Colin Curtis
Colin Curtis was the Yankees 4th-overall pick in the draft today.
Curtis was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1999 and treated for it. Here’s a scouting report that was once posted about him at BaseballAmerica.com:
Scouts root for Curtis, who survived a 1999 bout with testicular cancer to become an impact high school football player. He was an instant starter on the baseball team at Arizona State as a freshman and played an important role in the Sun Devils’ 2005 College World Series team, going 8-for-11 in Omaha. Yet Curtis’ tools have either leveled off or gone backward as his body has grown. Once considered a fast-twitch athlete, he now elicits comments such as “stiff” and “slow” from scouts and Pac-10 coaches. A smart, aggressive baserunner and efficient basestealer, he’s now an average runner rather than plus. His bat also has slowed down, so his larger size hasn’t resulted in more power. He hasn’t driven the ball consistently, and overall his modest juinor year (.332) has reminded scouts of the draft-itis that hampered former teammate Jeff Larish. Like Larish, he was making a late charge with his performance and is a Scott Boras client, both making it tough to tell where he’ll be drafted. Curtis hit .323 in the Cape Cod League last summer, and a team that saw him good last summer could still pop him in the first five rounds.
Not exactly a glowing report.
I don’t know much about our minor league prospects besides the pitchers everyone knows about and talks about on this site. Do we have any catching prospects on the horizon? Because if not, I want to know why the BoSox and White Sox sandwiched this pick with catchers while we took a guy whose report doesn’t read very favorably.
Can Andy Phillips catch?
MJ,
Short answer to your question…no, we don’t have any legit catching prospects at a high level right now.
Long answer:
http://ym.mostvaluablenetwork.com/uncategorized/potential-replacements-for-posada/
There’s a hot catching prospect in Puerto Rico. He’s 16 and cannot be signed until July 1. Yankees are in the sweepstakes. His father is the Yankees 1st base coach…………
He’s a pretty long way from ready though even if he does pan out…… we got like what? 3 more years left in Posada at best? he kid would only be like 19 to 20 by then.
Not to mention, there’s no guarantees; it’s a long way from the minors to the show…
OTOH, Ivan Rodriguez came up as a 19 yr old.