As we head into the All-Star Break (no Yankee Games for 4 days sucks!) it’s time to head on down to the farm and check in on some of the Yankees top prospects.  With a little update on the big club heading into the break. 

The Yankees really, really needed this All-Star break.  I really can’t stress enough how much they needed this All-Star break to come. Heading into the break the Yankees are 58-40 and 2 games behind the Baltimore Orioles for first place in the Al East.  The Sox are only 2 games behind them now.  It looked like the Yankees were going to finish the first half in first place with a ton of momentum after they took the first two games rom Baltimore and then rookie sensation Ben Rice is a 3 run home run in the top of the nineth to give the Bombers a 2-run lead.  But then their closer with control issues loaded the bases and they got 2 errors from their best two defensive players to hand the game to the Orioles.  Pretty much par for the course for this season. 

Speaking of Ben Rice, he is still producing and, while he has come back to earth a bit, has shown no reason to be replaced in the lineup.  He has 6 home runs and 19 RBIs in his 24 games in the Bigs.  That’s a 36/128 pace.  His biggest problem was that they put him in the 4 hole where he is hitting only .071 with 0 HRs and 2 RBIs.  Using him for the protection against teams pitching around Soto and Judge put too much pressure in the rookie and he was unable to perform.  It made it too easy for teams to use a lefty to pitch to Soto, pitch around Judge and then attack the kid with the lefty pitcher.  While he is getting better, and actually has a home run off of a lefty now, Rice is still struggling against same side pitchers.  It was worth trying him as the cleanup hitter as he was hitting better than any of their other options, but it’s clear that he is not ready for that responsibility yet.  

While the free fall for the Yankees continued into the break, I think the team is poised for a surge coming out of the break.  They have a lot of things going for them.  They come out of the break with a 6 game home stand.  If they were smart, and they are not, they would start Nester in the first game so that he can also start the second game.  I mentioned in my last column how much better Nester is at home and that they Yankees should try to get him as many home starts as possible.  This is a great opportunity to get him an extra home start.   As I said, the Yankees probably won’t do this but at least they should get a good start from him in game 2.  With Cole, who looked like his old self in his last outing, going game 1, that should bae back-to-back good starts to begin the second half.  Gil’s last two starts have also been very good as he seems to be back to his old self (if you can call it that).  Pitching good against Baltimore was a great sign as they lit him up the last time they faced him to the point I thought he may have been tipping his pitches.  Gil is going to get a much-needed break as he is scheduled to be the 5^th starter coming out of the break.  Hopefully he comes back recharged and can maintain his dominance for the second half push.      

Another thing they have going for them coming out of the break is that Giancarlo Stanton is due back soon.  Probably not for the first series but hopefully before the home stand ends.  Getting Stanton back is going to be huge for the Yankees.  Not only was he hitting great when he got injured, hopefully he will be close to as good as that when he comes back, but also, him being in the line up forces the team to play Judge in the outfield.  Trent Grisham has actually been pretty good filling in for Stanton but playing Judge at DH has been awful.  In the first two games in Baltimore, he played the field and went 3 for 5 with a double and 2 home runs and 5 walks.  The third game he was the DH and he went 0-2 with 2 walks.  As a DH he is hitting .218.  He needs to play the field and Stanton coming back will force the Yankees to make the right move.

The rest of the team really needed a break and a chance to clear their heads and restart the season.  The longer the slide went the more pressure was on the guys to perform and the harder it got.  Hopefully this time off will release the mounting pressure and let them right the ship so they can start playing the way they did in April and May.  This would also be a good time for Cashman to make some moves.  The trade deadline is still over 2 weeks away but there is no reason to wait that long. 

With all that said, let’s check in on the prospects. 

Ben Rice—Catcher/First Base—AAA Scranton—As we know, Rice was called up to the Show.  Hopefully he will play well enough to stay there and will no longer be a part of our prospect watch.  I am going to keep him here until Rizzo returns just in case they send him back down at that point. 

Caleb Durbin—Infielder—AAA Scranton—Durbin is still injured and is now on the 60-day IL.  That is still all the information I have on him. 

Jasson Dominguez—Outfield—AAA Scranton—The Martin has an oblique strain and will miss at least 4 more weeks.  Basically another lost season for the Yankees top prospect.

Spencer Jones—Outfielder–AA Somerset—Jones stayed hot for a while after we last checked in on him but his last 6 games were not good as he recorded just 2 hits in 25 Abs and they were both in the same game.  He also had 12 Ks and only 1 walk in those games.  It’s been an up and down season for the Yankees number two prospect.  Hopefully he can find some consistency.  Or maybe they sign Soto long term and trade him to the A’s for Mason Miller, just and idea. 

Brock Selvidge—Pitcher—AA Somerset—Brock is not having the season I hoped he would have.  His first out after the 7-run debacle was a nice 6 inning 1 run game.  His two starts after that however saw him give up 4 and 5 runs in two 5 inning starts.  Over the last month he has a 1.81 WHIP so he is constantly pitching with men on base.  He needs to get that under control if he is going to have success. 

George Lombard—Shortstop—A Tampa—Lombard continues to play well after his turnaround from last time.  In July he is hitting .255 (he hit .239 in June) with 3 home runs and 3 doubles.  He quadrupled his home run total for the season.  His issue lately seems to be a lack of walks.  He is hitting .255 in July but only has a .296 OBP.  That’s a huge drop in differential from his previous months.  The extra power may be coming from being more aggressive at the plate but if so, he needs to find a happy medium to be a well-rounded hitter. 

Agustin Ramirez—Catcher/1st Base—AAA Scranton—Ramirez is still struggling to adjust to Triple A.  Since being promoted his is hitting a dismal .178.  But it’s not all bad.  He does have a .307 OBP which for a guy hitting .178 is really good.  He also has 4 home runs, a double, and 12 RBIs so when he is hitting the ball, he is being productive.  He has only played 5 games at first base in Scranton with TJ Rumfield raking at 1^st base.  I can’t find his splits by position (he’s a minor leaguer) so I can’t say whether or not that is affecting his hitting.  I guess we shall see moving forward.    

TJ Rumfield–1st Base–AAA Scranton–After checking out Rumfield’s stats to see why Ramirez was only catching, I was impressed. I mentioned TJ as a possible call up before they settled on Rice but I had not considered him for the Prospect watch because he did not have a particularly good season last year. Well, now I have. The 6’5″ 24 year old lefty has had a break out first half. He is hitting .297 with 10 homers, 16 doubles and 44 RBIs. His stats from month to month have been really consistent hitting .303, .294, .296, and .292 so far in July. His righty/lefty splits are as you would expect hitting .307 against righties and .262 against south paws. His home/away splits are interesting as he is much better away from his home stadium. He is also hitting .333 with 2 outs and runners in scoring position. He is strictly a first baseman so I don’t know if their is a path for him to the majors unless Rice goes in the tank but he is definitely someone I will be keeping an eye on.