Yesterday, I reviewed the Baby Bomber’s pitchers and catchers and evaluated their chances of making the opening day roster. Today it’s time for the infielders and outfielders. Unlike the wealth of talent behind the dish and on the rubber, there isn’t any outstanding talent in these spots, but there are some intriguing guys who might help out somewhere along the line.
Infielders – Let’s face it. As fans, we don’t want another season of Ramiro Pena’s average glove and Mario Mendoza bat. And while Kevin Russo seems like a nice kid, he wasn’t any better. Who might replace him?
Eduardo Nunez: If any of the young infielders in camp have a sincere chance of unseating Pena, this is the guy. He continues to hit decently, showing some line-drive power and decent speed. He isn’t the smoothest guy in the field, but he isn’t a liability, either. Besides, he is the guy who was supposed to replace Derek Jeter had Armageddon come to the Bronx this past winter.
Eduardo Nunez
Reegie Corona: Quite frankly, I don’t see much difference between Corona and Pena. Both of them get the bat knocked out of their hands by anyone who throws harder than 85mph. Both are competent, but not other-worldly, fielders. He looks targeted for AAA Scranton and will likely be first guy up should Jeter or Robbie Cano get injured.
Brandon Laird: The Yankees are sending the natural 3B to AAA Scranton to learn a “super-utility role” – 3B, 1B, RF, LF. It makes sense since both 1B and 3B are sewed up for the next few years. And I doubt the front office wants to keep bringing in retreads for reserve RH bench spots, when there may well be a better option in the high minors.
Jorge Vazquez: Look, when you’re 29 and never been on a major league roster, you might want to start thinking about taking the Crash Davis route. Vazquez possesses a slider speed bat but can’t hit breaking balls. He plays the corner spots, but is known in the minors as a defensive liability at third and barely adequate at first. He does have power and displayed it against other minor leaguers early in camp. He’s a classic “AAAA” player – too good for AAA, but will get eaten alive in MLB.
Outfielders – Fortunately, the Yanks don’t really need anything other than competent bench players here, because this is easily the most underwhelming part of the minor league system.
Justin Maxwell: Ok, so he isn’t exactly a rookie, with 122 major league appearances over three seasons. But the Nationals aren’t exactly a MLB club, either. He has a career ML slash line of .201/.319/.379 with a .698 OPS. What he brings to the table is decent speed, the ability to play all 3 OF positions adequately and the high expectations from his college career at Maryland. Hopefully, a full season at AAA (something he never got from Washington) will help him rediscover the form that made him a 1st round pick.
Colin Curtis: Yankee fans got a glimpse of Curtis last year, when he appeared in 31 games for the Bombers. He didn’t really impress, putting up a .538 OPS in 64 plate appearances. (Although he did hit a memorable homer against the Angels). The former Arizona State standout may have reached his limit. If so, that would be a shame because he certainly has a compelling back story.
Greg Golson: Yet another player that fans have seen in Pinstripes, the 25 year old Golson also saw MLB time while with the Phillies and Rangers. He has become a speedy defensive specialist, and his arm proved invaluable in a key game against the Rays last year. Still, he needs to do better than his career MiLB slash line of .263/.309/.398 if he wants to stick with the big club.
Melky Mesa: Another long shot, the 24 year old Mesa has played 5 seasons of MiLB and never reached AA. He does have speed and power but his strikeout percentage (.319) is higher than his on base percentage (.307), never a good sign. I hope he figures it out, since he is the prototypical 5 tool player. The Yanks are taking something of a chance, assigning him to AAA to start the season and skipping AA entirely.
Jordan Parraz: In 7 minor league seasons, the 26 year old former Astros and Royals farmhand has compiled a MiLB slash line of .289/.376/.438, which is decent. But he may be another case of the classic “AAAA” player, since he has yet to see the majors despite an ability to play all three OF spots and good peripherals in the minors.
M. B. Rozell
Kevin Rozell
Are Mesa and Nunez twins? They look exactly alike.
Personally I’m getting tired of the “M” in MLB standing for Mexican. Someone once scolded me by saying only 27% of all major league players are Hispanic. All I know is the crawl at the bottom of the screen on MLB Network always says something like “Reds cut Vasquez, reassign Gomez to AAA to make room for Hernandez”.
Seriously, baseball has become the NBA of Latin America. I know somebody will chew my ass out over this post but I really don’t give a rat’s ass.
btw, currently watching the “Yanks” vs. Orioles right now, and if Mitre has a starring role with the team all season I see a 4th place finish at best. I could strangle this guy, seriously.
You have no clue about what Vazquez can do. He does not have ‘slider bat speed’, and he did not just hit off of minor leaguers… Last time I saw Brad Lidge was the closer for the Phillies. And I believe Lannan is in the starting rotation for Washington. He hit bombs off of both, and both were curve balls. He is not a AAAA hitter. He would start with 3/4 of the other ML teams and hit .290/30/100. He was born to hit. If you dont know your facts, dont talk about it.
He hit a bomb off of Lidge, who is declining rapidly and has never been known for his fastball – his out pitch is (you guessed it) his slider. As for Lannan, on a good day he can reach 91. There’s a reason he’s the 4th or 5th starter on a last place team. The pitch Vazquez hit out? A hanging…slurve. Lannan was trying to add it to his repertoire this spring and has since abandoned it.
You are right that there are teams where he could have a significant role, but none of them expect to compete anytime soon. Which is why the Yanks will stash him in SWB (he was sent down today) for the foreseeable future – he can be a piece in getting someone in June or July who can help at the ML level. He reminds me of Willie Mo Pena. Willie Mo had tons of raw power, but had holes in his swing and wasn’t known for his speed, eye or defense (well, except for how bad they were). But teams kept giving him a shot, simply because of the power. It’s easy to get caught up in a guy who can crush a ball 450 feet. But competent major leaguers have more than one tool.
Guys like vazquez spice spring training up for me. I had fun watching him mash early.