 RBI, 8 BB, 18 K, 5 SB, 2 CS (.300/.328/.395) — interested to see what he does next year … Palma had a good 2017 season and he has lots of tools, and he’s only 22, so maybe he’s just starting to figure some things out
- RHP Daniel Alvarez: 16 G, 21 IP, 19 H, 8 R, 6 ER, 16 BB, 17 K, 2 HR (2.57 ERA and 1.67 WHIP) — interesting stat line there
- RHP Luis Cedeno: 18 G, 16.2 IP, 23 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 11 BB, 13 K, 1 HR, 2 HB (4.32 ERA and 2.04 WHIP)
Winter ball will indeed be played in Puerto Rico this year. The Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League started an abbreviated 18-game schedule on Friday. Jon Morosi says they will play day games to limit the use of electricity for stadium lights in the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Maria. No Yankees farmhands are listed on rosters at the moment.
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