Notes of spring: Yankees player development round table
By Sam Dykstra/MiLB.com
If you’ve been following MiLB.com’s Farm System Rankings series the past three weeks — or really Minor League Baseball writ large over the past year — you’d know the Yankees are building one of the most impressive farm systems in baseball through different avenues. Of the club’s seven Top-100 prospects, three (Gleyber Torres, Clint Frazier, Justus Sheffield) came over in deadline deals and one (Blake Rutherford) was added in the first round of the First-Year Player Draft.
On Wednesday, MiLB.com sat down for a round-table discussion with five members of the Yankees’ player development staff to talk about the state of New York’s farm and the plans for individual prospects in the 2017 season. Those staffers were vice president of player development Gary Denbo, player development analyst Dan Greenlee, assistant director of amateur scouting Ben McIntyre, pitching coordinator Danny Borrell and director of Minor League operations Eric Schmitt. Here’s a transcript of that discussion:
MiLB.com: What did James Kaprielian show you guys in the Arizona Fall League?
Borrell: He showed he was healthy. He showed he could pitch every sixth day, every fifth day out there. That was the biggest thing for him was just trying to answer the bell. He did that, finished off going into the fifth inning and throwing 60-plus pitches. So he did everything we needed him to do. He’s coming into spring healthy.
MiLB.com: Where did his velocity uptick in the AFL come from, especially coming off the injury?
Borrell: Coaching. [Laughs] No, it’s good scouting. Guy came in, he hit a good spot feeling comfortable doing what he was doing. For us, we didn’t do anything. He’s the one that threw the baseball.
Schmitt: He’s got a great work ethic too, on and off the field.
MiLB.com: There’s been talk that he’s going to only throw simulated games this spring. What’s the plan for him during the season?
Borrell: Just try to stay healthy, and try to pitch every fifth, every sixth day. That’s the plan. Innings limit, innings count, we’re just going to let him pitch. When he says he feels good, we’ll let him pitch. Hopefully, he finishes the season healthy.
MiLB.com: Sticking in the AFL, what did Gleyber Torres show you guys there that maybe you hadn’t seen before out of him in either Tampa or in previous reports?
Denbo: We saw some real good things when he was playing for the Florida State League. For his age, he’s very advanced as a hitter. He seems to pick up pitches very well, recognizes pitches. He knows his strengths and weaknesses. He uses the entire field to hit. He did all of those things out in the Arizona Fall League against a high level of competition.
MiLB.com: [Yankees GM] Brian Cashman said earlier this offseason that Torres would be “baptized” in the Eastern League. Do you think he’ll be challenged by the cold weather or the level of competition at Double-A ball?
Denbo: You’ll have to ask Cash what baptized means, but for us, it’s another step in his development. Going to the Eastern League after facing the best of the best of High-A ball at that level, it’s not an easy step. It’s one of the biggest jumps in development to go from High-A to Double-A. He’s going to be tested up there, especially with the cold weather. But he’s going to be tested against better pitching. Guys have better arms and better command, so we’ll see how he responds to that. We think he’ll do well. He’s a guy that — with his maturity as a player — could move quickly through the organization.
MiLB.com: Did that performance in the Fall League push that forward in terms of how quickly you think he could move?
Denbo: I think we’re very pleased with what we saw in the Fall League. But our development plan is our development plan, so we stick with it and let the player show us when he’s ready to move to the next level.
MiLB.com: Are you guys still planning on playing him at both shortstop and second base?
Denbo: Like all of our shortstops in the organization, he’s going to play both middle positions this year. We think it’s good for them to prepare to play the shifts they’re going to play once they arrive at the Major League level. It’s good for their versatility. And it’s good for [Yankees manager] Joe Girardi to get a player from the Minor Leagues that has that type of versatility to help the team win in different ways.
MiLB.com: What do you see in Blake Rutherford that should translate well immediately in his first full season in the pros?
McIntyre: He’s an advanced young hitter that’s had a lot of experience on the big stage. He’s got a good feel for the bat and overall hitting ability, developing power that should show up in the game. Good athlete, getting stronger. We just like the whole tool package, and we’re looking forward to seeing him grow in our player development system.
MiLB.com: What were you hoping he’d do to prepare for a 140-game season?
Denbo: We hope he would continue to develop physically, and he has. He’s come into Spring Training in outstanding physical condition. Mentally, we want him to continue to develop. Get used to the grind of playing 140-plus games, really 160-plus with Spring Training and hopefully the playoffs. Like Ben said, this kid is an exceptional athlete. Looking at his swing, he has a chance to have high hit ability as well. So that’s a good combination. We’re really excited for Rutherford.
MiLB.com: You acquired Albert Abreu this offseason in the Brian McCann deal. What are you going to be working on with him, and what made him an exciting piece to add to the mix?
Borrell: It’s a huge arm. He spins the ball really well. From all accounts, he’s a good kid, works hard. We had him out there for live batting practice today, and he was showing elite fastball velocity, above-average curveball and above-average changeup. So we’re talking three plus pitches as a starting pitcher. We’ve loved what we saw from him so far.
MiLB.com: The knock on him though has been control. How do you plan on working with him on that as he goes up the chain?
Borrell: Just reps. These young kids, especially big power arms, just need reps and need to focus on fastball command. We’re going to continue to let him be an athlete. Just be as rhythmic as he can be in his delivery.
MiLB.com: So it’s nothing in his delivery that you’re seeing that needs fixing to hone that control?
Borrell: Everybody’s different, delivery-wise. We try to let these guys be individuals when it comes to that. Delivery-wise, we’re just going to preach fastball command and be an athlete.
MiLB.com: Justus Sheffield will be another pitcher entering his first full season in the organization. The knock against him is that he’s undersized. But what does he need to do to succeed against the upper levels as he gets to Double-A and Triple-A?
Borrell: Same as the other guys. Reps and fastball command. He’s 93–97 [mph]. Nice little breaking ball. Nice power changeup. Dynamic personality. Great athlete. So all the ingredients are there for him to repeat his delivery and show good fastball command. The undersized stuff, for us it’s execution that we’re looking at. If you can execute, we’re happy with that, and he can.
MiLB.com: With Sheffield, Torres, maybe [Jorge] Mateo, maybe Kaprielian — it seems like Trenton is going to be packed with talent. How excited are you guys that this group could play together?
Schmitt: We’re extremely excited. We’ve talked about this internally, but we feel like there are so many tough decisions to be made because we do have so many high makeup guys. So we feel like it’s not just Trenton and Tampa, we feel every full-season team through our extended program is full of really good players.
Denbo: To add to that, the guys that don’t get a lot of credit in this are the international, amateur and pro scouting departments that did an unbelievable job of identifying these players at the trade deadline. Before that, we had a good system. They almost doubled it in terms of prospects. Our scouting departments did a tremendous job of identifying these players, and they put us in a good position to be in. As a former coach and for those of who still coach, we’ve got a lot of good athletes, and a lot of them are middle-of-the-field athletes. Guys with good arms on the mound. Guys that can repeat deliveries and become starters at the Major League level. It’s an exciting time in this organization.
MiLB.com: Along those lines, given all the acquisitions through the Draft and the deadline, how does this system feel different than it did a year ago?
Denbo: We felt really good about our system at this time last year. With Aaron Judge and Greg Bird and Gary Sanchez and some of the other guys coming up, some of the relievers we had coming, we had some arms then. How does it feel different? Our pro scouting department did a great job of identifying talent and has put us in position to be, I believe, one of the best groups of players in all of Minor League Baseball. We have to finish them off. We have to make sure they’re ready to compete at a championship level, and that’s what we’re here to do this year.
