We have entered the last month of the season.  Minor league teams only have about two weeks of games left so this will probably be my penultimate trip down to the farm.  I figure I will just wait for the season to end to give my final report on the Yankee prospects.  So let’s dive in. 

Before we get into the youngsters, a few words on the big club.  The Yankees are in first place by a game but not exactly dominating right now.  I have been saying for a while now that they will go as far as their pitching staff will take them and that still hold true.  Right now, it seems as if that will not be very far.  Hopefully they can figure it out by the end of the month or else their run in October is going to be very short.  They are just not going to win games giving up this many runs.  Even with Aaron Judge slumping (4 for his last 24 with no home runs), they are still putting up runs on offense.  Getting guys back may help but Effross got lit up in his return outing.  Hopefully that’s just getting some rust off.  Thankfully Adam Warren will not have to make any more starts with Gil and Schmidt (not to mention Poteet) ready to return to the Bronx Bombers.   Of course, with both of them returning, one of them will have to go to the pen.  I think Schmidt is more suited for that role with Gil having control issues, something I hate in relievers (see Holmes, Clay) but I think they will move Gil there as a way to keep his innings down.  Hopefully which ever guy does end up in the bullpen he will give them the boost they need.  If the pitching can come around again, they will be a formidable play-off team.  If not, well, at least the Celtics and Bruins will be playing by then.    

Now for the prospects.

Jasson Dominguez—Outfield—AAA Scranton—I am starting with the Martian because there has been some controversy with him not being called up with the rosters expanding in September.  Personally, I am very OK with the Yanks keeping him in Scranton.  For one, as I mentioned, hitting isn’t really a problem for the big club right now.  And two, He needs to keep playing every day.  I know everyone wants to bench Verdugo for him but now is not the time to upset the apple cart.  Plus, it’s not like the old days when teams could call up their entire 40-man roster.  Each team can only bring up 1 hitter and 1 pitcher.  Calling up a guy they can use to pinch run for Stanton, Rizzo and the catchers at the end of close games is more valuable right now.  As for why everyone wants Jasson called up, well, he has been raking as of late.  Since being returned after the double header, Dominguez is hitting .370 with 2 home runs, 2 doubles, a triple, 4 RBIs, and 12 runs.  He bats second in the lineup hence the plethora of runs and few RBIs.  He is still hitting much better against righties (.331) then lefties (.204), which is why it doesn’t make sense to have him platoon with Verdugo. 

Ben Rice—Catcher/First Base—AAA Scranton—With Anthony Rizzo returning to the Yankees lineup, Ben Rice was sent back down to triple A Scranton.  He has yet to play for them.  Rice did OK in the Bronx.  He started out red hot but struggled to keep it going when teams started to get a book on him.  I think it hurt him when they started platooning him.  It’s hard to get it going when you are not playing every day, especially for a young guy. 

Caleb Durbin—Infielder—AAA Scranton—I really can’t wait for Durbin to get his chance in the Majors.  He seems to have fully recovered from his injury as he has returned to lighting up minor league pitching.  In the last 28 days he is hitting .310 with 4 home runs (more than he had in his previous 47 games), 3 doubles, a triple and 16 RBIs.  He is 5 for 5 stealing bases and has 12 walks to 8 strike outs.  His biggest weakness is apparently going to be health.  I have no idea why, but Durbin has returned to the injured list.  Hopefully he is getting all of these injuries out of his system so he can make a run at the starting second base job next season.

Spencer Jones—Outfielder–AA Somerset—Jones has been on fire lately.  He is on an eight-game hitting streak during which he has gone 13 for 32 (.402), has 5 doubles, a triple, a homer, and 10 RBIs.  In August he hit .326 with 2 dingers, 17 RBIs, 9 doubles and a triple.  He still strikes out too much.  His 39 Ks in August are more than Durbin has all season.  While like with Judge, someone that big has too big of a strike zone to not strike out a lot, he does need to bring it down if he wants to be as good of a hitter as he can be. 

Brock Selvidge—Pitcher—AA Somerset—As I mentioned last time, Brock had a season ending injury.  I have no idea what the injury is, we can only hope Brock will be ready to go next spring. 

George Lombard—Shortstop—Hudson Valley—Lombard was promoted to A= ball early in August and had a slow start there.  He has turned things around lately.  He is currently on a 7 game hitting streak during which he is hitting .433 with 5 doubles (which came in 5 consecutive games), and 3 RBIs.  Hudson Valley only has 6 games left to their season.  Hopefully Lombard can stay hot and head into the offseason with a lot of confidence. 

TJ Rumfield–1st Base–AAA Scranton—like most of his compadres, TJ has turned it on of late.  In his last 28 days he is hitting .319 with 8 doubles and 9 RBIs.  He has as many walks (12) as strike outs.  He has really been consistent through out the entire year.  He hits better against righties but his .798 OPS vs lefties shows he is not a weakness against south paws.